BY: John Wright
A lot music fans today find themselves asking "Why should I buy a CD when I can get it online for free." However, despite the glamorous appearance that is presented to us of how musicians live, the actual finances behind the artists and the companies themselves are quite grisly because due to the digital era, it's hard to actually generate a profit selling a song. As a result record labels are downsizing, laying off employees and signing artists to deals that are even more exploitive than they have been in the years leading up to the digital revolution.
Keep in mind: 1000's of albums come out each year yet less than 3% sell over 1 THOUSHAND UNITS; shocking, right? Also, take into account that just like the top 1% wealthy people in America, artists like Jay Z, Kanye West, Drake, etc. are in the Top 1% of artists who can successfully make millions in the music industry; Ergo, if any other artist is not selling units because their work is being illegally obtained a loss is taken on both the company and the artist part.
With that in mind, one can see how the digital age has played a part in declining sales and artist debt. When file-hosting sites like Bearshare and Limewire found their way on to the web it suddenly became easy to acquire any song you wanted without having to pay for it. Therefore, in the transition between mediums i.e. from cd to mpeg, record sales have severely declined and CD's are becoming an obsolete form of media. Even big box stores have become outdated and replaced by websites such as amazon which offer music and other similar forms of entertainment in mpeg form.
Because of how quickly the industry is changing, one might ask themselves what the future of the business is, and how music can still be sold. Artist Ryan Leslie has asked himself the same question and has taken advantage of the Digital age by starting a company called "Disruptive Multimedia" which keep him in touch with his fans in a way that allows him to build a profitable relationship that can last for years (He talks about this in the video below); for as basic as this idea sounds, record labels should take note because that is indeed the future.
My only suggestion to an issue like this is. A sort of commissions payment for artists, sort of like an athlete, if its so hard for artists to get paid of record sales why not let the label pay them. Or have the artists get paid off the number of times their music gets downloaded or ripped from a website. I've torrented loads of music but torrents are easy to follow to the source. Mix tapes should be a source of income for artists too even though its considered independent.
ReplyDeleteThe digital age in definitely killing the music industry. Due to the influx in obtain music via online downloads many artist are beginning to look to offering music only on selling platforms. Yet, unless the artist has a loyal fan base they are not doing well in gaining profit. Platforms such as iTunes and Amazon have served some artist well. One thing to question is the security of the music if hackers are able to break into systems like iCloud. This is a precaution which the music industry should be taking a stance again now. Unfortunately as long as music is on youtube, singles will be able to be downloaded. Until a music artist builds a loyal fan base they may be receiving small paychecks for a while.
ReplyDeleteIts crazy to think how far technology has come. When is the last time you walked into the store and bought a CD on a tuesday? With streaming sites like Spotify becoming the thing to use it will be interesting to see the sales that labels will demand from artist. Its important to note that artist make most of their money off of tours. These labels know that, so album sales I think have taken a backseat to there facets of the industry.
ReplyDeleteI think about this type of stuff all the time. How is technology going to advance as I grow old. In the music industry I think it will be very interesting to see how music is sold in the future.
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