Last week we had our lead bloggers discuss how the Internet is impacting the film industry, not only is it impacting the film industry but the music industry as well. About twenty years ago consumers relied almost only on CD’s and radio. The Internet soon started to allow consumers to download music illegally using programs like Napster, and Limewire. Pirated music became a huge problem because there was no way to stop people from downloading illegally (Werde). “The down side is that the business side of music is struggling to generate enough revenue because of the new technology”(Recording Connection Audio Institute). Some believe that the Internet has benefited artists and others believe that it has changed the music industry for the worse.
The bad that comes with the Internet is that illegal downloading has made it very hard for artists to make money from music sales, so in the recent years the real income has been through playing their music live, aka going on tour. “The concert business has never been bigger, in dissonant contrast to the recorded-music business”(Kafka). Taylor Swift’s “1989” tour grossed over $250 million worldwide. Music sales have dropped for three years in a row, from $13 billion to $11.5 billion in 2002 and the tour business has boomed for four years straight, from $1.3 billion in 1998 to $2.1 billion last year(Kafka). "The top 10 percent of artists make money selling records. The rest go on tour," says Scott Welch. Swift’s tour, featured a new guest celebrity artist in almost every city she performed in. A way that she promoted this was by using different social media platforms to show fans a behind-the-scenes look at each tour date and who she brought on stage on that day. I think this really helped her promote her tour and made fans want to attend because it gave them the excitement to not know who she would be bringing on stage the night you attend (Lewis).
Artists not only have started to use social media platforms to connect with fans on a more personal level but they now use it to promote their tours, and other things such as products they endorse. When you look at sites like Twitaholic, you can see that most of the top 100 Twitterholics based on followers are musicians. With names like Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and Rhianna, in the top ten you know they are definitely using social media to their advantage. I think that having a great social media strategy as a musician is key to generating a fan base like no other. Except, just posting the same old content is not going to be enough. Artists definitely need to get very creative with their social posts and try out new things. A good example of an artist who uses social media to connect with fans and does a great job with it, would be John Mayer. He was one of the first artist to use the social media platform Periscope to broadcast private concerts just for his Periscope fans. Even though he has over 93,000 Periscope followers, he is basically giving his fans a unique experience because it feels like he is playing just for you. Sometimes during his broadcasts he does things other than sing to keep his fans interested, he sometimes gives guitar lessons or does a question and answer type of broadcast with questions the fans ask. Mayer’s approach to Periscope and his ability to use social media to his full advantage is something that that many artist should follow because it will really help them connect to their fans.
I know that I see several artist such as Maluma, and Nicky Jam use social media to promote their newest songs. They both used a similar strategy which was asking fans to upload and tag them in a video with their song in the background. Thousands and thousands of fans actually did this because the artists were reposting their posts and they had a chance to be posted on an artists social media account. Justin Bieber used a similar tactic, he used his celebrity friends, and had them take pictures with a sign that had a countdown and said “What Do You Mean?” and everyday was someone new so this really helped him promote his new single. Justin Bieber has 77,599,690 followers on Twitter and 61.5 million followers on Instagram meaning all those people saw the countdown everyday until the release of the song allowing for hype.
The Internet has not only changed how music is consumed but it has also changed the way it is produced. “Where twenty years ago, aspiring artists would rely on corporate bigwigs to listen to their demo disc, the Internet has put some power back in their artist’s hands”(Harrison). Music artists now have the ability to produce their own songs, and upload it within seconds to the Internet and further promote it. I personally have a few friends who sing, record themselves, and upload their tracks to social media platforms like Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud, etc. This benefits aspiring musicians and artists because these social media platforms can allow for listeners to discover them and their talent. Sites like Youtube can really benefit musicians who cannot afford to work with a record label. “As soon as a track is uploaded to the Internet it can be accessed by people across the world if they know where to look”(Harrison). A great example is Justin Bieber, again. He started to post homemade videos on Youtube and was discovered by music manager named Scooter Braun. Sites like Youtube, and Facebook also allow for videos to go viral, and in recent years there have been many songs that have become successful due to this. As mentioned previously, once a video is uploaded it can be accessed by anyone anywhere.
So what does this mean for the future? Well according to Powell-Morse, over the years revenue from tours has increased, but attendance has actually begun to decrease. Fewer people are attending concerts, but the cost of tickets continue to rise, will this just cause for even less ticket sales in the future or will artists like Taylor Swift and One Direction continue to make millions? All of these new trends in the music industry are a direct result of the Internet. The ability to not only download but share and promote music to anyone via social media platforms dramatically changes how artists can go about pursuing their careers (Johnson). With the Internet connectivity continuing to grow and the technology of smartphones continuing to improve I predict that the Internet will continue to have a huge impact on how music is produced, consumed, and shared. Artists will continue to keep up with technology and social media.
On a side note, but very relative, Instagram is changing March 29th, 2016. Instagram is going to get rid of their chronological feed. Instagram will now only show you photos it thinks you want to see. Think about how these changes might affect the music industry when it comes to artists trying to promote themselves, their music and products they may endorse.
Work Cited
Bruno, Antony. "8. Social Media Strengthens Foothold In Music." Billboard 122.50 (2010): 24. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
"Social Media Is Revolutionising the Music Industry - Brandwatch." Brandwatch. BrandWatch, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
Harrison, Laura. "How Has the Internet and Social Media Changed the Music Industry?" Socialnomics. Socialnomics, 23 July 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
"How The Internet Changed Music." Recording Connection Audio Institute. Recording Connection Audio Institute, 20 May 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
ArtistsHouseMusic. "Artists House Music: Touring as a Source of Revenue." YouTube. YouTube, 15 Sept. 2011. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
Kafka, Peter, Href, Http, WWW.FORBES, Target, External, and FORBES.COM. "Concert Tours Are Where the Real Money Is." ABC News. ABC News Network, 11 July 2016. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
V, Brenden. "Music Sales Falling, Tour Revenue in Danger. Can the Industry Survive? - DJBooth." DJBooth RSS. DJBooth, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
Johnson, Will. "How the Internet Is Helping the Music Industry | Will Johnson – Digital America." Digital America. Digital America, 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
"Instagram: Most-followed Accounts Worldwide 2016 | Statistic." Statista. The Statics Portal, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
"Twitterholic.comTwitaholic." Top Twitter User Rankings & Stats. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
Werde, Bill. "A Decade In Relief." Billboard 121.51 (2009): 6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
Lewis, Randy. "Taylor Swift's '1989' Is 2015's Highest Grossing Concert Tour by Far." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
Nicole, I think your last point about Instagram straying from the chronological order is completely timely, as this is all I’ve been reading about today. I actually saw a post John Mayer made on his Instagram March 17 with the caption, “this one’s for the artists and designers I’ve found on Instagram and come to know via my feed.” The actual post read:
ReplyDelete“Dear, Instagram,
Please don’t change the chronological feed in exchange for an algorithm meant to show most relevant feeds first. I’m not writing this for my benefit, but for the benefit of so many artists, creators and upstarts whose careers depend on this platform to flourish. My tastes, interests and curiosities change every day; if I’m not even sure what’s relevant to me, how will you know? What was irrelevant to me yesterday could be my latest passion today. I’ve met some fine people and been exposed to great art that I would have otherwise never found because of this app. Please keep that beautiful communal experience alive.
Relevantly Yours,
John” (Instagram).
At first I was surprised to see an artists’ personal petition, but then I started thinking about how much this change could impact them. As Nicole mentioned, I think this greatly takes away from what the artist might be trying to promote in the moment. Without chronological posts, users and fans will not know about the latest singles or announcements as they’ve been shared all along. This has worked in artists favor because it allows their fans to follow along to the most relevant content as it becomes available.
I think this is one of the many major changes consumers and artists alike have seen in recent years. It’s hard to talk about the current industry without thinking of an artist like Taylor Swift, who has made headlines over pulling her music from streaming, and encouraging companies like Apple to pay up. In her letter to Apple she wrote, “But I say to Apple with all due respect, it’s not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation” (Bereznak.) And they listened, so maybe her infamous ex John Mayer will have similar luck with Instagram.
Overall, I believe one of the biggest changes whether streaming or promoting via YouTube would have to be the level of artist involvement. The days of hiding behind a manager seem to be gone, and proactive efforts of hopefuls have the potential to be discovered in these online dialogues. The variety of platforms creates an open space for new discovery everyday.
When Swift made 2015 the year of “1989” she proved she is not only good with writing lyrics and letters, but putting on a memorable show. According to the Los Angeles Times her 2015 tour made just over $250 worldwide and performed 83 shows in 53 cities and sold almost 2.3 million tickets during the year, as reported by Pollstar (Lewis). With that said, I think that artists have more power to make their own success and artists like Swift are a prime example. If apps, streaming services, etc. want to continue a mutually beneficial relationship with their artists (old and new alike) they have to keep both artists and their fans happy.
Bereznak, Alyssa. “How Taylor Swift Convinced Apple to Pay Independent Artists.” National Correspondent Yahoo Technology 21 June 2015 Web. 28 March 2016.
Lewis, Randy. “Taylor Swift's '1989' is 2015's highest grossing concert tour by far.” Los Angeles Times. 30 Dec 2015 Web. 28 March 2016.
Mayer, John. Instagram. 17 March 2016. Accessed 28 March 2016.
Nicole,
ReplyDeleteI thought your blog post was done very well! It is clear to see how the Internet and social media are shaping the music industry much like it is shaping the movie industry. While the Internet has had some benefits, like artists being able to release their own music, it for sure does not out way the negatives.
Because of all of the different ways that albums can be leaked on the Internet, it makes sense for artist to limit the ways that their fans can own their music. While it might cut off some fans, for artists like Kanye West, who already have a following, I can see why he would just release his album on Tidal instead of just fully releasing his album to the public. “Currently. Pablo is only available for streaming via Tidal and is not available for purchase or download” (Rys & Flanagan). While Kanye is the first mainstream artist to only release his album on a streaming service, I would not be surprised to see more and more artists using this method.
When an artist releases a standard release album, there are many chances for people to take the album and do what ever they want with it. For example, when Adele’s most recent album came out, one of my friends bought the physical CD and burned 10 of our friends copies of the CD. Kanye avoided something like this happening by only releasing his album on a streaming service.
However, there are artists who are taking the exact opposite approach then Kanye. Ironically, artists like Taylor Swift are against streaming services and look at other revenue streams to make their money. For artists like Swift, this is not difficult to do. She has such a big following that her concerts make her the majority of her money. What shocked me about your blog was the statistic on the small amount of artists that make enough money to not need to go on tour. It is only the top 10% of artists. “Swift’s tour, featuring a bevy of different guest stars in nearly every city she visited, grossed over $250 million worldwide” (Lewis).
I am not surprised that different artists have different approaches of making money, but what does surprise me is how much artists are struggling. Because there are so many ways to download albums and songs illegally, the amount of money that’s these artists actually is not as much as we would think. While these artists are a far way from crying poverty, the way that the Internet is ruining the music industry, there needs to be a change in the way that we consume the music that they are releasing.
Work Cited
Lewis, Randy. "Taylor Swift's '1989' Is 2015's Highest Grossing Concert Tour by Far." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec. 2015. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
Rys, Dan, and Andrew Flanagan. "Kanye West Says 'The Life of Pablo' Will Never Be For Sale and Only on Tidal, Sources Express Confusion." Billboard. N.p., 15 Feb. 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
I agree with what Nicole has pointed out in her blog, many artists today are successful because of the way they promote their new songs and albums through social media platforms despite decreasing ticket sales. With concert ticket sales decreasing, it is a smart marketing tactic that artists are using to keep people drawn in and to remain relevant within the music industry. Artists are also taking it upon themselves by doing other things to boost sales, like featuring guests artists.
ReplyDeleteConcert ticket sales are dropping because of the new accessibility of songs and albums consumers have. This relates to the impact digital streaming has on the film and movie theater industry. The result of digital music streaming is similar as it is keeping more and more people from paying high ticket prices to listen to their favorite artists. With the availability of free music downloads on the internet as well, makes spending a fortune on concert ticket less appealing.
As we have discussed recently, I believe theaters in general are still relevant. It is about enjoying the whole experience, an experience that won’t be the same when streaming your favorite artists music online. I feel that paying a high ticket price once in a while is worth it. It’s enjoyable to look forward to a great night out spent with a group of friends and listening to your favorite artist together. Concerts offer an experience that you can’t find elsewhere, especially not through online streaming.
People would be crazy not to invest in such an experience. The lights, loud speakers, and the artist’s breathtaking performance allows you to enjoy the music beyond how much you enjoy listing to it through an online streaming service. Ultimately I do not believe that online streaming services have enough power to overcome the concert going experience. However, I do believe that online streaming services may have the ability to over take radio stations. I find myself always listing to my pandora station all the time since pandora customizes the music it plays according to my preferences. Radio does not have the ability to do this.
Artists are even getting involved in this new music empire, Jay Z has created his own streaming service, the Jay Z venture Tidal. There is concern for already leading streaming services like Pandora and Spotify that these new streaming services will steal the spotlight (Alexander, 2016). Tidal includes features such as ability to stream music and videos on demand.
Other artists are grasping a way to keep fans coming to concerts. Artists are taking it upon themselves to boost ticket sales. Some strategies artists are beginning to use include featuring guests artists. For example, Taylor Swift’s 1989 tour saw a huge success, grossing over $250 million world wide (Lewis,2015). This success was brought on by Taylor Swift’s idea to feature a different artist in each city she performed in.
Taylor Swift has also used social media to connect with her fans. She post releases of her new songs and updates about her concert tours to get her fans exited. If her fans are excited, then they will rush to buy tickets for the concert. It is a genius marketing strategy that all artists are getting a hang of doing. These strategies will keep the music industry afloat and contribute to the artist’s personal success.
Amanda Works Cited
ReplyDeleteAlexander, Madi. "Apple Music, Spotify and a Guide to Music Streaming Services." New York Times 8 Jan. 2016: n. pag. Print.
Lewis, Randy. "Taylor Swift's '1989' Is 2015's Highest Grossing Concert Tour by Far." Los Angeles Times 30 Dec. 2015: n. pag. Print.
Lea Herlihy
ReplyDeleteNicole,
Your post immediately made me think of Halsey. She is a new up and coming artist who just released her first album Badlands. She started posting videos to Tumblr as well as YouTube. Funny enough, she was “discovered” because of a song that she wrote and recorded about her love for Harry Styles. She ended up connecting with the right people after this and skyrocketed to success. It is crazy to think that one video can change a person’s life at the snap of a finger. This may be due in part to the fact that people are able to see someone as they perform a song rather than just listening to it on a CD or in person at an open mic, which may sadly require too much effort for our generation. According to an article in Rolling Stone, “Total video and audio streams jumped from 50 billion in the first half of 2013 to 70 billion this year, and increase of 42 percent, while download sales continue to bust, with albums dropping 15 percent and tracks 13 percent” (Knopper).
Social media is now more important than ever. It is beneficial for promoting things such as makeup, music, events, and many more. People that are looking to become successful in the music industry are no longer handing in mix-tapes to large record companies. I think the only people that still do this are the ones that hand you a mix tape and take your wallet in the interim, of course that's purely based on my speculation. Recently, a friend of mine compiled an album and a friend of his helped him promote it on Facebook. His one request was for people to “share” the post. Sharing a post on Facebook has become an efficient way of promoting new projects or passions.
It also seems that a way to stray from the pack and try something “different” would be to somehow promote on the radio. According to a study, “92% of everyone in this county listens to radio each week” (Radio Today By The Numbers Fall 2013). This number would seem surprising because of how many people rely on digital music, but I can attest to listening to the radio every day on my way to and from work when I’m home. I enjoy listening to Elvis Duran and the Morning Show in the morning, and if it were possible for people to figure out a way to promote themselves through them then it would be very beneficial for their career.
Social Media’s presence appears to increase in importance with each passing day. However, I believe that if too many changes are made, Instagram being an example, then not as many up and comers will have the potential to grow. So word of mouth will once again be an important medium for relaying information.
Works Cited
Knopper, Steve. “Islands in the Stream: The 10 Biggest Holdouts in Digital Music.” Rolling Stone. 2 Jan. 2015. Web.
“Radio Today By the Numbers Fall 2013.” Arbitron.com November 2013. Web.
Sarah Schreiner
ReplyDeleteThe many aspects that come with being an Artist in the music industry have changed. I think all of what Nicole talks about relates to this idea. The responsibilities and the norms of an Artist’s job have changed. An artist is more than just music. Everything they do is under scrutiny. Just their music isn’t famous, they are as a person too. In the mid 1900s, people were famous for music but not to the extent that they are now. The level of star power an Artist has, has maximized in the last 100 to 50 years. On shows like American Idol, they always look at the person as a potential artist NOT just their abilities. The Voice has combated this idea with making it just about their voice, but it just proves that being an Artist is about more than just being musically talented.
As Nicole talks about, social media plays a huge part in this. Having good social media is a large part of being a successful artist. Artists have millions of followers on social media and are more than just singers or guitar players. They’ve become fashion icons, activist leaders, and trendsetters. Their job as an artist has become more than just singing. All of these things provide them more of an opportunity to make up for the lost money from illegal downloads. The industry is finding it hard to make money on downloads when there are illegal downloads and album leaks. In a Billboard article about Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo album, Dan Rys talks briefly about how the site Tidal is “under fire for the messy leak of Rihanna's album Anti on Jan. 28” (Rys). This isn’t the first time this has happened. This happens to artists ALL THE TIME.
The struggle with making money from their actual music causes them to rely, for the most part, on their concerts and tours. Taylor Swift’s Red tour sold out almost every date. Tickets would go on sale and sell out in minutes. Actually The Wrap published an article about the highest-paid musicians. Author Tim Kenneally says that Katy Perry, “The ‘Teenage Dream’ singer landed at the top of Forbes’ 2015 list of highest-paid musicians… According to Forbes, Perry raked in $135 million over the past 12 months, taking in more than $2 million per city on her Prismatic World Tour this year” (Kenneally). Katy Pery is also someone who has awesome social media and sells out amazing concerts. To be honest, I don’t think she’s that talented but she’s successful because she has the most followers on twitter – she uses her spotlight to her advantage. She made a movie about her tour and ending her marriage. She uses her personal life and social media to connect with her fans more intensely as Nicole talks about, and this is what helps make her so successful. She puts on amazing concerts and sells them out. Perry is the example of what the music industry has changed into.
Kenneally, Tim. "Katy Perry Tops One Direction, Taylor Swift on Highest-Paid Musicians List." The Wrap 8 Dec 2015: n. pag. Print.
Rys, Dan. "The Future of Pablo: What's Next for Kanye West's Not-Really-Released Album?" Billboard 19 Feb 2016: n. pag. Print.
Ryan Lawler
ReplyDeleteHBO has a new show on this spring called “Viynl” and for those of you who have not seen it, the show is roughly centered around a man running a record label in the 70’s long before any social media was around. Back then it was much harder for artists to be discovered. I would venture to guess that there were many talented artists that were never discovered because of the challenges they faced in terms of getting out there. Social media when looking at present day in contrast to eras that have not had it, has done a tremendous amount for artist exposure. Musicians used to have to be seen performing at venues and while this might have served to give the artists practice performing at a high level, it made it very difficult to find talent.
Today talent seems to find the record labels through social media. All a label needs to do is look on social media and find the highest trending artist. Scooter Braun the talent manager who found Justin Beiber said, "He is that special superstar that you see once in a lifetime," (Kircher) yet he had to find him on his YouTube channel covering other artists songs. I think that he is a talented musician but back in the 70’s, he would have had a much harder go of it because of the restraints not made easier by social media. Realistically he would have had to work another job and maybe hope to be found playing in a club somewhere. At the same time he would have to produce more original content to even get the job working at clubs in the first place.
I am not trying to say that todays musicians are of a lesser caliber talent than in the days before social media. I just feel that in order to succeed as a musician before social media, it was much more of a grind. Exposure was far more physical as compared to how it has become. The game of social media exposure for artists is also very compelling to social media sites. YouTube for example is now planning on working with artists to help them turn YouTube hits into billboard albums (Holub). This symbiotic relationship between artists and social media has without doubt made it easier to become a successful musician today compared to pre-social media eras. Again I do not discredit any musicians past or present. At the end of the day it takes raw talent to make it at any level.
"9 Major Stars Who Got Their Start on YouTube, Vine, and Even MySpace." Tech Insider. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. (Kircher)
"YouTube Launching New Service for Artists." Entertainment Weekly's EW.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. (Holub)