Music Industry

Experiencias memorables en la era de la música instantánea

by Hector Fouce

2012. Anàlisi, Monogràfic: Audiovisual 2.0 (Febrer 2012)

La digitalización de la música ha hecho que los soportes dejen de tener valor y ha entronizado la canción como unidad... more La digitalización de la música ha hecho que los soportes dejen de tener valor y ha entronizado la canción como unidad de escucha (breve, inmediata, aislada), hasta el punto de que muchos consideran que la ingente cantidad de música disponible devalúa la calidad de la escucha. Pero, al tiempo, ha revalorizado la experiencia presencial del directo, la lógica del estar juntos en un lugar y un momento concreto, rasgos que comparte con el arte aurático descrito por Walter Benjamin. Este artículo describe algunas de las continuidades entre las nuevas formas de producción y consumo en la música digital y en el mundo presencial, explorando sus conexiones con otros fenómenos que marcan nuestra época contemporánea.


Palabras clave: Música digital, música en directo, crisis de la industria discográfica, experiencia aurática, discos

Un largo verano de festivales. Categoras de experiencia y culturas productivas en la industria musical española

by Hector Fouce

2009. “Un largo verano de festivales. Categorías de experiencia y culturas productivas en la industria musical española”. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, nº 64

Un análisis riguroso de las dinámicas de la industria musical no puede dar por sentado la idea de que hay una crisis... more Un análisis riguroso de las dinámicas de la industria musical no puede dar por sentado la idea de que hay una crisis en la música: bajo esa etiqueta hay simplemente un nuevo conjunto de culturas de producción y consumo. Estamos en pleno giro desde una industria cultural basada en el objeto (el disco, el CD) hasta una economía de la experiencia (Pine y Gilmore, 2000). Para ejemplificarlo me centraré en el caso de la música en directo.
Hay un sorprendente auge de los festivales musicales por toda España. Del hiphop al folk o al rock, cada ciudad del país intenta situarse en el mapa del verano ofreciendo un festival. El artículo revisa nuevas categorías de público, como los turistas internacionales o las familias con hijos, que se incorporan a los festivales modificando su organización, su financiación y sus contenidos.

Palabras clave: Industria musical; culturas de producción; consumo cultural; economía de la experiencia.

De la crisis del mercado discográfico a las nuevas prácticas de escucha

by Hector Fouce

2010. Comunicar, Revista de Medios de Comunicación y Educación, nº 34. Pp. 65 – 72

En la última década la industria de la música se ha convertido en el paradigma de las transformaciones que ha traído... more En la última década la industria de la música se ha convertido en el paradigma de las transformaciones que ha traído consigo el desarrollo del modo productivo hacia el capitalismo informacional. De la mano de una veloz innovación tecnológica, no siempre producida en los entornos empresariales, se han desarrollado nuevas formas de producción y consumo de música que han arrastrado a las compañías productoras de fonogramas a una crisis de ventas que ha obligado a una radical transformación en estas empresas en aras de la supervivencia. Este artículo pretende dar respuesta a la interrogante que subyace en las ambiciones de modificar el tejido productivo: cómo crear unas industrias culturales que sean capaces, al tiempo, de mantener una cultura común y democrática y desarrollar iniciativas que generen plusvalías a músicos, compositores y otros profesionales de la música. Para ello, nos serviremos de los datos extraídos tras una investigación en la que se realizaron tres entrevistas de grupo segmentadas según la edad. Se trata de cruzar las opiniones y experiencias de los consumidores con el análisis de la evolución de la organización de la industria de la música.


Palabras clave:
Música digital, industria cultural, públicos, tecnologías, cultura digital, nativos digitales, música popular, propiedad intelectual

Más allá de la crisis de la industria discográfica: redes P2P, música y experiencia generaciona

by Hector Fouce

2010. Martín Prada, J (coord) Redes y procesos P2P. Medialab Prado. Madrid.

English: http://medialab-prado.es/mmedia/4032

El debate contemporáneo sobre el uso de las redes P2P para intercambio de música tiende a focalizarse bien en la... more El debate contemporáneo sobre el uso de las redes P2P para intercambio de música tiende a focalizarse bien en la legalidad o ilegalidad de estas prácticas, bien en su relación con la crisis de la industria discográfica. Sin embargo, muy pocos trabajos han reflexionado sobre cómo las redes P2P han cambiado la experiencia cultural ligada a la música. En este trabajo, basado en la investigación “Prácticas emergentes y nuevas tecnologías: el caso de la música digital en España”, presento un pequeño estudio de caso en el que se han indagado en cómo tres grupos de edad (adolescentes, universitarios y jóvenes adultos) usan las redes P2P, cómo las valoran y cómo las ligan a su experiencia cotidiana.

Palabras clave: música digital, P2P, propiedad intelectual, audiencias música

Digital marketing leading towards new business opportunities : Searching for collaboration between Finnish music companies and digital service companies

by Laura Immonen

Co-authored with Jaakko Joensuu. Published at Finland, Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences.

Digital technologies and processes have changed the landscape within the music industry by altering ways in which... more Digital technologies and processes have changed the landscape within the music industry by altering ways in which revenue is generated, thus opening new possibilities for marketing and sales. New marketing strategies and ways to identify and communicate with prospects and existing customers had to be found. In Finland, during the latter part of the last century, many small IT and digital services companies appeared, and therefore this thesis seeks to describe the degree to which these two types of companies are co-operating with each other within the music industry.

The research began by investigating existing digital marketing tools available for music industry. Next, a qualitative research approach was employed to explore insights provided by eight notable professionals in the Finnish music industry and digital service companies. The combination of secondary and primary data enabled to discover in both broad and deep contexts the digital marketing tools and strategies now available and the level of collaboration within the researched companies. In addition, the thesis focuses on explicating the use of web 2.0 applications by Finnish music and digital service companies.

A Typology of Music Distribution Models

by Patrik Wikström

published in 'International Journal of Music Business Research 1(1):7-20, 2012

A typology of music distribution models is proposed consisting of the ownership model, the access model, and the... more A typology of music distribution models is proposed consisting of the ownership model, the access model, and the context model. These models are not substitutes for each other and may co‐exist serving different market niches. The paper argues that increasingly the economic value created from recorded music is based on context rather than on ownership. During this process, access‐based services temporarily generate economic value, but such services are destined to eventually become commoditised.

Music and Fashion: The Balancing Act Between Creativity and Control

by Aram Sinnreich

Book chapter written for the Norman Lear Center, 2006.

Music and fashion, two creative communities that share much in common, have evolved over time to produce drastically... more Music and fashion, two creative communities that share much in common, have evolved over time to produce drastically different industries. Both communities thrive on innovation and change, spurred by the mechanisms of reconfiguration, reinterpretation and reappropriation. Both are sustained by an ever growing commons, a living archive of all that has come before. Yet music suffers from a fundamental schism separating many of the needs of the creative community and consumers from the needs of the industry that enables and exploits it. Fashion, by contrast, has succeeded in brokering a working balance between aesthetic and financial mandates.

Perspectives on the Popular Music Industry

by Donald Harper

Technology innovations and the internet in particular, have caused a paradigm shift in business practices for the... more Technology innovations and the internet in particular, have caused a paradigm shift in business practices for the music sector of the entertainment industry. The last several years we have seen a major reshuffling of the major actors, combined with mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcies, legal wrangling and repositioning of strategies. This report offers some perspectives on the factors that gave rise to the concentration of power by the major firms in the popular music industry

Il futuro delle donne nel Music Business: Tra Oggetto e Qualità

by Giulia Di Simone

Giulia Di Simone

Sapendo che lo scopo della pop music è la vendita, e che sempre più spesso il messaggio utilizzato per raggiungere... more Sapendo che lo scopo della pop music è la vendita, e che sempre più spesso il messaggio utilizzato per raggiungere tale scopo è il sesso, non appare lecito interrogarsi su quanto oggi siano effettivamente importanti i contenuti musicali e quanto invece lo siano quelli visivi? Oppure quanto lʼimmagine femminile proposta rispecchi ed influenzi la cultura stessa?
Sulla base di questi principi e quesiti, questʼArticol Report si propone di analizzare mediante la comparazione di tre articoli, la posizione della donna come performer allʼinterno del music business, in termini di quantità e qualità. Partendo cronologicamente daglʼanni ʼ60 per arrivare fino ai giorni nostri, ponendo lʼattenzione sui nuovi modelli femminili e sul fenomeno Adele, in netto contrasto con un marketing musicale incentrato sulla vendita del proprio corpo.

'You've got to go to gigs to get gigs': Indie musicians, eclecticism and the Brisbane scene

by Ian Rogers

Queensland Music Industry Value Web: From the Margins to the Mainstream

by Ian Rogers

From the margins to the mainstream: Creating value in Queensland's Music Industry

by Ian Rogers

An Assessment of the Attitudes and Practices of Equality and Diversity in the UK Music Industry

by Vick Bain

The paper argues that the UK music industry is an unequal sector to work in, despite the outward facing gloss of... more The paper argues that the UK music industry is an unequal sector to work in, despite the outward facing gloss of multiculturalism the Top 40 Chart presents. In light of this environment the paper’s main research aim was to uncover the attitudes and practices of employers within the music industry towards equality and diversity. 

The methodology was completed by two methods; a comprehensive literature review (to assess both sectoral and organisational explanations for existing discrimination in the music industry) and the collection of empirical data through a fixed method strategy.  Specifically the objectives of the research were to: 

1. Research the main theories and concepts of equality and diversity in the workplace
2. Critically evaluate existing diversity diagnostic tools and create a fit for purpose equality and diversity questionnaire for the music industry
3. Through analysis of the resulting data, assess the current behaviours and attitudes towards diversity in the music industry and the corresponding outcomes

The findings were that organisations with an equality and diversity policy were often less diverse than those without, at all levels.  In other words simply having a policy is no guarantee of a diverse workforce.  However in organisations where the diversity climate is ‘strongly supportive’ of equality and diversity issues the effect is different; a supportive culture halves the numbers of organisations who have no women working in them at all.  It increases the overall female workforce of an organisation by 3%, the senior management workforce by over 20% and at director level by 17%.  Having organisational support reduces the number of organisations who have no BAME staff by 5%.  It increases the percentage of BAME staff overall by 4.5% and increases senior management BAME staff by 12%.  This research shows that getting support from the leaders of the music industry has the potential to change the entire sector. 

The research limitation was the sample size was low; only 152 fully completed questionnaires were completed out of 297 initiated from 2,002 emails sent out.  An analysis of the high drop out rate is given demonstrating organisations with an already positive attitude towards equality and diversity were much more motivated to complete the survey.  With an α level of 95% from a population size of 7,903, the obtained sample range gives a level of precision of ±8%.  This is low but still an acceptable precision level, however further research is recommended. 

Diversity research in the UK reveals a gap in any of the creative sectors and in particular the music industry.  CC Skills have published the over-arching sector statistics since 2006 but there have been no in-depth studies going beyond that.  This paper reveals details of employers’ attitudes in a sector which has never been analysed before.  This work therefore contributes to the body of knowledge that is just developing about the creative industries. 

Key Words: diversity climate, diagnostic tools, creative industries, music industry, attitudinal analysis

 

(R) Evolution in the Information Industry: What the Information Industry Can Learn from the Music Industry

by Amy Elliott

Presented at the Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC, Nov. 2009.
Elliott, Amy M. "(R)Evolution in the Information Industry: What the Information Industry Can Learn from the Music Industry" Charleston Conference Proceedings 2009. Ed. Katina P. Strauch, Beth R. Bernhardt, and Leah H. Hinds. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2010.
Written at Boise State University.

A failure to adapt to and adopt new and changing technology caused the music industry to crash, a fate that the... more A failure to adapt to and adopt new and changing technology caused the music industry to crash, a fate that the information industry currently faces. This paper is an overview of the music industry's crash, as a result of emerging digital technology, and the lessons that the information industry can learn from the music industry's mistakes in order to avoid its own crash now that technology allows for quicker, easier, and cheaper publication. In the 1980s and 1990s record companies refused to effectively adapt to and adopt the new digital technologies of CDs, MP3s, and digital recording. This resulted in a slow downward spiral toward the demise of major record companies. Though the music industry has recently embraced digital technologies and is trying desperately to catch up, it is much too late for them to return to their former power and economic status.

Today the information industry (including publishers, vendors, libraries and universities) faces a similar struggle with new digital technologies, especially institutional and digital repositories, which could result in publishers and vendors facing the same fate as record companies. This paper will give an overview of both industries as well as the mistakes which the music industry could have avoided and that the information industry should take as cautionary tales. It will also look at potential solutions, or ways to circumvent the music industry's mistakes and consider the future of publishing, vendors, libraries, universities, and institutional repositories and offer ideas for the success of the information industry as a whole.

The creative destruction of the music industry in Ireland: evolving revenue streams in traditional power structures.

by Sergio Sparviero

Understanding innovation in communication industries through alternative economic theories The case of the music industry

by Sergio Sparviero

With Jim Rogers, International Communication Gazette November 2011 vol. 73 no. 7 610-629

This article argues that communication scholars should collaborate with pluralist economists rather than traditional... more This article argues that communication scholars should collaborate with pluralist economists rather than traditional ones, as alternative economic theories are better suited to understanding the complex process of innovation in communication industries and to integration into multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks. In order to illustrate this point, first the main features of traditional economics that are incompatible with the study of the communication sector are outlined, then, a selection of theories and concepts from complexity economics, modularity and service innovation studies are presented. Moreover, as an illustration of the value of alternative economic theories in explaining change in the communication sector, these concepts are used to outline some of the most important changes and trends that have affected the music industry as a result of its digitization.

Developing Group Work Life Skills Within The Music Industries

by Mark Pulman

Explaining disruptive cultural fade. Invidividualism vs. homology and the process of commodification of artistic products.

by Marco Guerzoni

From RF to the Internet: Radio and Musical Culture in the 21st Century

by Alexandros Baltzis

Baltzis, Alexandros
In the collective volume "Digital Media: The Culture of Sound and Spectacle" (In Greek), pp. 305-335.
Editors: M. Kokkonis, G. Paschalidis, Ph. Bantimaroudis.
Athens: Kritiki, 2010.

This is a review of the web radio and the research in this field from a perspective focused on the specific relation... more This is a review of the web radio and the research in this field from a perspective focused on the specific relation between radio and musical culture. The review identifies the main issues and presents the debates and the rationale of the empirical research on internet radio developed since the mid '90s. It underlines the subjects open to inquiry and suggests future directions of research. It also argues that the range of the issues, the number of the disciplines involved, the permanence of the debates and the inquiries, and the multiple directions in which future research might develop, show that the web radio is not a passing or circumstantial field. This is valid especially for those who maintain that the content specificity, the mode of its production, and a specific relation with the musical culture, define what radio is rather than transmission technologies.

The study highlights the cultural importance of the RF radio, its catalytic impact on musical culture, and outlines the peculiarities of the Greek case from this point of view. It argues that this might be a framework for analyzing internet radio. In the same line of argument, the study includes also a critical review of several sociological approaches concerning the construction of culture by the RF radio as well as its construction by the culture (Adorno, Hirsch, Peterson, Hennion, and Negus). It concludes that the web radio challenges these approaches while its relation with the musical culture is still open to exploration.

The analysis arrives at the conclusion, that while several studies have identified new trends and possibilities in this direction, the research has not yet gone far enough. As a result, although the internet radio does not seem to disrupt the relation with the musical culture, the peculiarities and extend of its impact have not been clarified yet while a re-examination and eventually a revision of the approaches challenged is still absent. Finally, the paper argues that research in this direction is crucial because it might lead to an enrichment of major theories and basic assumptions about both the production of culture and the culture of production.

Copyright, Freedom of Expression® and Artistic Communication in the Internet Era: The Recorded Music

by Alexandros Baltzis

Deliyanni, Elsa; Baltzis, Alexandros; Synodinou, Tatiana
Paper at the international conference "The Impact of Internet on the Mass Media in Europe"
European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research (COST - Action A20), Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences
Delphi, April 26-28, 2006.

Based on the case of music in the internet, this paper explores the framework and the parameters of the conflict... more Based on the case of music in the internet, this paper explores the framework and the parameters of the conflict arising between copyright (in the sense of the protection granted by law to the authors by allowing them to prohibit unauthorized use of their works) and the right of the citizens to be informed. It presents some paradoxes that often result during litigation the degree to which the established legal approach of the peer-to-peer music file exchange complies with recent developments.

The paper discusses also the challenges that the internet creates for the recording industry, the phases of the "war on copyright infringement" in which the industry is involved, as well as its strategy. A major asymmetry is actually established in this field: the very notion of intellectual property - being socially constructed (and therefore culturally determined) - is incompatible with new types of practice and new forms of culture that proliferate in the internet and the public "cybersphere". Furthermore, it is incompatible also with cultures ignoring the concepts of individual creativity and of the autonomous and accomplished individual artwork.

Finally, the paper discusses some issues which are really at stake and extend far beyond the industry concerns about lost profits.