How important is convergence to the Music Industry?

Convergence within the music industry is where a single product has the ability to have more than one function. For example, a mobile phone can call, text, take photos, surf the internet, record videos and listen to music.

Convergence had an impact on their audience who listen to music through different types of hardware such as the CD and mp3. For audiences, advanced technology and convergence means that their separate hardware devices can all be put into one piece of hardware, which means there is now the merging of different media sectors and cross media products. For the consumer, they can now consume different media products within one device. The advance in technology allows consumers to carry one device, instead of lots of devices. Fro example, instead of having to carry round a camera, a CD player etc, consumers can now purchase a recent mobile phone which contain all of these necessities. This is due to convergence as the mobile phone can take photos, listen to music as well as the usual functions such as texting and make phone calls. This creates music to become a 'social event' due to the fact that it gives consumers a more graphic experience.

The Music Industry has benefitted greatly due to convergence. This is because music is being accessed worldwide due to the development of technology. Technology is developing frequently, therefore record labels have to keep updating their distribution and promotion of music.

Web 2.0 is responsible for the change in distribution of music with the user generated content on the internet. Record labels have to make sure they keep updated with these sources of changes so they don't lose out on money. Vertical Integration is an example of how producers are still making a profit. Vertical Integration is where a company makes a variety of different products, for example 'Apple' has made products such as ipods, iphones, Macs etc.

Record labels are benefitting from social networking sites by creating links on their company site to make sure they keep up with the revolution of technology. Synergy is another source in which companies are making profit. For example, Orange created a relationship with their audience through the advantage of Orange Wednesdays, O2 have teamed up with the latest device of the iphone.

However, the physical formats of music are now increasingly becoming obsolete which is problem for the music industry. This is because it means that record shops and the music industry are going to make less of a profit with the increase in downloads. This means record labels have to find other sources to keep their profit making afloat. For example, they have benefitted through sources such as social networking sites such as Facebook, this is because it helps artists to be discovered and recognised. Also, record companies have learnt that promoting live gigs and mp3 downloads also benefits them.

An example of a record label that is benefitting of convergence is 'Soul Jazz Records'. Soul Jazz promote a niche genre of music and are not apart of the mainstream labels. They promote genres such as Reggae, Latin, Post Punk, Funk and Soul, Jazz ad Brazilian. For them to reach their consumer audience, their use a variety of strategies such as promote and distribute their music through their website. The website contains links that supplies you with background information on artists, gigs and music samples. The website contains a merchandise link, where consumer's can purchase things such as CDs, LP's, Vinyl and mp3 samples. The website uses multi-media platforms as it contains advertisements for DVDs. These are all examples of how Soul jazz Records benefit from convergence as well as other strategies. Also, the website contains links to other labels this is called 'sista labels'. This is where labels form symbiotic partnerships with other labels. Soul Jazz records other 'sista labels' are Studio One and Universal Sound.

Overall, it is important to consider that the act of convergence is damaging the music industry, in terms of it is encouraging illegal downloads. However, the development in technology is allowing consumer's to purchase the latest devices, therefore the music industry are making a profit. Also, it is forcing the music industry to update and keep up date with the development in technology, therefore it is it increasing the development within the music industry.

Music Players

Gramophone:

• 1870s-1980s- earliest music player
• Thomas Edison founded it
• Vinyl disc with grooves-had to turn by hand for it to play
• considered now to be 'retro' and collectable
• private music experience-created a culture-revolution in itself
• still used by DJs - 'decks'

Cassette:

• developed by 'Philips' who were also responsible for the CD
• pressure from Sony to license the format free
• portable music-Walkman and Boombox
• allowed transference of content users- first 'file sharing'-music piracy-frowned upon by music industry
• lots of people had one-popular
• new genre-'popular music'
• created underground scenes and politically radical movements e.g. punk and rock
• 1979-used to record sermons to encourage overthrow of government
• decline in early 1990s-CDs
• cassette players in cars

CD:

• Philips and Sony -created it together
• early 1980s
• hold more info
• first came out-only play on Sony CD player - vertical integration
• data storage product -revolution of other data form
• better than cassettes - easily scratched
• died in early 2000s -mp3

portable music began through transistor radio

Boombox:

• rising interest in cassettes-fashion and aesthetics to portable music -late 1970s - amplifier, tuner
• died because of the Walkman

Walkman-MTV showcasing their device to promote it.

mp3-1998-32mb of storage-ten songs-change music whenever.

apple-2001-1000 songs

Key Findings:

• technology and hardware have greatly influenced both music institutions and audiences over the last four decades.
• the issues present today (file sharing, piracy,ownership control) have been around for decades.
• what is important is that the music industry responds and adapts to these issues and changes.

Self-produced bands/artists:

Artic Monkeys:

• don't need to rely on a label
• fan based demo tapes
• global village
• web 2.0
• self produced

Lily Allen:

• myspace site (web 2.0)
• twitter
• social networker

Sandie thom:

• webcast from home
• global village
• social networker
• web 2.0

Enter Shikari:

• self produced
• created own record label (ambush reality)
• web 2.0
• global village

Hadouken!:

• USB mixtapes (convergence and digital technology)
• web-based news exclusives-social networkers
• global village principle

Key problem is the fact you can't control what people do-internet-stripping music.

Domino Records

Domino Records is a British independent label which is based in London. They were founded in 1993, and promotes genres such as 'American Rock' and 'Britpop' such as Franz Ferdinand. They are know to be one of the most successful independent labels of the UK.

What kind of music does Domino records produce?

On the website there are a variety of different artists/bans in which the label has signed. They are catergorically sectioned, 'current artists', 'former artists' 'geological artists' and 'double six artists', these include bands such as Franz Ferdinand and Arctic monkeys. It allows you to click on the artists/band and view more information about them such as singles/albums, latest news and also some have their own social networking sites. The site contains music from older artists, and people who had one hit. Most of the music they promote is from an indie genre, this is because the music sounds from an indie genre.

What strategies do Domino records use to promote and distribute their music?

Domino's website contains a link called 'Mart'. This allows their audience to buy exclusive things such as albums, merchandise such as bags and t-shirts and tickets. This creates a brand identity as is associates people who enjoy a similar taste in music. They also promote things such as 'featured releases' and 'pre-orders'. This is where their audience is encouraged to purchase things that are made to seem unique and are exclusive to that label, therefore making their audience to want to be apart of it. The advantage of the distributing merchandise such as bags and t-shirts is that when their audience purchases things, it further promotes their company as their logo is present on the merchandise. This is therefore used as a promotional device and allows them to become multimedia as they are now being distributed over a number of different products not just music. This therefore leads to an increase in profits.

Their audience can also purchase gig ticket for upcoming gigs. This is an important way to distribute music as their gigs are generally cheap and also it will promote bands/artists. They are categorically organised according to location and month of the year. This makes it easier to find and know which are soon.

The site allows their audience to purchase music to their mp3. This suggests that the company recognises the change in technology and making it more accessible to their audience to purchase music they want.

The site allows their audience to 30 second clip of songs before purchasing. This gives their audience an insight to what the music sounds like, and further promotes bands/artists.

A video gallery is present within the site. This allows the audience to watch music videos of bands/artists and decide whether or not to purchase the song. This again promotes bands/artists.

Who is the audience?

From the site, we can suggest that the label targets both an older and younger audience. This is due to the music they promote, as the music ranges from older artists otherwise known as 'former artists' and recent artists. The gender is both female and male because it difficult to determine which they target most due to trends and the idea that they promote female and male merchandise.

What is the relationship with Domino Records and the mainstream music industry?

Mainstream labels include labels such as EMI and Sony who are apart of the Big 4. Whereas, Domino Records is an independent label. Domino promotes bands/artists who are well known, unlike mainstream labels who promote artists such as Beyonce.

Domino has a niche audience in comparison to mainstream labels, who are more well known therefore having a larger audience.

Soul Jazz Records

Soul Jazz Records is a British based record company. It was founded in the 1990's, and has gained a reputation of distributing a range of music of all genres to a wide audience. It distributes msuic from unsigned artists/bands within genre's such as reggae and 'old' music that was given recognition when it was first made.

What kind of music does Soul Jazz Records produce?

From the Soul Jazz Records webpage, we learn that they distribute a variety of genres. For example, Reggae, Dubstep, cosmic/leftfield, house, techno, electro, disco classics, hip-hop, punk, funk sound, jazz, latin, brazilian and funk and soul.

The variety in genres suggest that it contains sub genres for different people's tastes in musoc. They are an independent record label, and they target a wide spread audience as it distributes a variety of genre's in music to suit different people.

What strategies do Soul Jazz Records use to promote and distribute their music?

One of the strategies in which the label helps to promote their music is a 'wishlist'. This allows people to save the record in which they want to purchase so they can buy it sometime in future. This creates a relationship with their audience, and it shows to the website that the person wanting to purchase is a dedicated fan.

The website contains a merchandising link. this allows their audience to purchase clothing and bags etc. This is used as a promotional device as it allows the brand to create a unique brand identity. Also, it makes the webpage multimedia as the site distributes music as well as clothing.

The website also advertises clubs, tours and events. This allows the audience to view information on dates, times and venues as well as other significant information, for the band/artists they promote. They also have links that allow their audience to purchase tickets. They are usually cheap or free which will interest their audience as it is a promotional device fo people to attend these events and become associated with the label.

They can also sign up to weekly newsletters, which gives then the latest news about the latest bands/artists, merchandising, latest events, and latest albums/singles.

Soul Jazz Records also have sister labels such as 'Studio One' and 'Universal sound'. They produce and sell music of the same genre. This suggests they distribute their music to a wider audience because all of the labels are connected and therefore make a larger profit.

Who is the audience?

To determine the audience, you need to research the genre of music being promoted to determine their gender, interests and age group.

The webpage is very retro in terms music, genre and how bland the webpage looks. It seems very alternative and 'old skool'. This could target an older audience, however it could also target a younger audience as many are interested in old music these days due to the latest trends in fashion.

The title itself suggests 'Soul Jazz' suggests an older decade in genre of music, therefore attracting an older audience. The webpage suggests that the label has a wide audience as it deals with several sub genres for each genre of music having their own sub section. This suggests it caters for a range of different of music fans who are interested in different genres of music which creates a unique audience. It contains a lot of genres which suggests that it has a lot of different audiences due to the variation in sub genres.

What is the relationship between Soul Jazz Records and the mainstream music industry?

Soul Jazz Records is an independent record label unlike mainstream record labels. Mainstream usually promote popular artists and usually represent on particular genre. Whereas, Soul Jazz records promote a variation in genre and do not promote well known artists/bands which implies they have niche groups rather than a large one.

Mainstream is record labels such as the Big 4.

The music within Soul Jazz Records are evidently a lot cheaper as they are not as popular. Also, a lot of their events they advertise are free or really cheap unlike mainstream artists/bands who do events for reasonably high prices, depending on their celeb-status.

Production, Distribution and Consumption

Production:

· Wider media affecting source of music e.g. ringtones, video games.

· More competition due to variety of approaches available.

· Don’t need funding.

· Changes in popular genre.

· Record labels- doesn’t need one – D17 approach.

· New technology - new genre and music scenes including niche markets.

· Charts no longer required, or have to change to reflect listening trends.

· No musical talent needed – quality of music could be reduced.

Distribution:

• · Industry forced to think wider distribution methods e.g. games, live music, apps.
• · Physical sales (CDs, tapes, records) becoming rarity/in decline.
• · Hire of music now common practices e.g. spotify.
• · Possible growth of music industry due to promotion, instead of distribution.
• · Music is now seen as ‘free’.
• · Internet is now primary source of music (web 2.0)
• · Main problem: difficult to regulate distribution.
• · Downloads can be illegal because of unregulated Internet access.
• · Illegal downloads are seen to cost industry money because people are not paying money (however can be used as promo techniques)
• · Ownership of music is ‘virtual’

Consumption:

• Music now experienced through multi-media approaches e.g. music videos, guitar hero games.
• · User trend: downloads. Record companies have to evolve to find ways of still making money.
• · Physical format becomes obsolete or can become rare and niche.
• · Bands also have to change their approaches to distribution.
• · Technology changes means access to music is different e.g. use of iPods, iPhones. Therefore music industry has to keep with these changes e.g. releasing tracks through apps and games.

Key Terms and definitions:

Production: How music is produced and recorded in the first place.

Distribution: How the music is released into shops, radio and downloads at different points of sale access.

Web 2.0: Second version of the Internet. It is responsible for change in distribution of music.

Convergence: A device in which has more than one function at the time, affecting the way we listen to music e.g. Mac -watch TV, iPlayer, MSN.

Consumption: How people get hold of CDs, downloads and consume them.

Vertical Integration: When a company locks in different levels of the products. Sony mp3- can only play music in the Sony format. Therefore, more Sony products means more profit.

Social Networking: Facebook, Myspace, Bebo etc

Snergy: creates the maximum profit for two or more companies teaming up e.g. NME and Domino, iPhone and O2.

Global Village: the world becoming a lot smaller through technology.

Stafford (2007) Quote:

“The music industry can be defined as the organisation of the various activities associated with performing and recording music and distributing access to those performances around the world. Because the basis of music production is accessible to everyone with a modicum of talent, the industry is both more ‘open’ than filmmaking and less easily controllable than traditional broadcast television. This has led to a longstanding institutional difference between small and ‘independent’ music organisations and a large corporate mainstream.”

• Stafford suggests it consists of a worldwide production, distribution and consumption.
• More open-more freedom and access
• not financially draining
• les controllable-freedom-not regulated
• Music Industry divided by the type of record labels/institutions.
• Main Stream: Big Four: Sony, Universal, Warner Bros., EMI
• Stafford suggests the idea of a global village, where it has become easier to create music due to technology, so musical ability is no longer required.