· Discuss the ways in which media products are produced and distributed to audiences within a media area you have studied.

 Discuss the ways in which media products are produced and distributed to audiences within a media area you have studied.

Media products within the music industry are CD’s, soundtracks (films, games, televsion), music videos, advertisements on television, newspapers, magazines (there are magazines which focus solely on music), the internet (mainly social networking sites such as facebook and myspace, the radio, concerts and merchandise.
The ‘Big 4′ music labels are Sony Music Entertainment , Universal Music Group , EMI , Warner Music Group. Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group seem to have mainly hip-hop and RnB musicians which will attract fans of these music genres to these labels, whereas EMI and Warner Music Group appear to have more rock type musicians and mainstream successful artists (Madonna, Robbie Williams) which will attract fans of these genres to the labels. Music labels try to promote their artists as best they can and sometimes use other artists on their label to help do this, such as giving away free sample CD’s with bigger artist CD’s and artists on the same label touring together. Normally bands and musicians of similar genres tour together as they generally attract specific fans. Such as My Chemical Romance supporting Green Day on their 2005 American Idiot tour. Festivals are a way to promote musicians as many different acts and genres can gather in one place to attract many different fans and hopefully introduce some people to new and different genres of music.
Music videos such as Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which lasted 13 and half minutes attracted great amounts of attention, was the first of it’s kind and is still referred to as one of the greatest music videos of all time and was even nominated for awards. This helped to hype up the song and Michael Jackson’s music career even more. After this, music videos became seen as a valuable way to help distribute music and now millions can be spent on just one music video.
Soundtracks are a good way of distributing music to audiences as television shows such as Scrubs and films such as the Shrek series have popular soundtracks. This type of distribution allows the music industry to promote music which the audience may not have heard otherwise. Perhaps the one of the most famous and popular songs from a television series is Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing which has been used in the television series Glee because of its popularity it was even rereleased. This also works in a similar way to advertisements and games.
The internet uses social networking sites such as facebook and myspace to promote bands using fans pages or official band pages which increases the popularity of musicians, especially those first starting out and unsigned bands. Lily Allen and Kate Nash are examples of musicians which myspace helped lead to their success. An example of social networking sites distributing music was in 2009 when a facebook group was made to get Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’ to Christmas number 1 to prevent the X-Factor winner reaching number one, which it did. The song became the first single to reach Christmas number one on downloads alone. This shows the sheer power and influence the internet has on music today.
The internet has a huge impact on the music industry today as not only can it be used to promote music but it it can be used to buy music from as well, either downloads from the itunes store or other websites such as amazon, which CD’s can be both bough and downloaded from. This makes it easier for people to access and become aware of music and so helps the music industry greatly, however the internet does have some negative effects on the music industry, such as people who illegally download music as this means the musicians and labels lose money and therefore cannot continue to produce more music.
Magazines and newspapers are a way of distributing music to audiences within the music industry as they often have reviews and interviews with musicians as well as important news, such as tour dates and album release dates. There are even magazines which are solely about music and there are different magazines for different music genres. This promotes music and helps to make readers aware of new musicians. Radio is aimed at a wide audience as nearly everyone listens to the radio, whether it is traveling, while at home or at work many people enjoy listening to the radio as it is a way of hearing new music. There is also a variety of radio stations so listeners have a choice depending on their own taste. Merchandise is another part of distributing music as fans will buy band clothing or other items and then other people will see them with their band merchandise and may look up these bands and become fans themselves.
To conclude media products are produced and distributed in many different ways within the music industry, through CD’s, soundtracks, music videos, advertisements, newspapers, magazines, the internet, radio, concerts and merchandise. Perhaps the best way is the internet as it has become a valuable tool in producing and distributing these media products very successfully however, it does have it’s downfalls, such as illegal downloading which affects the music industry negatively.

 1. What Gender are you?

Male

Female

 

2. What Genre/s do you listen to?

Pop

Rock

Indie/Rock

Rap

RnB

Drum and Bass

Dubstep

Metal

Electronic

Jazz

 

3. What is your opinion on Illegal downloading toward music and other media?

 

4. How do you listen to your music? (tick more than one if you want)

iTunes

Spotify

YouTube

Myspace

Windows Media Player

Radio

Television

 

5. What music do you prefer?

Mainstream

Niche

 

6. Do you illegally download?

Yes

No

7. Do you attend local gigs?
(potentionally unsigned artists)

Yes

No

 

8. Do you still purchase music?

Yes

No

 

 

Convergence

Advantages

• Convergence have had an effect on audience perception. Audience no longer perceive media platforms as seperate, due to technological convergence. For example the internet is television and music for some consumers.
• Convergence has changed the music industry dramatically. Labels can promote and distrubute music diretcly. Web 2.0 is a website which is longer a shop window, it is immediately a shop. It was changed by being more interactive.
• TV and Music are converging to increase sales, e.g Brittania high, Glee, Xfactor. This illustrates the way in which synergy is supported by convergence.
• Narrows the gap between produces and audience
• Opens up opportunities for any artist to promote their work, record labels are no longer the only gateways.
• offers free distribution, digital music has no need to be physically copied, packaged or transported.       

Disadvantages

•  Due to these illegal downloads, the music industry is making less and less money on record sales, and some figures show that they are making just 5% of the revenue that they could be making if illegal downloading didn’t exist.  
•    With the huge losses being made, this means that record labels and artists are making less and less money, and therefore have less money to reinvest back into the music, meaning that the quality and quantity of the music is being affected.

How UMG uses subsidiaries to maximise the success of artists from different genres.

• Artists are kept to being unique and special so they don't feel taken advantage of and generalised by a big label company. This makes the artists feel they can approach the label with confidence within what they are producing.
• Smaller labels can focus more on how to manage and market the artists they are dealing with, more time will be spent on the artists promotiong and marketing aspects and not as much pressure will be put on the artists by the record label.
• smaller labels that focus on specific artists are good for the artists because they are most likely to be signed to a small label because of the genre they represent along with their talent. alabels can provide experts within the genre to help the artist and get the most out of what they are producing.

How does technological convergence benefit/damage the music industry?

Convergence describes the way in which technology has come together in recent years. This has had a huge impact on the music industry, as more and more opportunities are being made for artists, record labels and producers to promote and distribute music. However, after all this convergence of music being available via new media platforms, there are benefits to this new system, but also some factors that are damaging the industry.

Advantages:

·         The cost of distribution of the music being produced has gone down as the gap between the producer and the audience is now much smaller. The way this has been done is by making the music available in many different formats, the main one being digital, and compatible to many different devices like phones, mp3 players, computers etc. This means that more and more people are now purchasing this digital copy of the music, instead of the physical CD with the single or album from. By doing this, the demand for packaged CD’s have dropped dramatically, saving the labels and producers a lot of money on materials to physically make and package these CD’s.

·         There is now instant access to the music being created by the invention of the download. Not only does this save money, but it also generates more revenue. This happens for a number of reasons. When a song or artist is played on the radio or TV, two forms of convergence, the consumer can instantly go onto their computer or even phone, and purchase this single or album within seconds. This means that people are much less likely to forget who it was they wanted to purchase by the time they are physically in a shop that sells CD’s, as they can instantly purchase it there and then with no interruptions or forgetting what song or album is was that they liked.

·         As well as instant access to the music via download, there is also instant access on just listening and finding new music. The internet plays a big part in this by offering websites and programmes like We7 and Spotify, where you can stream and listen music for free. This makes it quicker than ever for listeners to find and listen to new music, and from here download the track. People can now listen to music from so many more devices, for example people don’t have to carry a boom box round on their shoulder, or wait for a specific song to come on the radio, people can now access these songs straight from their phones, computers and other smart devices like the iPad.

·         By having this instant access, it’s now easier than ever for artists to find opportunities to promote their work. They can create profiles on social networks, giving access to their audience to listen to and sample their music, as well as putting up videos on sites like YouTube for their fans to communicate with them more intimately, and give them a new way of experiencing their music.

·         Artists can also promote their music through other artists, for example having their videos on other artists’ websites and social networks pages. These links can be made by these two or more artists going on tour together, leaving the audience wanting to know more about the other artists, so looking on these sites they can get a direct link to the other artists music.

·         Another form of promotion would be via programmes like Spotify, where artists can create adverts, audio or visual, to be placed on the programme, and to be played in between songs, so try and gain a wider target audience and increase audience awareness.

·         Even though illegal downloading loses the music industry a lot of money, it can also benefit the artist. An example of this is Scouting For Girls, who aren’t too annoyed about illegal downloads, as they claim that this is the way that they gained a large number of their audience, who then went on to attend their gigs, and buy their next album or single. By being able to share the music without having to pay for it every time someone else heard it meant that more and more fans were created for Scouting For Girls, as they didn’t need to pay for the music they were listening to, so weren’t disappointed if they didn’t like it, but were even happier if they liked the music as they found and listened to it without spending any money.

Disadvantages

·         By making the copies of the music as a digital version, it is now easier than ever to copy and distribute this music to other people for free, getting around the boundary of paying. Programmes like Limewire and uTorrent give audiences this access to the music without having to pay for it, as they can easily just search for the song, and download it for free. There are also many websites which offer straight transactions of free downloads like The Pirate Bay and Mp3 Raid. These sites have a search box, and directs the user straight to the music that they want to download for free.

·         With these illegal downloads, the music industry is making less and less money on record sales, and some figures show that they are making just 5% of the revenue that they could be making if illegal downloading didn’t exist.

·         With the huge losses being made, this means that record labels and artists are making less and less money, and therefore have less money to reinvest back into the music, meaning that the quality and quantity of the music is being affected.

How far do you think developments in technology have changed the way the music industry operates?

Throughout the past couple of decades there have been huge technological changes which have completely changed the way in which the music industry operates. New ways have been created for artists to distribute their music to the audience, as well as new ways that the audience can get hold of this music illegally and legally.

If we look at the past 20 years of music, the music industry has experienced a global change. Revolutionary technology has evolved almost every aspect of the industry from the artists to the label. 

                     Back when music technologies arrived, the only way of accessing the music you wanted to hear would be buying a Record on a Vinyl and having a vinyl player to listen to it on, but there would also be juke boxes where you would play a small about (50p) to listen to a track. You would also have to wait for it to be played on the radio or attend gigs which were normally local. 

                            The Cassette was introduced shortly, this appealed to the public as the cassette would normally feature a whole record on it from an artist which at the most you would pay under £10, you could play it in the comfort of your own home on a stereo player, cassette player or even in your car. This was a great development to music as this started the technology of music being listened outside of one place. A few years post the popularity of the cassette; CD's were brought to the public eye as a new way to listen to music, and it was appealing because it wasn't chunky like a cassette. CD's were the new trendy way of purchasing music, like a cassette, there would be albums on the CD but now, you could also buy singles and some came with bonus tracks. CD's could also be played on stereos but Walkmans were brought out for the CD to play on which was appealing as a walkman was small and easy to take around with you instead of a stereo. The music industry was operating good as all music was being purchased. But the uprising of the internet shortly leaded to illegal downloading from CD's. CD's could be burned onto the internet and people would download them for free which declined the revenue of record labels. This was trouble for the industry. 

                   An American multinational corporation called Apple released a technology development for listening to music called the 'iPod'. The iPod was a way of listening to music ANYWHERE! It was literally a stereo in your pocket! This was known as mp3 as tracks would be placed onto the iPod. Songs would normally come from a CD which has been purchased but because of the internet, people felt like they would take advantage and download as many songs as they can to place on the iPod.

This caused an amazing amount of money loss for the record labels and more importantly the artists. The development of the iPod unintentionally caused a heap of illegal downloading. So, Apple decided to start distributing artists music from iTunes for prices for single at 70p, Singles and albums were distributed from iTunes and this helped the illegal downloads slow down, but they never stopped. Despite having to pay, iTunes system was extremely successful and is still to this day, the music industry operates a lot through iTunes now by promoting new and upcoming artist on the iTunes store, and making deals with prices etc....

                       But, with the use of new technology, the way in which people listen to and get hold of music is completely different. Instead of buying a record or even a CD, the majority of people now buy their music from the internet and get an instant download of that song or album. Music can also be streamed straight from the internet on social sites such as MySpace, or even through programmes like Spotify.

               Improvements in music technology have also increased piracy in the music industry. Illegal downloads happen more and more, as new software is being produced. With programmes like Limewire and UTorrent around, it’s so easy to download music for free. Like before, this affects the music industry enormously as it means the revenue to the industry is cutting down. According to the ‘Drowned In Sound’ website, the music industry only made 5% of their potential sales in 2008 due to illegal downloading. This is around a £48 billion loss in just one year.

                New and upcoming artists who want to be in independent as they may not like the conditions record labels have, for example, taking a large percentage of the money being made. So nowadays, it is very easy to record new material but using Logic Express launched by apple. This product is made for a music purpose and is a programme to help record tracks. Garage Band is also another programme launched by apple but that helps to edit a recording. By using technology like this, it helps independents artist promote they and they can be sure a record label doesn’t get a profit cut from material which is being released. But, programmes like Logic Express help labels loose out of on popularity and money as the artist who want to be independent get all credit. Artists can promote themselves by social networking as soon as they record a track. Most artists use MySpace and that provides a music player where songs can be played and even downloaded for free. Viral marketing is often used a lot by independent artists. 

Overall, I think the developments in technology have changed the way the music industry operates hugely! The technologies have influenced purchasing music, but the internet is powerful and is an open door to piracy and free downloads of everything which has completely changed the way music is being distributed! It has changed the ways music is being bought and listened to! Free streaming happens, and programmes like Limewire are still ongoing providing free tracks etc... The new technologies were meant to provide a safe system for records labels and prevent loss of money, but instead it unintentionally comes up with ways to access piracy easily.