The document discusses how the music industry has changed in recent decades due to digitalization and the rise of downloading/file sharing. It notes that major labels have struggled to adapt while independent labels have seen opportunities. Live music remains important for promotion and revenue. Digital sales now account for 29% of industry revenue, with streaming and downloads replacing physical formats. Issues around piracy and its impact on sales continue to challenge the industry's business model. The future will rely on new approaches and artists having more control over their careers.

1. TASK 1
Basic Music
Industry
Research

2. The current music industry
In the last decade the music industry has been reshaped due to technology. Artists and labels have
had to adapt to this in order to survive due to being in the era of downloading and MP3, if they did
not they would suffer great consequences. Although the issues involving downloading and file
sharing are problems due to the digitalisation of the music industry, these problems only effect the
bigger labels, whereas small independent labels see file sharing as a good thing as it can increase
fans for the artist.
Things on the internet such as social networking sites have become a popular place for artists to
show and advertise their work. This helps them to gain fans which in turn makes them earn more
money as more people will be purchasing their music. The most popular legal downloading site is
iTunes. On this people are able to purchase songs, music videos, games and also films. The prices
of songs often vary from as little as 30p up to £1+. Some downloads may even be free.
Due to the rise in
digital ways of
purchasing music
becoming more
popular, there is an
estimated fall in
debut album unit
sales in the global
top 50 of -77%
between 2003 and
2010.
29% of industry revenue is now digital
which shows that there is now more
people spending money on digital copies
of music rather than things such as CDs.
In 2010 there was a 6%
growth of global digital
music revenues
The value of the digital music
market grew by 1000%+
between 2004 and 2010. This
shows that there is less
interest into buying CDs.
The music industry today is
mainly orientated around digital
products.

3. Live Music
Live music today is one of the most important aspects to the music industry. Whether this be
through small local gigs or large concerts. By artists performing their music live it can bring
more fans and advertise the artist and the kind of music they produce. Live performances of
artists can bring even more money to the label/artist due to the sales of merchandise often
available at the shows. For example, things such as t-shirts, posters and even CD’s may be sold.
More popular artists often have tours in which they travel the world putting on shows. The
tickets for these tours often sell out very quickly and bring a lot of money to the label who the
artist belongs to.
Due to the rise in the level of illegal downloads of music taking place, the gigs which take place
are used as a way to give fans something they can not illegally download. Live gigs of popular
artists often bring large crowds of hundreds and often even thousands of people who buy tickets
to see the artist perform live. Depending on the popularity of the tickets usually depends on the
expense of the tickets. Extremely popular artists such as Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga often
charge hundreds of pounds for front row tickets to their performances, showing a real scale of
how much money the artists make from selling tickets for live gigs, not including the revenue
made from selling artist merchandise such as t-shirts and posters.

4. Best selling digital
singles of 2010

5. Top 10 UK albums of 2011
1. 21 - Adele
2. Christmas - Michael Buble
3. Doo-Wops & Hooligans- Bruno Mars
4. 19 - Adele
5. Mylo Xyloto- Coldplay
6. Loud - Rihanna
7. Born This Way- Lady Gaga
8. Who you are- Jessie J
9. + - Ed Sheeran
10. Talk That Talk- Rihanna

6. There are 3 Majors in the music industry today. These are Universal Music
Group, Warner and Sony. There used to be 6 majors in the music industry, but
these eventually went bankrupt and were brought out by the bigger labels. The
music industry is made up of both majors and independent music labels. The
independent music labels usually sign as few as 2 artists each each, mainly
focusing on the music produced by the artist. In comparison to this the major
music labels are known to focus on the stars’ appearance and promotional
aspect in order to make them popular.
Independent record labels are those which operating without the funding of or
outside the organizations of the major record labels. Examples of independent
record labels in the UK include Candid Records, Boy Better Know, Glass
Records and XL Recordings. In the UK there are currently 210 independent
record labels in the UK.

7. Issues in the music industry
The main problems currently raised as a big issue in the music industry is down to the development of
technology and digitalization. This is the high levels of illegal downloading which have been
increasing dramatically over the years. The illegal downloading which occurs is also down to file
sharing and other sites such as video converters. This is a big problem for people in the music industry
as it means they are losing revenue as people are choosing to illegally download the music rather than
paying for the music.
The issue of illegal downloading is a problem which faces the music industry in the future, which the
concern that further development will be made meaning less and less people choose to purchase music
on software such as iTunes. People are currently looking for ways to prevent music being downloaded
illegally and even to stop it all together. It is also being worked on to get rid off illegal downloading
sites and downloads, but due to the huge number of them this is near impossible.
The digitalization also means that people purchasing hard copies of
songs, such as CD’s. has dropped dramatically. As well as meaning
companies in the music industry have had to think of ways to keep
up with and promote the music digitally, it has also caused
problems for retail stores such as HMV. This is due to people
choosing the download media rather than buying hard copies which
companies such as HMV sell, causing their revenue to drop. The
drop in sales has meant HMV has has to close many of their stores
in order to survive in the market. HMV is only one example of a
company which has been effected by online sales, many other
smaller stores have also gone bankrupt due to the developments.

8. Summary of statistics in 2011
 13 million – tracks licensed by record companies to digital music services
 400+ – licensed digital music services worldwide
 US$4.6 billion – trade value of the digital music market worldwide
 6% – growth of global digital music revenues in 2010
 29% – the proportion of record companies’ global revenues from digital channels
 1000%+ – the increase in the value of the digital music market 2004-10
 -31% – the decline in the value of the global recorded music industry 2004-10
 16.5% – proportion of internet users purchasing digital music in the US 1
 US$5 billion – the estimated amount record companies invested in artists in 2009
 30% – the percentage of their revenues record companies invest in A&R and
marketing
 -77% – estimated fall in debut album unit sales in the global top 50 2003-2010
 -12% – fall in the revenues of the global top 50 tours in 2010 2
 -17% – fall in the number of people employed as musicians in the US 1999-20093
 1.2 million – the number of jobs projected to be lost in the European creative
industries due to piracy by 20154
 4240 billion – estimated cumulative lost retail revenues to the European creative
industries from piracy 2008–2015 4
 0 – the number of local debut artists in the annual Spanish Top 50 in 2010
 -45% – fall in the number of domestic releases in Mexico 2005–10

9. The future of the music industry
Technology will rewire the music business , because of this people are having
to think thoroughly for new ideas for the future because of people becoming
less likely to pay for music and instead download it illegally. This is
becoming a big problem for the music industry as they are not getting the
money they should get so are trying to stop the piracy. People are also
having to look at present trends which are liking to impact future music, for
example, the fall in sales of physical music products. Newer approaches to
the business of music are beginning to work more successfully that older
approaches.
The artists and managers are shaping the music industry of the future rather
than the music label as they now have a bigger role in their careers.
People expect that the "radio as we know it will be replaced by digital music
services that tie seamlessly into music distribution systems."

10. Some Popular Music Artists

11. How the production elements fit
within this framework?
The production elements of my coursework involve creating a
video, advert and a CD cover. The things discussed in past
slides fit in with these production elements as there are things
raised which I must consider when producing my final media
products. The videos, adverts and CD covers currently available
are able to give me ideas on things which work well and also
aspects which may not of been successful.
When completing my production elements it is important that I
do not copyright or use an artists work without first gaining
permission to do so. This is something which the music industry
must consider when producing things such as videos. This
framework also makes me consider what must be done and
thought about if I were to actually produce and publish the
media products I plan to create. It looks at how I could make
the products successful and prevent any fall backs if I were
unaware of things such at digitalisation and technology.