Issues and TrendsMUSIC INDUSTRY

SPOTIFY

Launched in 2008 (2006 in Sweden)Unlimited On-demand music, 18 million tracksAn advertisement after every few songsAd-free version: monthly subscription (£10/$10 per

month)Monthly subscription: Faster download rate, offl ine

access10 million users (Oct 2008)20 million users (Dec 2012)Listening limit: 10 hours per month/2.5 hours per

week

WHAT IS IT?

80% of the users are using a free account In the UK, Only 250,000 paying customersNet income of £25 million55% - £13.25 given to music industryOnly amounts to 2-3% of the industries income.Does not support or pay new upcoming artistsPlaylists created by users are supposedly copies from

‘The Ministry of Sound’ Indie bands and artist only get 50% of ad revenue (as

they have no record label) – they receive no advance.

WHY IS IT BAD FOR THE INDUSTRY?

Zoe Keating: Earned only $808 from 201,412 streams; that amounts to only 0.4 cents per stream

Racing Junior: A record label earned $3.00 after 55,100 streams

David McCandless: Needs 4 million streams a month to earn $1,160

UNDERPAID ARTISTS

WHAT ARE MUSICIANS SAYING?

Poster boy for the anti-spotify campaign

He withdrew his bands Ultraista and Atoms for Peace from spotify – saying ‘new music artists get paid f*** all with this model’

Godrich argues that artists need to earn more in order to reach more audiences. Adverts cost $400,000, and only a handful of artists can afford this payment. Godrich argues that spotify pays artists the bare minimum and are ripping them off.

Neil Godrich

Member of ‘The Eurythmics’

WHAT ARE THE MUSICIANS SAYING?

Dave Stewart In 2012, was quoted as saying,

musicians are better off selling from the boot of their car.

Stewart now argues it is not Spotify’s fault that artists are paid less; he says it is because there aren’t enough paying subscribers.

100 million subscribers would be suffi cient to pay an artist his/her yearly income

He also says that record labels rip off artists more than spotify does.

Guitarist for Biffy Clyro

WHAT ARE THE MUSICIANS SAYING?

Mike Vennart“I’d sooner steal my work that

stream it from Spotify. They pay the artists virtually nothing. Literally pennies per month. Yet they make a killing”

Member of the Black Keys

WHAT ARE THE MUSICIANS SAYING?

Patrick CarneyMarch 2012, “Spotify isn’t fair

to artists”Not a “feasible option for a

band selling music for a living”

(referring to Sean Parker – Spotify board member) “That guy has $2 billion that he made fi rm stealing royalties from artists”

70% of Spotify’s revenue is paid out in royaltiesPer-stream royalty rate has doubled(2006-2012)Problem isn’t Spotify failing to pay royalties but

actually, the record labels that work as a middle man to the artists taking too huge a cut.

Large labels have made a deal with Spotify worth $500 million

Spotify allows individual artists to cut out the middle man

Music piracy fell by 25% in Sweden due to Spotify’s introduction

WHAT DO SPOTIFY SAY?

YOUTUBE

AdvertisingCompanies pay money to have their advertisements either play before the video, during the video or at the bottom of

the video in Google’s AdSense system. The uploader will get a paid depending on number of views, likes and favourites.

HOW DOES YOUTUBE MAKE MONEY?

Due to YouTube being the third largest site in the world, it is hard to regulate the content that passes through the site. All videos that surpass 301 views in a certain period of time, are frozen, verified. The uploader will then be notified how much he/she will earn from that video alone by e-mail.

A lot of the time, normal users upload content, this makes it harder to sift through hours of content to find artists and videos that have earned royalties.

Numerous websites have popped up that allow anyone to convert and download a YouTube video for free. Google can’t legally stop this as these websites aren’t breaking any laws (dependant on the country of origin)

ISSUES OF YOUTUBE

MUSIC IN THE 1950S

Radio—Before the rise of the internet (on demand music), radio was important in getting artists airplay, which then meant they’d be more likely to sell many records.

Television—Music videos, as we now know them, did not exist in the ’50s.

Records Albums & Tape—These were purchased directly by the audience and could be listened to on demand. The Compact Disk (CD) hadn’t been invented them to people listened to music on ‘Vinyls.’

HOW DID AUDIENCES CONSUME MUSIC?

Emergence of Rock’n’Roll—this included artists such as Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry.

Classic Pop—artists such as Frank Sinatra.

Blues & Jazz—Ray Charles, Nina Simone.

Folk & Country Music—Johnny Cash

WHICH ARTISTS AND GENRES WERE POPULAR?

ELVIS PRESLEY

CHUCK BERRY

FRANK SINATRA

Classic Pop music was popular because it provided familiar sounding music. There was more of an emphasis on the artist’s voice than there is nowadays.

Artists like Chuck Berry made Rock‘n’Roll influential by incorporating things that weren’t popular before the 1950s, such as: electric guitars, guitar solos, showmanship, and a focus on teen life (which appeal to the youth.) Rock’n’Roll was also considered to be quite rebellious and unconventional (Elvis Presley interpreted many African American songs) which again appealed to the youth.

Blues artists focused more on upbeat, rather than melancholy, music.

Rockabilly spawned from Country Music, where there was more of an emphasis on catchy beats, electric guitar, and acoustic bass.

WHY WERE GENRES POPULAR?

Especially within the youth, subcultures based around gang culture or ‘greasers’ emerged in the 1950s. This led to rejection of authority, and therefore meant they’d prefer to listen to more unconventional styles of music, namely Rock ‘n’ Roll.

A lot of this rebellion came about due to the Beat Generation: this was the name given to a group of writers who emerged in the 1950s. Their style was based around innovation, nonconformity, and a more progressive stance on drugs and sexuality.

The best selling single in the 1950s in the UK, “Rock Around The Clock”, sold 1.39m copies. The best selling single of all time in the UK, “Candle In The Wind”, has sold 4.91m copies.

SUBCULTURES AND TRENDS

MUSIC INSTITUTIONS IN THE ‘50S

During the mid 20 th century, aspiring artists started small; they performed locally, hoping they would be discovered. They were seen busking and working in low end jobs to go to Hollywood/Tinsletown for their chance.

In some ways, this does occur today. There are thousands of artists who are talented; they write, sing, produce but simply can’t be discovered because record labels construct artists for guaranteed chart and financial success

HOW WERE NEW ARTISTS FOUND AND DEVELOPED?

Musicians would also rely on radios playing their songs (“airplay”) as marketing for their music.

Musicians had to market their image as well as their voice. This would be done by starring in their own movies, often featuring their current music. This is an example of cross media synergy; Elvis was a big advocate of this.

When not making movies, rock stars would have their own teen-aimed television series such as American Bandstand.

Musicians would continuously be on the road; to reach new audiences in diff erent countries and regions.

HOW WAS MUSIC MARKETED (CROSS-MEDIA SYNERGY)?

In the United Kingdom during the 1950s and 1960s, the major record companies had so much power that independent labels struggled to become established.

Several British producers and artists launched independent labels as outlets for their work and artists they liked, but the majority failed as commercial ventures or were swallowed up by the majors

In the United States, independent labels and distributors often banded together to form organizations to promote trade and also to simply match up to the big labels

MAINSTREAM VS UNDERGROUND