MUSI 1002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Technological Change, Spotify, Russell Simmons
MUSI 1002
Issues in Popular Music
May 15th, 2018
(Previous lecture)
Music 2.0
Three basic features of Music 2.0 (Wikstrom)
1. Connectivity vs control
o Better flow of music and ideas
o Audiences have high connectivity online
o Industry no longer principal mediator
2. Service vs product
o Value/presence of physical commodity greatly reduced
o Downloads and streaming are valued as services
3. Amateur vs professional
o Audiences have greater ability to create non-professional content (remix,
ashup, logs, et…)
o Artists can easily reach their audience without mediation (through social media,
streaig servies, et…)
Result of music 2.0
- Democratized and deinstitutionalized aspects of the industry
- Co-existence of the traditional practices (live performance, managers, promoters, labels,
networking in physical spaces) with new opportunities
o Importance of labels: Provide artists with experienced producers/other
resources
Principal Media of the Recording Industry
- After print era:
o Mono 78rpm/33 1/3rpm/ 45rpm records
o Stereo LP records
o 8-Track (portable)
o Cassette tape
- CDs in the 1980s
- Digital files (MP3, streaming) after 1990s
o Changed nature of the industry
o Algorithm was around in the 1980s, but needed fast internet
Global Industry 1969-1989
- Three phases
1. Expansion (1969-1978)
• 2 billion USD to 10 billion USD
2. Contraction (1978-1984)
• global recession, market fatigue/uncertainty
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• New-wave, pop-metal, decline of disco but wasn't really replaced with
anything
• '81-'83: music videos originally used a promo clips, emergence of
MuchMusic and MTV
3. Recovery (1984-1989)
• economic recovery and "CD boom"
- Value of global recording industry
- 1992, 28.8 billion (up 2.5 billion over 1991)
- Sales contract after mid-90s "CD boom"
Products of the Music Industry pre and post music
- Contraction of physical music sales
o DVD sales increase from 12 million to 180 million from 2000-2004
o CD sales decrease 2.45 billion units to 2.1 billion units during the same period
o Rise of video games, cellphones, internet
- Digital formats, initially illegal, made possible by music 2.0
- Illegal downloading
- 2003: iTunes
- Legal downloading
o Portable MP3 players
o 70% of legal downloads by 2010
- Streaming services
o Spotify, last.fm, YouTube rapidly replaces downloads
o Displaces notion of physical ownership
- Digital distribution
o Movement away from physical "artefact" ownership
o Challenged the core nature of music industry
Digital/Streaming
- Business models
o Ad-supported revenue
o Subscription-supported (more features, no/few ads)
- Financial issues
o Poor artist royalties (Lady Gaga received $167 for over 1 million plays of Poker
Face in 2009
o Relatively small part of industry revenues
- Effects
o Unbundling: focus upon singles, extended albums become less important, but
more freedom and choice for the audience
o Resurgence of legacy media such as cassette and vinyl
- 28% of internet users continue to visit illegal downloading sites
Licensing and Digital Piracy
- Before statute of Anne (1712), copyright didn't really exist
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