Currently we’re in the midst of the biggest shift the music industry has ever seen. The old music industry – made up of record labels, dingy tour vans playing vinyls, and hours sat at a 4-track record machine to make one crackled recording – is over, and we’ve moved into the digital age.
The market for CDs is at an all time low, and although I myself enjoy using my Walkman on occasion, you cannot deny how accessible, cheaper and easier it is to save a playlist on Spotify until you inevitably grow bored of the record. In 2003, album sales were around 800m, whereas a decade later it’s declined to 316m. Analysts are blaming free streaming sites such as Spotify, YouTube and Grooveshark. iTunes have fallen 4% in their digital downloads for the first time since they were launched so it looks like the consumers really just don’t want to pay.
As music becomes more and more focused around the digital era, studies show that the most dominant consumers are 15-25 year olds, using media apps more than 75% more than any other age group. There are multiple reasons as to why the music industry has moved from analogue to digital, mainly the discovery of music, the supply of music, and the demand of music. This piece will provide a brief overview of the life and times of the music industry…
The Discovery of Music
The classic way of starting a band at fifteen, playing some grimy pubs and getting picked up by an agent, or repeatedly sending off your demo to record labels is not the way bands are discovered anymore. Disregarding the automatically signed artists from TV programmes (such as One Direction’s success off the back of the X Factor), most artists are now found by someone sat behind a computer screen scrolling through YouTube. For the big boy music companies, why would you pay to send someone to watch a band which may or may not be good at a local venue, when you can watch many more artists with no cost, sat in the office? And on a smaller scale, small fan bases can be built up now from sources on the internet. Take 12 year old Cody Simpson – he was signed to Atlantic Records after Shawn Cambell spotted him on YouTube.
The Supply of Music
The current digital age makes it so easy to make music to supply the demand – ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ by Gotye was a self-produced track which reached number one on more than 23 national charts. All that’s needed to make a modern track and to be able to stick it onto a platform like Soundcloud is a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) such as Logic Pro or Cubase. These pieces of software contain virtual instruments using MIDI data, pianos, synths, drums on plugins such as haLion, Kontakt and Reaktor. After watching video tutorials and experimenting for a while anybody could learn to use it, without even having to hold a physical instrument. An example of this is ‘Animals’ by Martin Garrix. It reached the top of the charts in more than 10 countries, made in the bedroom of the 17 year old, it’s a supreme display of homemade music.
Additionally to it being easier to make music, it’s also far easier for artists to put it out there. The charts are dominated by the bigger labels and bigger names but every now and again a grassroots song does appear on our charts.
The Demand of Music
The music industry has suffered over the last few years, with a rise in piracy, streaming services and iTunes taking a 30% cut being just some reasons why. But the music industry isn’t all dancing in a microphone to the latest indie track, it is a business. It follows and exploits the latest trends, as it’s a business industry like any other. Recently, though, the industry has encountered a problem in the form of millennials – who listen to the most music – as we just don’t want to pay. Why buy an album when you can just stream it on Spotify? This being said, millennials love events. Everyone loves the idea of sticking on a pair of wellies and camping in a tent for a weekend to listen to their favourite bands live rather than on a CD. Companies put billions of pounds into sponsoring music events such as venues and festivals such as AMG’s Academies being partnered with O2 communications company to make the O2 Academies.
This is just a small look at the state of the music industry at the moment. Whether you believe it is a positive or a negative thing, the music industry is always growing and evolving. No doubt, in in five years time we’ll toss aside our iPods for whatever the latest equipment is, the same way we threw aside our Walkmans…
Words by Megan Bakewell