Music, retail and copyright : macro trends

Joe Bennett, Bath Spa University (UK) joebennett.net

Record Production in the Internet Age

Retail music• Early 20thC - sheet music as retail product

• Drives harmony and melody innovation (within market-derived constraints – Adorno 1941)

• Late 20thC - audio as retail product

• Cultural obsolescence drives sonic innovation(fewer constraints, more artistic diversity in the mainstream)

• Early 21stC - decline in retail product. Audio is (nearly) free

• Drives sonic homogeny (less money = less artistic diversity in the mainstream)

• (Gordon 2014/RIAA stats)

US recorded music income 1973-2013 (x $m)

(Degusta 2011/RIAA stats)

(Degusta 2011/RIAA stats)

Recreational music

• 1900s-1950s – sheet music & community singing

• 1950s-1990s – audio listening as recreational activity

• 1960s-1990s – ALBUM listening as recreational activity

• 2000s-2010s

• Decline in album listening as recreational activity

• Wallet share dilution (gaming, mobile phones/apps, broadband)

• On-demand delivery models (Spotify etc). ‘Mood playlists’.

Copyright: the right to make a copy

• Two copyrights - ‘the song’ and ‘the sound recording’

• Traditionally ‘the music publisher’ and ‘the record company’

• Decline of the song as a discrete object (from 1950s) - rise of ‘the definitive recording’

• 1950s-1990s - recording as retail artefact (scarcity and markup)

• 2000s-current – recording as digital artefact (ubiquity)

• (and DRM failed)

Copyright paradox• Only copyright holders have the right to copy

• But listening to digital music = copying audio

Loss leaders• In the 1980s:

• video = loss-leading promo for single/album

• tour = loss-leading promo for album

• In the Internet Age - no album profit?

• video = loss-leading promo for b(r)and

• single = loss-leading promo for tour

Less money?

• ‘Phonographic era’ is over

• We can’t reinstate retail (Taylor Swift?)

• Consumers pay for gig attendance

• Music is returning to performance art…

• …and the sound recording is its calling card

References• Adorno, Theodore W. “On Popular Music.” Studies in Philosophy

and Social Science IX (1941): 17–48.

• Degusta, Michael. “The REAL Death Of The Music Industry - Business Insider,” February 18, 2011. http://www.businessinsider.com/these-charts-explain-the-real-death-of-the-music-industry-2011-2

• Gordon, Steve. “Why Apple’s Acquisition of Beats Is Bad for Indie Labels, Artists, and the Industry.” Digital Music News, June 6, 2014. http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/06/06/apples-acquisition-beats-bad-indie-labels-artists-industry.

• Image: Australian War Memorial http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/010872/

Music, retail and copyright : macro trends

Joe Bennett, Bath Spa University (UK) joebennett.net

Record Production in the Internet Age