Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The Shift With Music in the Digital Age
So many changes have happened over the years in the music
industry. The way fans are able to listen to music going from 8 tracks, to
cassettes, to cd’s, and now mp3’s. With the progression of technology came the
progression of the way music is presented to the masses. The change in
technology has also changed the way music is produced from analog to digital.
Consumers can buy music instantly from sites like iTunes and
Amazon, no longer do they have to wait in line at a record store for a new
album release. With streaming applications like Pandora, Rhapsody, and Spotify
fans can stream their favorite music for free with advertisements or pay a
monthly fee for advertisement free music streaming. Social media has brought
the artist and the fan closer with instant responses and reactions to their
music or any current events.
Buy with the new digital age has the relationship between
fan and artist been watered down. Many fans will stand in line for hours for
the new album of their favorite artist and that showed their loyalty. Yes artists can reach their fans faster and
easier but that also includes their music as well. With the changes in
technology came the new laws and new ways of doing business in the
industry. Making sure the artist is
still making money off of their work no matter how it was sold.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Spotify and Artist Royalties
A big concern for any artist is making sure that they get
paid for their music. With the change in the music industry and artist
marketing an artist and labels have to think about the best way to distribute
the music.
Since with Spotify an artist does not get paid when someone
purchases a song but for how many times the song gets played. Fans are able to
share their playlist with friend as well as suggest songs to friends. There are
also featured artist and albums that listeners can choose from.
Now an artist would definitely want to become a featured
artist because that will help to increase how many times their songs are
played. Even if a listener is not a fan of the artist or never heard their
music they are more likely to become curious and play their songs to find out
the reason for the artist music to be featured. So of course bigger artist with
major label backing with more than likely become a featured artist than an
underground artist.
Underground artist need to make sure they have a good
management and marketing team to ensure that they become visible to a larger
fan base. This will increase the amount of plays and increase their royalty
revenue.
New Trends in the Music Industry
The music industry is heading in a better direction for
artists and selling their music. File sharing has lost its popularity with the
crack down on a lot of those sites. Fans are still getting music digitally but
instead of free downloads they are purchasing music from sites like iTunes.
The way an artist earns revenue from album sales have change
drastically. Instead of traditional album sales, large portions of sales are
from digital tracks and music streaming. With the digital age growing and fans
having access to music apps on their smartphones or tablets, you will find fans
streaming music from online radio stations as well as online streaming apps.
Artist are taking advantage of YouTube and social media to
build their fan base and record sales. YouTube is a platform for new artist
trying to create a buzz about themselves and their music.
Fans are looking toward online radio stations to listen to
music. They are also using programs like Pandora and Spotify to stream music.
You can listen to your favorite songs anytime you want and share it with your
friends. The change in technology has brought about a change in the music
industry, no longer are labels controlling everything. Slowly but surely
through these new trends an artist is gaining more control.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Legal Podcast
Copyright vs. Universal Access
This podcast is on the side of the consumer being accused of
copyright infringement. Companies are using the law wrongfully and not really going
through the proper channels of checking to find out the information. They have
companies that search keywords or names to make sure no one is using it
improperly. This can lead to some confusing as the example in the podcast of a
professor with the last name Usher that is the same as the R&B singer Usher.
That professor is loading mp3’s of his lectures not songs of the artist, but
because of the similar name his information is being taken off the site under
the grounds of copyright infringement.
Trademarks and Logos
Facebook is trying to trademark the word “Face”. A trademark must be associated with the
product. If using it commonly and not is social networking you can still use
the word “Face”. For example another
computer company cannot sell computers under the name Apple. That will be
direct violation of their trademark. This bring me to the question of the word
“Face” now if Facebook trademarks the word “Face” will that stop the Apple
application of FaceTime. There is a very thin line on what you can use as long
as it is not being used in the same way as the company or person that has the
trademark registered.
Patent
Samsung v Apple patent lawsuit
Apple, Inc. argues that Samsung is making smartphones and tablets
similar to the iPad and iPhones. That Samsung wants to capitalize on the
success of Apple, Inc., they didn’t go after Android or Google but went after
the particular companies that actually made the phones since each company
tweaks the style of the phone. The argument is that no one was making
smartphone in the similar style until the iPhone with the touchscreen, before
that phones had a keyboard similar to the Blackberry. As they stated in the
podcast Apple, Inc. came out with something that was totally different than
what was being presented at that time, so another company can think of an
original design that is different than an iPhone. What company will come up
with new trend in cell phone designs?
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Music and the Law
Technology has brought new challenges to the music
industry. From free downloads on the Internet to music being sold on websites,
music is now available to fans in a wide variety of ways. This leaves the
artist making sure they protect their rights not only with the record label but
also with the fans and how they receive their music. No one wants to work hard
on a project and not be paid for it, unless the intention was to give it away
freely in the first place.
The first lawsuit is Eminem suing his record label
Universal Music Group on the how digital music was classified for the purpose
of royalties. “Eminem’s
contract stipulates that he gets 50 percent of the royalties for a license but
only 12 percent for a sale.” Of course the record label would want the digital
music to be labeled as a sale instead of a license because they would earn more
of the royalties. Universal won the decision in 2009 but the decision was
overturned in 2010 that was a very big thing for artist. Since each digital
version of the song would be considered a license and now that digital music is
the second highest way of buying music. Artist can now earn more for their work
instead of the limited royalties of the past from sales.
The music
industry feels that Google is playing a part in music piracy. The industry
feels that by Google allowing the links to these various sites to be found in
their search results that they are helping people to steal music. They want to
make sure that Google ranks legal music sites higher than sites that encourage
piracy. Since at this moment Google is the most used search engine and people
world wide use the term “Google it” when they want to tell someone to search
for information online the industry feels Google has the power to help stop
piracy. Can Google really be blamed for piracy sites? Google is just a search
engine that provides information on links for the information you put into
search that is already on the Internet. This will be an interesting lawsuit if
it happens that will change on music and other things are presented on the
Internet.
Victor Willis
won a victory not just for himself but other artist and writers who want to
protect themselves and the rights over their music. This means not only does he
take away rights from the music publishers but he increase his royalty amounts
from 12% to 50%. Now that he has gained control over his music he can now make
deals to earn more royalties by allowing third parties to use his music, before
he had no say because the publishers had all the control. This may not seem
like a big deal, but think about them using your song in a project that you
were against and you had no way to stop them. His victory now allows him this
right of full control.
As I have stated above with new technology it can help or
hurt an artist. So as an artist you have to make sure you know your rights or
surround yourself with people that will help you protect your rights. As the
music industry changes and adjusts to the Internet and all the new laws it
brings, artist must be extremely carefully with their contracts and the deals
that they make.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Music and Politics
Recently
everyone was in an uproar when they heard a verse from Nicki Minaj from a
mixtape, "I'm a Republican voting for Mitt Romney/You lazy bitches is f---ing up the economy.” Nicki
Minaj fans took to Twitter and Facebook to talk about their feelings on the
verse. President Obama responded by saying he was sure that she didn’t mean
anything by it and was just playing one of her characters. Nicki later went on
to say that she appreciated that President Obama understood where she was coming
from.
This leads to the question of “How big of an impact does music have in
politics?” For years musicians have made music about wars and politics from
their points of view. So should artists think about the things they say and how
it affects their fans. Nicki Minaj probably thought that no one would take that
one line seriously, but it has been the topic of discussion for weeks.
Artists have even supported and made commercials for Rock the Vote to
encourage young adults to register to vote. Many celebrities whether Democrat or
Republican have used their star power to back their favorite candidate. They
know that their fans listen to their music and when they talk about the things
they support.
Once you are in the spotlight your words and actions are under a
microscope. I think sometimes artist forget this because they are trying to be
creative. Their words are powerful especially to their younger fans that look
up to them. No matter how much they try not to be, they are role models and
need to think about what their music says to their fans.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)