Industry

WHAT SHOULD I COVER?

You're trying to show you grasp the recent history (especially from 1999) of the music industry, impact of globalisation + digitisation, and how labels/artists seek to monetise today.

Much of the knowledge/understanding you can demo here can be applied within social media posts. I have given you a huge range of material to access: 2018-19 post; 2020-22 post; tags: merch, monetising, music industry etc

SOME KEY THEORISTS:

Chris Anderson (long tail theory) v Anita Elberse's (Blockbusters) demolition of this (McMuria agrees with her);

all web 2.0 theorists;

Andrew Keen (web 3.0 surveillance capitalism critique contrasts with optimism of Gauntlet, Gillmor, Jenkins)

Simon Reynolds (Retromania)

... and any audience theory!!! 

Given the large overlap with your exam, especially 'media ecology', you should work on all of the following to include here:

TIMELINE VIDEO/PPT: Track + explain major events/milestones, eg Napster, Crazy Frog, new cassette charts, when industry revenues stopped falling + started rising again ... give a sense of the ebb and flow of the last 2+ decades

THEMES + TERMS: A simplified terms list alongside more in-depth case studies/developed + illustrated examples to explore major themes, such as:

DDC FROM NAPSTER TO TODAY > UGC, SOCIAL MEDIA FAN TAKEOVERS ... To some degree almost everything could fit under this, but you need to split things further... D Mode are 1 of many of bands to do a fan takeover of their social media; Eilish's vid which uniquely remixes + synchs from 1000s of fan-made clips; TikTok (a BIG revenue driver these days too, even if partly indirectly - by stimulating YT/Spotify streams)

GLOBALISATION, BIG 3 ... v INDIES including specific analysis of how/if your artist is tied into big 3. Infographics needed. This theme extends to streaming revenues: lower rates for Indies. Self-distribution (eg Bandcamp) without a record label is a useful theme

STREAMING REVENUES + RISE/FALL/RESURRECTION OF PHYSICAL - return of vinyl + cassettes, steep decline of CDs, rise + fall of DL + ringtone markets, controversy over low streaming payment rates; range of streaming options (+ self-distribution options today)

LICENSING - mentioned TikTok above... games, ads, TV/film are all key means of monetising these days

MERCHANDISING -  you've been given a huge range of examples through my blog + other docs. Make sure this includes analysis of your own artist: merch indicates narrowness OR range of target audience. Obviously includes case study of  your artist + min 2-3 more. See my Metallica eg and plentiful blog posts.

FUTURE TECH > FROM APPS TO VR From Bjork's Biophilia app(s) to Kanye West's tinkering there's a lot going on to evolve beyond the traditional album

HOW WE'LL REFLECT THIS LEARNING IN OUR SOCIAL: some specific proposals for posts on your socials: theme, info, presentation. Examples: international record store day; delay to vinyl release; video teaser/s; unwrapping video (digipak); viral style UGC comp/call, probably involving TikTok; streaming rates; tour news; new merch (easy to mock up, using digipak/video fonts/imagery)

EXEMPLAR OF EXTRACTING NOTES/POINTS FROM A SOURCE

- ACKNOWLEDGE SOURCE/VISUALLY DISTINGUISH DIRECT QUOTES

- HIGHLIGHT TERMS

- DON'T OVERDO IT: READ, SYNTHESIZE PITHILY

SPOTIFY IRONICALLY MIMIC OLD MEDIA WITH TOP 50, CEMENTING DOMINANCE (OCT 2020)

Technically, Spotify already offers weekly track charts for the global and US – amongst other territories – via SpotifyCharts.com, but this is the first time they’ve been packaged up as an ‘official’ Spotify Top 50

They are looking to grab news attention from traditional media, the US Billboard charts, UK charts etc. The 'race for number one' is a common media story (especially at Xmas).

In addition, Spotify is launching two new ‘Top 10 Debuts’ charts – one for the US and one Global. These will also be published each Monday

They're going to roll this out on a territory-by-territory basis across their huge global empire, seeking to legitimise the sense of Spotify, not the current 'official' charts (which combine physical sales with DL and multi-platform streaming data) which are used by most radio stations.

This forms yet another way in which they are seeking to act as a disruptor!

This will see it move further into a territory occupied by the likes of Billboard / MRC and Rolling Stone / Alpha Data in the US, and the Official Charts Company in the UK.

That said, Spotify’s chart obviously only covers the popularity of music on one service (erm, Spotify), rather than a range of platforms and/or retailers

If you were in any doubt about the scale of their ambition, note that they're starting with the world's biggest music market ... and a global chart. A smart piece of business, this should help generate ongoing free publicity, and see A+R personnel (the record company employees who identify and push new artists and releases) increasingly switching their focus from 'old media' radio to Spotify, whose playlists are already seen as key to any new artist's chances of success.