In-Class Writing:
Potential Arcs:
- History and Economy of Music
- Technological Advancements —> Music Production technology, AI, and VR
- Streaming and Copyright
- Perspectives regarding streaming and copyright —> Consumers, Artists, and Music Companies (distributors, executives, labels as a whole)
Aspects of my research most interesting/compelling/surprising?
- Streaming and the truths and POVs from different sides
- How technology has grown throughout history, particularly recent years (AI and VR)
Needs to be researched about:
- Holograms and concerts
- Advancements in music production technology (synthesizers and such)
- Copyright
- Case Study = Napster and maybe Golden Records?
- Indie Record Labels vs. Major Music Companies
Potential Outline (Really Rough)
- Brief Music History
- The Economy of Music throughout History and the current economy
-----Pre-Digital Era vs. Digital Era
- Technological Advancements in Music Industry
-----Music Production Equipment
-----AI
-----VR
----------Holograms, Concerts, Music Videos
- Copyright
- Streaming
-----Various Services
----------Spotify
----------Case Study: Napster
- Perspectives
-----Consumers
-----Artists
-----Music Companies
----------Major vs. Indie
---------------Case Study: Indie Record Label? Golden Records?
Wrap Up
Regarding the Research Arc, I think my plan will be a bit messy, but it's worth a shot. I plan on writing about every topic that will be presented in my project and when I have everything, evidence and claims wise, written out, I'll order them the way I think is best.
Research Arc:
Streaming – How has it affected the music industry? Why is this not so simple?
The Economics of Music:
TSCHMUCK, PETER. “SECONDARY MUSIC MARKETS.” The Economics of Music, Agenda Publishing, 2017, pp. 137–156. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv5cg90z.11.
· Streaming has different forms: Radio broadcasting; Television; Motion pictures; Video games;
· YouTube took over the music television, MTV. It had a higher consumption than MTV.
o YouTube “founded in 2005 … is a user-generated platform and has attracted controversy over the copyright-infringing practices of users who upload content without the permission of rights holders”
o They have a Content ID system that identifies any copyright material and gives the artists/creators the power “either to enforce the removal of the video or to sell advertising around it”
§ https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_stewart_how_youtube_thinks_about_copyright/transcript?language=en
· Example: Forever by Chris Brown
· At least 18 months after Chris Brown released “Forever,” a wedding couple used that song and danced to it. They got 40 million views and Sony didn’t block it because their video was marketing the song and bringing in a lot of revenue. The song was brought back to top 5 on iTunes, so not only is Sony getting money from YouTube but also iTunes.
· This is a win-win situation.
· Streaming created a “culture of opportunity”
o In contract with music labels, music publishers/artists, and countries too
o Similar music-sharing services: Tape TV (Ireland) and QQ Video (China)
· Motion Pictures:
o Had a huge impact on the economy for music industry
o Music was either composed for the motion pictures or pre-existing music was licensed in order to be used
· Video Games:
o “A relevant revenue source for music publishers and composers and function as an important music licensing market”
NEW DISCOVERIES:
- Motion Pictures: payment to composers and songwriters
- The Economics of Music -> Section “Sponsorship and Branding” for Marketing aspect of project
Consumer’s Perspectives – How are consumers playing into the streaming services and the music industry?
An Analysis of Music Fan Towards Music Streaming Purchase Intention of Thailand's Music Industry
· Fans’ love for the music and for the musicians brings in revenue. They increase sales for concert tickets, merchandize, and music tracks (CDs, digital, etc.)
NEW DISCOVERIES:
- “Artist’s passion for their music fans is the key factor in music lover’s intent to download and pay for digital music” -> focus on artists
- The music industry tends to forget that fans are what makes their world go around
- Labels and artists tend to focus on their self-image and tend to forget to communicate with fans, even with concerts
- Study suggests that “entrepreneurs and music industry leaders” should be aware of the different types of fans.
I worship, so I download? Idol worship, music purchase and piracy by young consumers in Taiwan
· The results suggested that “social worship and personal worship have a significant and positive impact on the intention” to buy music. Personal, however, has a negative effect on buying pirated music whereas social actually positively affects it – so strengthens
· Higher Idol Worship = legally downloading music
· Two objectives were examined: “effect of parental peer norms on idol worship and the effect of idol worship on the intention to purchase and obtain the idol’s music products legally and illegally”
· Idol Worship = “more extreme dimensions of idol worship lead to compromised identity structure in some individuals”
· Social Worship = basic interest. Reads and learns about their idols
· Personal Worship = Intensive and compulsive feelings. Infatuation
· Borderline-Pathological = Obsession (But not included in this study)
Artist’s Perspectives – How are artists reacting to the streaming services?
· Some artists would like to be paid more if they were to use the streaming services to market their music
· Taylor Swift actually restricted a lot of her music from Spotify as the royalties that she got weren’t as much as album sales
· From previous articles, they mentioned that artists also want to have interactions with fans that way the consumers are more inclined to continue to support them and buy their music – physically and digitally
· However, artists are stuck in the middle between creating music for the fans and creating music that will bring revenue in for the company
· There are some artists who prefer to produce money that will bring them money
· Other artists want to create music that their fans will like and that fulfills their own happiness
· Just from artists, there is also a difference between the companies they represent: Major vs. Independents
o Jack Conte is the creator of Patreon and he was pointing out how artists and creators need to be paid the appropriate amount for their works
o One of the shocking points: compare 20,000 views on YouTube vs. 20,000 people in a concert. But artists/creators who upload on YouTube are not paid half as much as the money made from concerts
Music Companies’ Perspectives – How are they responding to the rise of streaming services? Why do they react negatively when the streaming services are technically marketing their artists’ music?
· Main point – THEY ARE NOT MAKING ENOUGH REVENUE
· Although streaming services can help market artists’ music, artists and companies are not gaining the same amount of revenue as they do through physical album sales
‘Let's keep music special. F—Spotify’: on-demand streaming and the controversy over artist royalties
· Big controversy “criticizing the low levels of royalty payments”
· This article focuses on independent labels and musicians
· Streaming is actually utilizing the same expansion concept as major record labels
· “The success of major labels has always depended upon ‘consumption-based’ rather than ‘unit-based’ profits; their strategy was to release lots of records in the knowledge that only a small number of them would be successful but that the rewards from a small number of hits would outweigh the losses of the remaining releases”
o Which is why although major music companies are bothered by it, they are still making some form of profit; however, independent record labels are actually struggling as they have different rules they live by compared to the major ones
· Spotify’s payment is targeted towards major labels
· There is a lack of transparency in the music industry, however, they still don’t try to resolve the issue. They still keep everything bottled up.
· Concerns with Spotify is very similar to the concerns from the past (record industry) -> it seems as if the music industry simply has concerns with the improving technology society if they previously had problems with the record industry and now concerns with the streaming services that, from some perspectives, is actually helping the artists and the companies out with advertisements
· “The recorded music landscape in the streaming era is beginning to bear many similarities to that of the CD era: financial success depends upon scale and catalogue, the major labels have a stake in music distribution networks, and the vast majority of artists do not make money”
NEW DISCOVERIES:
· Copyright enforcement – “while still publicly criticising piracy and campaigning for improved copyright enforcement, the record industry apparently accepted that it would have to adapt to consume behavior”
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