Music Management - Essay Example

Music Management Music Industry Music is almost divine as it is not only a science but also a means for relaxation and a form of therapy. Music is an essential part of culture. Music is every much a part of life as we can see from the ambience music we listen in restaurants and offices to live stadium shows featuring major artists. Whether Music is in the form of a live concert, recorded and marketed as records, broadcast on radio and television, or sold on the internet, a group other than the original composer or performer is needed to make it happen. Without the business set up which is in the form of the music industry, the music cannot reach the global audience who are the backbone of the music industry. Music has evolved into an everyday event. It is just as good as any other recreation that one might think of. It is for everyone as anyone can make it, promote it, and sell it. Everyone loves music the difference is we all can create it now. It is simple to start by buying some ordinary home recording equipment and let your creativeness make music. The future is a world of promotion and composing over the internet, mostly for fun. Nothing can be compared to Music Industry that started Rock N Roll. Guitars are no longer in vogue. The basics has changed since the industry first started even though the guitars will always be around just like classical and jazz, but will never take centre stage in the music culture ever again. In comparison to a few years back the artists are in better control now where they can record and control the product. Today it is more cost effective to record music, create a website, graphic designing is comparatively easier and marketing and distribution is online thanks to technology. The music industry is highly inventive and novel sector that is at the center of the supply Chain policy activity. Internet plays a major role in the supply chain management of the music industry. While the industry has been in control of production analysis over the last 50 years, the internet is today testing the power and the industry presence which is in the form of major record companies. BACKGROUND Till the late 1700s, the process of writing and printing of music was mostly supported by the well to do and the church. Artists and composers such as Mozart began to look at commercial ventures to market their music and concerts to the general public. After Mozart's death, his wife took over the process of marketing his music through various memorial concerts dedicated to him. In the 1800s, the music industry was taken over by sheet music publishers. The black ministry was vital in promoting the music industry in the United States. In the early 20th century the phonograph industry came into prominence, and the record industry later gradually replaced the sheet music publishers becoming an important force in the music industry. The initiation of music as an industry was itself a welcoming change in the way consumers perceived music, brought about by the need of composers and artists in the 18th century to break free from the boundaries of their work that were imposed by the princes and bishops who sponsored them. The fact that people were willing to pay for the pleasure of hearing or playing their music, the artists were able to sell their work and gain the artistic freedom they so longed for. With the advance in technology the internet took over the industry changing the balance between record companies, song writers, and performing artists. Sites like Napster became legal sites where one could download music and online music stores became popular forcing the record companies to take to the digital world in order to keep up with the music trends. Although the modern music industry evolved in the early twentieth century with the innovations like the phonograms etc which were used to reproduce music, this has been replaced by concerts and marketed music which is what the industry markets today. The present global growth of this industry is due to the raise in the average income of people and the so called youth culture. To meet these demands the music industry was formed which catered to musical products with aesthetics to meet the growing demand. While music industry has seen its hold over management and production process over the last 50 years, the high value, capital growth process, the basic structure of the music industry, are not well defined resulting in the manufacturer and consumer identities becoming blurred. This has posed a threat to the supply chain monopoly of the ‘big five’ major record companies. The music industry is based on the large global music firms which control the entire industries business right from sourcing and building on the acquired creativity to marketing, distribution and retailing of the end product. In the current scenario the music world is dominated by four major players i.e. Vivendi-Universal; BMG-Sony Corporation; EMI Group; and AOL Time-Warner. These companies became prominent after a long period of trial and the results are consolidated in the four companies. Music Promotion The market for music has no defined outlines as it is structured by the vast choice which keeps changing every year. There are more than 10,000 new albums that are released in the US alone. The industries two sides which are the sellers and the buyers thus function in a world of innumerable choices which creates the uncertainty in the field. Having to work with such unpredictable situations it is obvious that both buyers and the music industry depend mainly on the strength of the media to segregate and process information with what is available. They can choose amidst the increasing number of ways for the promotion of music in the industry which includes the press, television channels, dedicated video station, promotional campaigns, concerts, movies, and the internet. Even with all these the stage is focused on FM radio that has maintained the monopoly or is the major contributing factor towards the promotion of music in the music industry. Despite the increasing popularity of the Internet as a means of distributing recorded music, radio still plays a vital role in helping music lovers discover new talents and bring new artists to the limelight. Radio may not be the only source that listeners turn to when wanting to hear some good songs, but it is the easily accessible medium where people will be exposed to new music. Once they find the new artist who caters to their taste, the new fan will almost likely make use of the Internet to discover more about the artist or to download their music. The press also goes a long way in helping with the distribution by means of interviews or reviews as well. Packaging and distribution Whilst concentrated publicity by radio is the basic element of a promotional effort to release a record, this will be pointless if the song or album is not easily accessible to consumers. In spite of the fact that, the internet and mobile connectivity are producing good effects on the propaganda, sale and distribution of music, currently music is still mainly sold as a packaged commodity sealed as it is in a piece of plastic (IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industries) (2004). With this finished product the next step would be shipping, warehousing and finally distribution to the retail outlets. Distribution usually means the permission for the music to be reproduced in the US or any other country thus bypassing the rates and expenses incurred in importing packaging material (plastic) and avoiding the extra costs of the product having two distributors. The power of retailing There are many difficulties involved in the proper distribution among retailers and involves a great deal of money to release the new album or product. However a small portion of the popular music market is at present sold on-line the trend may change; studies are that 70% of classical music is now sold on-line (Black 2002). The structures and dynamics of retailing have important roles to play with economic geography and the development of music industry in order to retain the competitiveness at all levels. The producing or recording of musical products should be considered only a first step in the materialization and marketing processes that greatly determine their success. In order to understand the success or failure in music sales and to increase the regional production statistics we must not only focus on the areas of local production and creative centers but also attempt to understand the artists and the ways by which the market is structured along with the distribution and retailing of products in various markets. However even though the geography of manufacturing and innovation is vital to the music industries success it can only be a small part of what is often a much more complex process. The supply chain concept is experiencing a basic structural shift in respect to the music industry, that is being proved by the research findings: 1) the process of production and supply are becoming vastly spread through person to person networks 2) a music industry which is leaning towards a highly combined approach towards social consumption and production and 3) music companies are supply structures that are emotionally charged based on new and various forms of working to meet the immediate need of creativity. The emotionally charged nature of many of the innovative organizations, such as music sector, are based on a social attributes where work and pleasure boundaries are not well defined and, as a result they are very hard to meet. Critical evaluation of findings The big record companies have to realize that they have to keep up with the latest technology developments in the music industry supply chain and must work, develop and create their own digital supply chain in order to stay in the competitive market. Any new supply chain model that the music industry comes up with has to satisfy the online customer’s needs and follow the trend in consumer reaction towards the music product and creativity. The internet has certainly changed the four important music industry supply chain proportions and the opportunity is available not only to reduce on operational costs, but also to find innovative methods to work on as well as to make it monetarily successful. Challenges faced by the Music Industry . The music industry as a whole is facing a huge challenge. The concept of the industry has changed in the sense some of the most sought after artists have only a short product life cycle. The market keeps changing fast along with the people's taste which changes from time to time. Certain products with a substantial fan bank do survive for a longer period but they may not be potential enough to justify the expenditure that is required to keep them as high market value products. The Internet technology allows music lovers to acquire premium quality music at almost nil cost by file sharing or exchanging. This has become so popular since it gives free access to music that it has stunted the market and profits in the music industry to a certain extent. The fact is that technology is taking over and will become even more hi-tech in the future. The Internet may be the best means of global marketing for the artists. But this has become a challenge to the music industry which is forced to keep up with the market trends and change with the tastes of the current market in order to keep pace with the global consumer. The Music Industry Market A detailed look at the music industry is important to have some knowledge of how the industry functions. The music industry is built up of retailers, artists, producers, distributors, manufacturers, engineers, record labels, record studios, publishers, marketing agencies and song writers. It is a huge industry where an artist, who could be the lyricist, is given a contract by a record company to produce a certain number of singles and albums. The record company will then foot the expenses to produce and market the album globally. The revenue that is made through this sales and marketing of that particular album or single is then used to cover the cost of making the CD. Some record companies insist on the rights to an artist's previous works as well. This means that they can use the works and decide if they want to market it as well. In some cases a different artist may want to record the song by paying for it or an advertising agency may decide to use it for some campaign and the recording company will be able to sell the rights maybe in a different version depending on what they feel best. The artists are the music company’s backbone and since all artists are not of great monetary value the more popular ones usually subsidies the less popular artists. The music company thus makes business to cater to various tastes of the consumer. The product catalogue of an artist under their contract has to be handled with care to ensure the monetary gains are enough to cover all the liabilities. In order to keep the profits rotating most of the record companies actually have a few subsidiaries which are set up and owned by it. For example, the Universal Music Group has set up the jazz recording company, Verve, the classical recording company, Deutsche Gramophone, as well as popular labels that retail mainstream pop and rock material. (Wilfred Dolfsma July 2005) The Problem The problems are centered on several issues: 1. The increase in piracy has brought the record sales to an all time low. 2. Artists have an income based on the sales of their music so if the sale is bad they do not earn as much. 3. The current hi tech methods aid in huge piracy methods which has resulted in the market being flooded with fake CD’s. 4. The less popular artists who cannot get access to the big labels since their music may not be considered as potential, these artists then turn to the internet to market their products where they are ensured of a global audience and market. 5. Retailers are the ones who face the direct hit of reduced sales in the CD market as they are at a disadvantage in comparison to the larger retail chains who exploit the music downloads. This is of course under debate as some claim that music piracy encourages sales without allowing the record companies to monopolize the industry and manipulate the prices. The changing trend in the commercial market for music has had an effect on other aspects of the music industry as well. The way the music is sold and purchased by the consumer is also undergoing vast changes in addition to the new developments in media entertainment such as video, and currently the DVDs. The market that is involved in selling music has been forced to change with the latest trend in the market. HMV, Virgin and Tower Records, which are the three major retailers, are under stiff competition particularly from big internet retailers such as Amazon. Internet companies like Amazon have made a strong impact with their global and access, fast delivery systems and vast range of stock. The Solutions 1: Educate to Eliminate Piracy Ignorance of the intricate process that goes into making a record makes the general public resort to illegal file copying to avoid paying for the music, which they feel is pocketed by the already rich artists. Making them aware of the ramifications of their actions could bring about better understanding and thereby bring piracy under control. 2: Define a Music/Tech understanding The fact that the industry norms have made purchasing and downloading digital music expensive has encouraged piracy to flourish. They need to work around this problem by accepting and embracing the new technology and make it attractive enough for consumers to access. 3: Value Artist Development The music industry must work on developing and valuing the talent of artists in order to win the loyalty of their fans instead of treating the artists as commodities to be set aside if they are not commercially viable. 4: Welcome New Music Sources In order to survive the music industry needs to look at new ventures and play along with the dedicated fans by reaching out to them. The company as well as the artist must make it a point to develop the artist fan relationship that would encourage renewed revenue sources. 5: Give Piracy a run The music industry has to work on beating piracy at the game by incorporating innovative methods and marketing techniques that would win over the customers to the legitimate online companies instead of pirated ones. 6: Value Music Music has grown to accommodate every kind of taste and the variety of music in the world today is much more than what it once used to be. This new face of music is encouraging and at the same time exciting to both the artists and fans. There would come a time when we would be able to reminiscent on this present internet coup and look at it as a period of internet adolescence. A Pragmatic Solution to Music Piracy The Music Industry should look into file sharing and recent advancement in technology. The music industry must try and accept the fact that sales of cds are to take the back seat instead of becoming a priority. The problem at present with the music industry not accepting illegal file sharing is resulting in loss of revenue and copyright infringement is incurred. The Music industry must look back and review their priorities and restructure the industry in order to keep up with the current technology trends. The reason for illegal file sharing is because it is FREE! This is what is attracting the people. Instead of trying to enforce laws that and punishment for file sharers, the music industry should concentrate on enforcing the infrastructure that the end user has been looking for where people want to download music for free. What should the music industry do then? The most practical and innovative solution to illegal file sharing is to make it legal. The Music Industry should join the technology advancement to create and maintain a file sharing client that allows users to download music from a database for free. This would not only benefit the end user but is also logical to assume that everyone would certainly choose to download free music from a safe and reliable source instead of pirated music. This move would crash the other sources where they get presently download the music for free. The Music Industry can provide the service for free by getting advertisements to pay for the downloads which would solve the current problem. This would result in monopoly of the distribution channel and the future can be rocking for the music industry. Revenue channels could be widened with the change in the set patterns currently prevalent in the Music Industry which would bring about a solution to this the war against piracy. Recommendations Record companies should make themselves user friendly and more accessible. Their relationship with Artists must be treated with high value in order to develop artistic talent as in the online supply chain model, since they provide the vital source of value addition. The impression of late is that the music industry is declining and the artists are facing a threat to their source of income due to the piracy and illegal music downloads that effect the music market. This however is not true and is in direct contrast to the fast transition that is being made by the music industry in keeping up with the popular digital trends in music. Traditional ways of commercializing music and making it attractive are being replaced by more creative and innovative methods. Even the more conservative big labels have realized the advantages of working more effectively with companies that sell and market music in the digital world. Though illegal downloads and piracy are undeniable and will prove to be a major drawback to the commercial success of music, when it comes to developing new revenue streams and avenues, it is a lucrative market waiting to be explored with great opportunities for artists and a rich market to be tapped by the future music managements. The latest release of Radiohead's album In Rainbows in the digital form is a big example of how artistes can gain success independently. There are changes to be considered in making the music match the needs of consumers and as in any other business if the pricing is too high and if digital rights management technologies are mandatory in restricting the sharing of music to other devices the chances are the consumers will loose interest. Even major labels EMI Music and Universal Music have come to terms with this and have imbibed DRM-free music thereby giving a large choice to customers. The digital music retailer Emusic.com has been selling DRM-free music for years, a reason for which major labels (Universal Music, EMI Music, Sony BMG Entertainment and Warner Music Group) decline to market their products through the site. Even with this EMusic.com is second only to iTunes in the selling of digital music. It is very clear that Internet and latest technologies will continue to attract the innovative agents for new ways in marketing and delivering music to global audiences. iTunes, MySpace.com and YouTube.com are only part of this great new trend that has emerged. Music blogs, online radio, mobile music and downloads, music paid services, and the various other digital services are some of the key players set to replace the traditional way we listen music and the way we acquire it. The artists stand to gain a lot. In one way the increase in methods means that they have further choices and, thereby increasing the bargaining power when it comes to making deals. They can now have the choice to hold on to a majority of their rights and innovative control and still manage to make a good profit at the end. The music industry will have to look into more innovative sounds and look for artists who will be able to produce good lyrics and tune that would relate to people to make that difference which is essential to turn them around. Creative music with innovative setup and excellent voice appeal stringed with emotion and a catchy tune is the key for the music industry. They need to look at maintaining high standards in order to survive the rat race. Serious business: The music industry globally two years back was worth a staggering 30 billion pounds. At present the industry is in the throes of great change. It is in the process of resetting the business models and finding new outlets of revenue, as well as experimenting ways in which to protect the artist’s interests. Many such changes have taken place in the past and even with all the advances in the world today the music industry has thrived and survived through all the ups and downs. Initially reproducing song recordings posed a problem, with the birth of reel-to-reel tape and later the cassette tape. The industry then had to adapt to these new techniques, blending them into its business process and making sure these new innovations helped flourish the legitimate music industry rather than posing a threat to it as piracy. It is history being repeated again with the onset of online downloads and the record labels are now adjusting to the consumer demands and publishers are welcoming these alternative income avenues. Live performance, print music and licensed recordings have all through the years flourished and grown despite the challenges they were forced to endure, and though the industry has changed and adapted over the years it has always survived, often growing stronger in the process. Works Cited Wilfred Dolfsma. (July 2005) Peer reviewed journal on the internet. How will the music industry weather the globalization storm. http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_5/dolfsma/ Biz/Ed. ‘The Music Industry: Facing New Challenges?’ Research Project http://www.bized.co.uk/current/research/2003_04/011203.htm. (19th May.2008) Stephen J. Dubner. (2007). ‘What’s the Future of the Music Industry? A Freakonomics Quorum’. 19th May.2008. The New York Times. http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/whats-the-future-of-the-music-industry-a-freakonomics-quorum/. (19th May.2008) Dominic Power and Daniel Hallencreutz. (2005) ‘Competitiveness local production systems and global commodity chains in the music industry: entering the US market’ Centre for research and industrial dynamics. http://www.cind.uu.se/CIND%20Research%20Paper%20Series/CIND2005-2.pdf. (19th May. 2008). music publishers association. ‘A Brief Overview of the Music Business’. (19th May.2008). http://www.mpaonline.org.uk/faqs/A_Brief_Overview_of_the_Music_Business.html Future of Music. (2007). ‘Music Survival Guide - from NARAS’. http://www.futureofmusicbook.com/. (19th May. 2008) David Ortez. David Ortez a political/Social thought blog. 11th Jan, 2008. A Pragmatic Solution to Music Piracy (24th May, 2008). http://www.davidortez.com/node/46 Read More