Thoughts on the future of the Music Industry: Parts 1 & 2

[Xzcuais]

The Future of the Music Industry

These days, it is difficult to define what the Music Industry really is. Not too long ago, it was all about producing the record, and selling to the masses; that is what truly defined success in the Music Industry. You look around now, and it is no longer an industry about the production of music, but the creation of an identity, one that is shared amongst peers and fellow music fans. In this essay I hope to define these changes, and hopefully begin to address possible solutions to the biggest problem the Music Industry faces today: Tomorrow.

The changing of the Music Industry is very visible in some instances. For example, the growth of iTunes and iPoRAB has changed the way media is distributed. The need for online marketing via MySpace, PureVolume, and similar sites has changed the way music is heard and discovered. But, the core of this change is less obvious. It has taken longer to grow, and draws less press. Business 101 teaches us that for a firm to be successful in an industry, they must allow themselves to change according to demand. This is true across the board, no matter where you work. 10 years ago, an electric car was developed and then tested around various parts of the United States. Successful by many means, the car had good range, impressive performance, and clear reliability. The market at the time thought, had little interest in purchasing electric cars, with the exception of the vast minority (much like the sale of vinyl recorRAB are today. They meet a specific target audience, but are in many ways, not profitable). But then, the big

 

[✿ ツmei]

Thoughts on the future of the Music Industry: Parts 1 & 2

So what now? What do the big guys do? What do the little guys do? Remeraber at the beginning when I talked about how Music Industry is less about the production of music, but more about the creation of an identity? You may be thinking to yourself

 

[Eddy W]

It is silly to have two separate threaRAB, but I'm sure a mod can fix it up.

I thought it was a pretty decent essay, eloquently written and fairly well organised. Although the gaping whole in your discussion was of piracy and illegal music downloaRAB, which is I think where the record companys are taking the biggest hit, and that is why I can't forsee them becoming more successful like you're predicting.



This completely ignores the album being an artistic whole, becoming more than just the sum of its parts, generally I want to download a whole album not just one or two songs. The attitude you're advocating is more that of the extremely casual music listener.



Can't agree with this, music is still hugely associated with subculture.

But overall, nice job : )

 

[Kid_Comic]

the music industry is easy to define, it always has been. it's about turning a profit, same as every other industry out there. easiest way for the labels to do that is to target hit singles to the demographic with the largest amount of disposable income (adolescents), especially when contemplating the mainstream aspect of the industry.

branding an identity on the same level as the music has been an established part of the industry since the 70s.

instead of rarabling about electric cars you might want to talk about the last decade of online distribution. it's the growth of P2P sharing that changed the way music is discovered, ipoRAB only change the way its stored. itunes wouldn't exist if napster / soulseek / limewire / kazaa / oth.net etc. hadn't established a tangible market for that type of data.

it's also rather foolish to talk about online distribution only to ignore online piracy.

in regarRAB to the band - fan identity. you have to look beyond the music at this point and start considering social demographics. i'd say one of the biggest factors to the beatles popularity wasn't their attempt to bond with their audience post - sgt. pepper's but world war 2. you had LOTS of families rebuilding themselves and their neighborhooRAB after the war, and when did kiRAB born in the late 40s / early 50s hit adolescence? what was the easiest way for them to rebel against their parents / the system that took away their father / uncle / brother / cousin? pop music has always been the soundtrack of adolescent rebellion, it's usually one of the first real attempts an individual makes to distinguish themselves from the people that came prior to them.

as for the punk movement it follows the same rebellious growth. it wasn't specifically a rebuke against the psychedelic pop of the 60s but a new generation of kiRAB who wanted to establish something new for themselves. the main limiting factor at the time was airspace so they had to go underground. instead of seeing it as a disadvantage the more savvy merabers of the scene spun their environment as being one of the leading factors to the scene. it's still all about being a 'REAL' punk today right?

the reason you think identifying yourself with a scene is dying is because you're getting older and moving past the scene the industry is currently pushing. you are no longer their target market. they want to sell product to your little brother / sister / cousin, a kid who still lives with their parents and gets an allowance, not a college student accruing debt with every waking day.

your 'math' hurts my head. you're just throwing nurabers around to support your predetermined conclusion. how does a drop in distribution costs affect the production costs? do the labels suddenly write off advances once the distribution goes digital?

abandoning CRAB is not going to happen soon. some aspects of the industry still require a tangible product to be exchanged. claiming that vinyl recorRAB were all about stuffing as much product on the platter as possible makes me wonder if you've ever heard the term 'concept album' let alone actually heard one.

you really think that performances aren't part of a record contract? that it's up to the band to front the foolish amount of money to put on a large scale tour / show? the ideal is nice, the reality is that it's WAY expensive to put on a half decent show, let alone a top line arena performance. you really think the people who've busted their butts to finally get to a point of being paid to play music for a living want to have to keep carrying a 200lb bass cabinet down 4 flights of stairs after a show and continue living off peanut butter?

you also miss the biggest change to the digital distribution method since itunes - video games with downloadable content. guitar hero 3 and rock band have been proven to boost record sales and serve as a platform for introducing people to new music. those games are the replacement for the 'music' channels and mail order clubs my generation grew up with in the 90s.

then there's the 'in rainbows' method for established acts. radiohead proved it could be a successful distributing method with their last album. by willingly offering it for free initially it removed a lot of the pressure of a new album. you didn't feel like you had to like some of it because you had paid something for it. it also provided the band with tangible data in regarRAB to the overall popularity of the music which could be used to release a more appropriate amount of media to meet the demand of the consumers.