Friday 20 January 2012
In Layman's Terms
"How does the music industry affect the way music is made and listened to?", is the question that this blog will attempt to answer. We will look at people who have taken different routes in their career such as an indie musician compared to an X-factor winner and look into how the industry has played a part in their contrasting lives. We will also look into the concept of music as a commodity and how it affects profit and loss. as well as that, we will look at how the music market place has changed over time (digital downloads etc.), also looking at market forces such as trends, fashion and will try to look at how my career could develop considering the issues already looked at.
Thursday 3 February 2011
Here today, gone tomorrow
The music industry revolves around the audience, constantly providing different products to suit different peoples needs, and a career in music can go down different paths depending on the role of the artist; swell as the levels of freedom in which the artist has. For example, if we take an X-Factor winner like Steve Brookstein who won the first X-Factor competition in 2004, below is the singer singing a song
During the show Brookstein received lots of votes and got the famous post X-Factor number one single and was signed by Sony BMG. However, eight months later he was dropped by Sony and now people pay around £2.50 to watch him in a pub.
The career of these kind of performers then seems to be a very short lived one, where the artist doesn't have much input in the product that is produced along with the image they take on. They have one large amount of exposure through TV, magazines, internet, radio and any other means of getting them heard, and then they seem to disappear, unable to follow up with new material to sustain a career.
What these artists seem to lack in musical ideas, they make up for with their pretty 'T.V.' faces, the career path of an X-Factor winner can often lead into other things such as T.V. show hosts and advertising, for example, here is a luckier X-Factor contestant, Alexandra Burke.
This performance led to her selling more than a million copies of Leonard Cohen's song 'Hallelujah', and unlike the previous, managed to cry on her success, with top ten singles and a best selling album. Her career has also led to T.V. appearances like judging 'So You Think You Can dance' on BBC1 and also appearing as a judge on the show in question, like some kind of turtle returning back to it's home beach to aid in breeding more brilliantly packaged karaoke singers. On a serious note, you get the message that this sort of career can lead down many paths. The market for this music is also a seasonal one, with X-Factors winners aiming for the Christmas number one, along with these figures being in advertising around Christmas time; i'm sure we remember the Marks and Spencer adverts running up to Christmas 2011, with the contestants featuring in most.
During the show Brookstein received lots of votes and got the famous post X-Factor number one single and was signed by Sony BMG. However, eight months later he was dropped by Sony and now people pay around £2.50 to watch him in a pub.
The career of these kind of performers then seems to be a very short lived one, where the artist doesn't have much input in the product that is produced along with the image they take on. They have one large amount of exposure through TV, magazines, internet, radio and any other means of getting them heard, and then they seem to disappear, unable to follow up with new material to sustain a career.
What these artists seem to lack in musical ideas, they make up for with their pretty 'T.V.' faces, the career path of an X-Factor winner can often lead into other things such as T.V. show hosts and advertising, for example, here is a luckier X-Factor contestant, Alexandra Burke.
This performance led to her selling more than a million copies of Leonard Cohen's song 'Hallelujah', and unlike the previous, managed to cry on her success, with top ten singles and a best selling album. Her career has also led to T.V. appearances like judging 'So You Think You Can dance' on BBC1 and also appearing as a judge on the show in question, like some kind of turtle returning back to it's home beach to aid in breeding more brilliantly packaged karaoke singers. On a serious note, you get the message that this sort of career can lead down many paths. The market for this music is also a seasonal one, with X-Factors winners aiming for the Christmas number one, along with these figures being in advertising around Christmas time; i'm sure we remember the Marks and Spencer adverts running up to Christmas 2011, with the contestants featuring in most.
Wednesday 3 February 2010
The Independent
Unlike an X-Factor winner, the career of an indie artist tends to go down quite a different route; Independent artist don't tend to get a huge amount of exposure overnight, there exposure is built over a period of time and are exposed to a certain market through means such as the internet, radio and magazines like NME. Gigging also plays a large part in the life of an indie band. For example, here is a clip of Indie rock band Arctic Monkeys;
The Arctic Monkeys are one of the first bands to receive exposure through the internet, starting a new way of promotion and marketing, as well as selling records. They first released demo's of their tracks on CD's which were handed around to local fans; these were then file shared over the internet to various people.
What an Independent artist also gets that a major label artist doesn't, is more freedom in what they can produce, Which is what I believe helps move the music industry along, producing new ideas and subcultures, and giving the audience more choice in what they can listen to. They also get more time to get a definable image together, for example when an X - Factor singer releases there first single they won't have any material to come after that, by which time people have moved on and forgotten about them, whereas an Indie band might have a couple of years worth of material to keep feeding their audience once they are established.
There is always some debate about the credibility of an X - Factor style artist, due to the fact that they seem to get famous on the back other people's work. With an Indie band however, although they tend to draw influence from similar things and their style is not completely fresh, there is still more credibility in their work as they put the idea into their own individual perspective, whilst applying to a target market. The Independent artist seems like it can be an alright career path to go down, as it can be long lasting, the Arctic Monkeys still going strong with touring etc. with the the release of another album probably appearing in the future.
The Arctic Monkeys are one of the first bands to receive exposure through the internet, starting a new way of promotion and marketing, as well as selling records. They first released demo's of their tracks on CD's which were handed around to local fans; these were then file shared over the internet to various people.
What an Independent artist also gets that a major label artist doesn't, is more freedom in what they can produce, Which is what I believe helps move the music industry along, producing new ideas and subcultures, and giving the audience more choice in what they can listen to. They also get more time to get a definable image together, for example when an X - Factor singer releases there first single they won't have any material to come after that, by which time people have moved on and forgotten about them, whereas an Indie band might have a couple of years worth of material to keep feeding their audience once they are established.
There is always some debate about the credibility of an X - Factor style artist, due to the fact that they seem to get famous on the back other people's work. With an Indie band however, although they tend to draw influence from similar things and their style is not completely fresh, there is still more credibility in their work as they put the idea into their own individual perspective, whilst applying to a target market. The Independent artist seems like it can be an alright career path to go down, as it can be long lasting, the Arctic Monkeys still going strong with touring etc. with the the release of another album probably appearing in the future.
Monday 9 February 2009
Hiding behind the Headlines
Going from big fame, to medium fame to little fame then, we get to the last type of career path to be mentioned, ironic that these people are where the big ideas start; the Avant Garde composer. The Avant Garde composer tends to be limited in the amount of exposure they receive compared to the X - Factor winner or the Independent artist, but can have a long lasting career. We will look at John Cage (1912 - 1992) for this section;
This piece is called 'The Perilous Night' performed on a prepared piano 1944, this is something that a lot of people won't have heard of, as it is targeted to the art market more than entertainment, but Cage still managed to sustain a long career out of his works, working right up until his later life. Another aspect of an Avant Garde career route is that the product tends to be the direct vision of the artist at work, unlike an X - Factor winner who sings other songs or even an Indie band who can take the rough idea from another artist to help produce thier image, for example here is a song called 'The Fire' by Ben Howard.
This sounds similar to the song 'Go Down Easy' by John Martyn, in terms of dynamics and lyrical themes, with other elements taken in form artists such as Erik Mongrain, who uses a distinct percussive and finger tapping guitar technique, as seen in the next example, 'Airtap'
So here you can see how initial ideas form pioneering artists like John Cage can be brought together into something that helps make the product of an independent artist like Ben Howard.
In terms of credibility for Avant Garde artists, it is usually determined by how much influence they have on others based as well as based on their creativity.
This piece is called 'The Perilous Night' performed on a prepared piano 1944, this is something that a lot of people won't have heard of, as it is targeted to the art market more than entertainment, but Cage still managed to sustain a long career out of his works, working right up until his later life. Another aspect of an Avant Garde career route is that the product tends to be the direct vision of the artist at work, unlike an X - Factor winner who sings other songs or even an Indie band who can take the rough idea from another artist to help produce thier image, for example here is a song called 'The Fire' by Ben Howard.
This sounds similar to the song 'Go Down Easy' by John Martyn, in terms of dynamics and lyrical themes, with other elements taken in form artists such as Erik Mongrain, who uses a distinct percussive and finger tapping guitar technique, as seen in the next example, 'Airtap'
In terms of credibility for Avant Garde artists, it is usually determined by how much influence they have on others based as well as based on their creativity.
Sunday 10 February 2008
What if We Were Older now?
Now that we have each type of career path routhly defined, it's time to look deeper into what works and why? Let's start by looking at music as a commodity, is music definable as an actual product, and how does this affect these artists and audiences.
Back when there was no radio, music was definately a commodity, people would pay for the product and in return would be able to see the music being played in front of them at theatres etc. And even with records and CD's, people would be getting a physical product that could be felt and used, for example, a pop star say from the 50's or 60's would make money from thier gigs and record sales, people would have to buy the physical product if they wanted to listen to the music, whereas today's X - Factor winners have to look for other means like the Christmas Marks 'n' Spencers ad's to help bring in more pofit, it is harder for people to purchase their work as a commodity; However, where the commodity is evaporating, so is the music itself. Cue the digital age.
Nowadays people can get hold of any music they want at the click of a button, wether the commodity is there or not, this can work both ways and probably applies more now to the independent and Avant Garde artists. Before this time we have already established that the only ways for people to get hold of music were either by going to see the act live or having a physical copy of a record, tape, C.D. etc, which could have meant that unless the act wasn't big enough to be signed to a major label, there isn't much chance of people coming across thier music in a record store. Now, anyone and anyone could set up a band and get themselves visible to the world instantly, with social networking sites like Facebook where acts can put up a band profile and share with friends, who will share their friends and so on. They can also sell thier songs through countless download websites such as I-Tunes, one of the leading online music stores.
The problem that arises here then is if digital music isn't a physical thing, then why should someone pay the same price they would for a record or CD, or even pay at all. According to the IFPI Digital Music Report 2009, throughout 16 countries over three years, "IFPI estimates more than 40 billion files were illegally file shared in 2008, giving a piracy rate of around 95 percent". We can already see that if digital music is going to be the only way for artists to sell their work and with figures like that on the report, then there is not much money coming in for an artist at all. Furthermore, the Spanish music industry appears to be suffering quite badly form digital piracy, according to the same study in 2011, Spanish music sales "fell by around 55 per cent between 2005 and 2010" and "In 2010 alone, the market declined by and estimated 22 per cent.".
From this we can safely safe that the rise of the digital world can be damaging to budding artists and musicians, but it seems like the audiences (us) are still happy to download illegally due to digital music not always having a price tag, is that because the commodity is lost? and how will it get better for the musician when the customer is always right?
Back when there was no radio, music was definately a commodity, people would pay for the product and in return would be able to see the music being played in front of them at theatres etc. And even with records and CD's, people would be getting a physical product that could be felt and used, for example, a pop star say from the 50's or 60's would make money from thier gigs and record sales, people would have to buy the physical product if they wanted to listen to the music, whereas today's X - Factor winners have to look for other means like the Christmas Marks 'n' Spencers ad's to help bring in more pofit, it is harder for people to purchase their work as a commodity; However, where the commodity is evaporating, so is the music itself. Cue the digital age.
Nowadays people can get hold of any music they want at the click of a button, wether the commodity is there or not, this can work both ways and probably applies more now to the independent and Avant Garde artists. Before this time we have already established that the only ways for people to get hold of music were either by going to see the act live or having a physical copy of a record, tape, C.D. etc, which could have meant that unless the act wasn't big enough to be signed to a major label, there isn't much chance of people coming across thier music in a record store. Now, anyone and anyone could set up a band and get themselves visible to the world instantly, with social networking sites like Facebook where acts can put up a band profile and share with friends, who will share their friends and so on. They can also sell thier songs through countless download websites such as I-Tunes, one of the leading online music stores.
The problem that arises here then is if digital music isn't a physical thing, then why should someone pay the same price they would for a record or CD, or even pay at all. According to the IFPI Digital Music Report 2009, throughout 16 countries over three years, "IFPI estimates more than 40 billion files were illegally file shared in 2008, giving a piracy rate of around 95 percent". We can already see that if digital music is going to be the only way for artists to sell their work and with figures like that on the report, then there is not much money coming in for an artist at all. Furthermore, the Spanish music industry appears to be suffering quite badly form digital piracy, according to the same study in 2011, Spanish music sales "fell by around 55 per cent between 2005 and 2010" and "In 2010 alone, the market declined by and estimated 22 per cent.".
From this we can safely safe that the rise of the digital world can be damaging to budding artists and musicians, but it seems like the audiences (us) are still happy to download illegally due to digital music not always having a price tag, is that because the commodity is lost? and how will it get better for the musician when the customer is always right?
Thursday 10 February 2005
Maybe Tomorrow
After all is said and done, how do I see my own career panning out in the future?
Well, first of all, I believe that the wisest thing to do would be to keep in the back of my mind the question "Where is the commodity?" when working on material be it through songs, internet profile, the clothes I wear and what I believe in. I will certainly try to avoid the X - Factor approach to any career, as this seems to be very short lived and uncreditable, perhaps the idea of an independent musician is a good one, giving me time to work on plenty of material, keeping a fairly sustainble career with the ability to branch off into different things, I would like to experiment a bit with new ideas later on and perhaps take a more avant garde approach to things, but for now, I am going to have to watch how the industry evolves around the ever constant society we live in. Furthermore, if trends remain the same with illegal downloads, then I would have to try and come up with an idea that puts the physical ownership back into my product, or even go back a step and have different versions of a song on each recording. You never know, I might even try bringing out albums in two halves, each half containing a different code or file type that lasted 1 day before automatically changing the next, and each copy of the album only working with the specific corresponding codes for that copy, I could even then bring out some kind of mp3 player that only plays albums in this way, I wonder if digital pirates could be bothered keeping up with the constantly changing codes, after all, theyre not getting paid for it.
Well, first of all, I believe that the wisest thing to do would be to keep in the back of my mind the question "Where is the commodity?" when working on material be it through songs, internet profile, the clothes I wear and what I believe in. I will certainly try to avoid the X - Factor approach to any career, as this seems to be very short lived and uncreditable, perhaps the idea of an independent musician is a good one, giving me time to work on plenty of material, keeping a fairly sustainble career with the ability to branch off into different things, I would like to experiment a bit with new ideas later on and perhaps take a more avant garde approach to things, but for now, I am going to have to watch how the industry evolves around the ever constant society we live in. Furthermore, if trends remain the same with illegal downloads, then I would have to try and come up with an idea that puts the physical ownership back into my product, or even go back a step and have different versions of a song on each recording. You never know, I might even try bringing out albums in two halves, each half containing a different code or file type that lasted 1 day before automatically changing the next, and each copy of the album only working with the specific corresponding codes for that copy, I could even then bring out some kind of mp3 player that only plays albums in this way, I wonder if digital pirates could be bothered keeping up with the constantly changing codes, after all, theyre not getting paid for it.
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