The Music Matters Campaign

The Music Matters Campaign

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Media Convergence

What are your veiws on the way convergence has affected the music industry?

Convergence has had a massive impact on the music industry in the past few years. Audiences used to be passive, but now, due to the changes in technology, audiences have become much more active. Audiences have always been a bit active because they have been attending the artists’ gigs, but now they have gone beyond that. The iPhone is a perfect example of how convergence has helped the music industry and made the audience more active. The iPhone allows you to share and listen to music, and has many different applications that you can download. You can download a Spotify application onto your iPhone, which allows you to stream music straight onto your phone. With the Spotify application there is no need to actually ‘own’ the music. However, if you want to listen to the music without any adverts getting in the way, you have to pay for a monthly subscription; a percentage of that money goes to the record labels, so they get the money they deserve. You can also have access to the internet, so you can use sites such as YouTube, which has thousands of music videos on that you can watch for free, anytime you want. An application called Shazam has recently been developed; if someone hears a song on the radio that they don’t know the name of, this application will recognize the song for them. This really helps the record labels, because people will buy more of their songs.

There is still a big problem that is affecting the music industry; illegal downloading and file sharing. Applications like Spotify were created to combat illegal downloading because people can have the music streamed straight to their phone or computer; the only problem with this is they don’t actually ‘own’ the music so they can’t do what they can’t do what they want with it (e.g. put it on an MP3 player). This might tempt people to illegally download music so they can actually ‘own’ it without having to pay anything. New phones, such as the iPhone have Bluetooth, which allows people to send files from one phone to another. This means that the person now ‘owns’ the track and can now so whatever they want with it, which is bad for the music industry because they don’t get their revenue.

Record labels have had to try different ways to get revenue because they are losing money fast due to all the illegal downloading and file sharing; they have used the ideas of synergy and cross promotion. Universal Music Group have managed to get some of their revenue from letting the TV program Glee do covers of some of the music from the label. Domino records also lent an Arctic Monkey’s song to be used in Guitar Hero; they have been able to get lots of revenue from this.

Unsigned Artists

Record Labels

What does a record label do?
A record label invests in and develops musical talent in the UK and globally. They help artists to use music making as a full-time career, and pay for the recording and mixing of albums. They exploit the artists' recordings commercially, and collect and pay the resulting royalties on their behalf. Record labels also help the artists when they're on tour.

Give four examples of services a record label might provide for an artist.

1. They pay for the recording and mixing of their music.
2. They help promote the band and give them more popularity.
3. They cover all the costs of touring.

Why might an artist want to be signed to a record label?

1. The artist will gain popularity, and will therefore sell more albums.
2. The record label will help to

Give four examples of ways in which record labels make money.

1. Through their A&R (artist and repertoire) departments.

Name the 'big four' record labels (the 'majors') and name two artists who are signed to each one.
Universal -
Rise Against


Weezer


EMI -
August Burns Red


30 Seconds To Mars


Warner -
Avenged Sevenfold


Metallica


BMG/Sony -
AC/DC

Tool

Exam Overview

Institution - The company/organization/business that produces the music (record label).

Audience - The person that listens/buys the music.

Revenue - The money you make from a product.

Proliferation - How popular something has become.

Convergence - One device that performs more then one function (technology).

Synergy - Cross-promotion between more than one industry.

Production - The making of a music album.

Distribution - Getting an album sold to a target audience.

Marketing - Matching a target audience with a new artist/album by a record label.

Consumption - Listening to the album/using the media.