1. Music Consumption essays:
Conclusions…
• How has the music market in the UK changed
in the last few years?
• What were some of our main conclusions from your
music market analysis?
• Read with partner.
• 14-25 year olds rarely buy CDs. Record shops are no longer used to
buy music.
• A great majority will only download illegally.
• Many now listen to music via a phone.
• Downloading is preferable to streaming.
• The music industry is attempting to do everything in its immense
power to prevent consumers from illegally downloading…...
2. Music Consumption essays-
Peer assess
• How has the music market in the
UK changed in the last few years?
• In pairs read over your essays and peer
assess with the mark scheme.
3. Recap
Write down one comment for and one against
the following statement:
Big multi national companies are
beneficial to the music industry…
Question to discuss:
If 14-25 year olds are no longer buying music
then why do the BRIT awards still take place?
4. Music Industry and the artist
Aim: to develop an understanding of
how 21st
century artists are using new
media technology to market
themselves.
5. A & R
• A&R stands for artist and repertoire. It is the division of the
record label that attempts to discover and then manage/market new
talent.
• Task: Discuss: what are the ways in which a new music
artist can be promoted and marketed by a record
company’s A&R.
• Radio airplay
• Live performances/tours
• Press interviews
• Promotional videos
• TV appearances
• The social media
• Music Websites
• Played on adverts
• Film soundtracks
• Word of mouth (not something the industry can control)
6. The future of A&R?
• Watch the ‘Virtual Revolution’ clip on Master
Shortie.
• p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vyD_wh_Ml0
• What can we conclude about the music industry
and A&R in finding and managing new talent?
• Will A&R soon become extinct?
• Do young artists still need record labels and the backing
of the industry?
• How much more of an influence will TV reality talent
shows have?
• How influential and important is the internet in
discovering and promoting new talent?
7. A & R continued
• In recent years some artists have embraced the
internet to promote themselves. Why?
• Exposure - Potential to be seen or heard by millions.
• Directness - Cuts out the record industry - no auditions
demos, concert performances.
• Cheaper – You can make your own music and even
your own video very cheaply without a record company's
financial help.
• Freedom – Allows you to express yourself in the way
you want.
8. Case Study: Ed Sheeran
• Watch this clip:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAWcs5H-qgQ&ob=av3e
• Ed Sheeran is 21st
century example of how the
internet can raise the profile of a music artist.
• Read the Telegraph article and highlight.
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/8679492/Ed-Sheeran-I-havent-got-used-to-the-screams.html
• Questions:
• What does the article suggest about Sheeran’s success?
• What does he and the journalist say about his image?
• What marketing methods has he used?
• What does the article say about music genres?
• How has he used the social media?
9. Ed Sheeran- article
• Starter: feedback to you partner on the article.
• Down-to-earth, modest, “not exactly boy band material” (could be
part of his appeal), success came about as a result of “relentless
gigging” after dropping out of school at 16 – he has slowly built his
fan base
• An entrepreneur- business minded.
• Acoustic artist – a “troubadour” who tells stories in his songs.
• Used social media (e.g. Twitter, Facebook) to promote himself – had
27m YouTube hits.
• Collaboration with grime artists (e.g. Sway) – broadening his appeal.
• Can produce and promote a song (or album) very cheaply – “a grand
to put 8 songs together”.
• A crossover artist who appeals to lots of demographics and will get
played on lots of different radio stations.
10. Presentation:
In your groups decide on an
artist/group you want to do a
seminar presentation on.
Look at sheet and discuss.
11. H/W
• Read, highlight/annotate the
section in the BPI findings- ‘Music
leads the charge in Digital
Innovation’ (4 pages).
• Summarise into 8-10 important
points.
12. Do now
• Read each others summary of the
BPI findings- ‘Music leads the
charge in Digital Innovation’.
• Feedback on the board
13. Discuss: Think of any media you
have created:
-How did you make it?
-How did you get it seen or heard?
Starter
14. Music Production and Web 2.0
• Aims: to define Karl Marx’s theory of
‘the means of production’ and apply it
to music production in the 21st
century.
15. Recap- How have Ed Sheeran and
Master Shortie used web 2.0?
Ed Sheeran:
He posted his music online.
Shooting his own video and uploading to YouTube.
Communicating directly with his fans via Twitter and Facebook.
However he also used traditional methods like extensive gigging.
Master Shortie:
Used the internet to promote himself- own website.
Shoots and edits own videos and uploads.
However one has gone onto big success whilst the other hasn’t. Why?
Because Ed Sheeran had more help from his record company and
because he played live extensively?
17. Marxism and the
mass media
The Marxist approach:
- Karl Marx said that one reason
the working masses
(proletariat) were being
controlled by the “dominant
ideology” was through the
media.
The dominant
ideology of the
government and
big businesses
control the
‘means of
production’
18. Some Marxist clarification….
• What is the ‘means of production’?
• Resources (e.g. technology) actually needed for the
production of goods and services.
• What is meant by the ‘dominant ideology’?
• Ideas that reflect the interests of the dominant group in
society. Marx believed that this dominant group were the
middle/upper classes. Today we can extend that to the
white, male, hetrosexual middle classes.
19. The consumer as producer
• Discuss: Why are the “means of production” being
handed over to us?
More affordable
Smaller (compressed)
Easy to use.
Question: 20 years ago if you were an
aspiring music artist, how would you
have got your songs recorded?
20. So what are we using new media
technology to produce?
• Films (DV cameras, I-movie etc)
• TV (Local community Channels)
• Music (home recording, distribution, pirate radio)
• Written word (blogs etc).
• Or just us and our friends/family/cat mucking
about!
21. - So why would Karl Marx have loved SBTV?
- Because in the world of Web 2.0 the “means of production” is
increasingly handed over to new groups of society. Who?
- The masses and not the dominant ideology are setting the
agenda for making media.
- ‘Destroying old business models’..
What
ya
sayin’
fam!
23. More food for thought
• Marx also believed that the control one class has
over the means of production includes not only
the production of manufactured goods but also
the production of ideas…..
• What ideas have been produced through
Web 2.0?
• That we don’t need to buy music
anymore!!!!!!
24. So would Marx have been for or against
multi national ownership of the music
industry?
Essay Title: To what extent would Marx have
disagreed with multi national ownership of the
music industry ? Discuss.
Plan your answer and consider:
Multi-national companies
Record labels and A&R.
Artists marketing and use of web 2.0.
Downloading culture
14-25 year old music consumption data.
Comparisons with how the music industry use to work.
25. “It’s a trend…about a new
democracy of ideas and
information, about changing
notions of authority, about the
releasing of individual
creativity”
Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-chief of The Guardian
26. Historical Example:
Lily Allen and MySpace
• It has been claimed that pop artist Lily Allen’s fame is also due
in part to her being promoted on MySpace.
• In response to an interview question "The way it's been
portrayed in the media, is that you were almost like
discovered by MySpace; how accurate is that?" Allen
responded "Not accurate at all, I had a record deal before I
set up my MySpace account so, erm, that ... couldn't really
be further from the truth."
• Nevertheless, Allen's work was widely circulated and gained
popularity due to her MySpace profile.
• Allen’s success reflects the ‘digital zeitgeist’ of her fans and is
perhaps a benchmark for the future whereby artists can cut out
the record industry A&R completely.
27. Homework
• For a musical artist of your choice write
1/2 side of A4 introducing them and how
they have been marketed:
– Using traditional marketing?
– Or non-traditional marketing?
– Or a combination of both?
28. Case Study - MySpace and ‘user
generated content’
MySpace is a social networking site.
It specialises in ‘user generated content’.
What does this mean?
Initially it began as version of MSN, whereby
people could simply chat to each other.
It has now become a forum for debate, a promotional
space to promote whatever product/service you have, or a
place where you can post photos/messages etc.
My Space has been bought out by Rupert
Murdoch’s News Corporation.
However, it is widely recognised that its popularity
is declining – what sites have replaced it?
29. iTunes
From your won knowledge
and experience and from the
article on wikispaces:
- How does iTunes work?
- How and why did it start?
- What impact is it having on
the record industry?
