music, retail and copyright : macro trends fileloss leaders • in the 1980s: • video =...
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Music, retail and copyright : macro trends
Joe Bennett, Bath Spa University (UK) joebennett.net
Record Production in the Internet Age
Retail music• Early 20thC - sheet music as retail product
• Drives harmony and melody innovation (within market-derived constraints – Adorno 1941)
• Late 20thC - audio as retail product
• Cultural obsolescence drives sonic innovation(fewer constraints, more artistic diversity in the mainstream)
• Early 21stC - decline in retail product. Audio is (nearly) free
• Drives sonic homogeny (less money = less artistic diversity in the mainstream)
Recreational music
• 1900s-1950s – sheet music & community singing
• 1950s-1990s – audio listening as recreational activity
• 1960s-1990s – ALBUM listening as recreational activity
• 2000s-2010s
• Decline in album listening as recreational activity
• Wallet share dilution (gaming, mobile phones/apps, broadband)
• On-demand delivery models (Spotify etc). ‘Mood playlists’.
Copyright: the right to make a copy
• Two copyrights - ‘the song’ and ‘the sound recording’
• Traditionally ‘the music publisher’ and ‘the record company’
• Decline of the song as a discrete object (from 1950s) - rise of ‘the definitive recording’
• 1950s-1990s - recording as retail artefact (scarcity and markup)
• 2000s-current – recording as digital artefact (ubiquity)
• (and DRM failed)
Copyright paradox• Only copyright holders have the right to copy
• But listening to digital music = copying audio
Loss leaders• In the 1980s:
• video = loss-leading promo for single/album
• tour = loss-leading promo for album
• In the Internet Age - no album profit?
• video = loss-leading promo for b(r)and
• single = loss-leading promo for tour
Less money?
• ‘Phonographic era’ is over
• We can’t reinstate retail (Taylor Swift?)
• Consumers pay for gig attendance
• Music is returning to performance art…
• …and the sound recording is its calling card
References• Adorno, Theodore W. “On Popular Music.” Studies in Philosophy
and Social Science IX (1941): 17–48.
• Degusta, Michael. “The REAL Death Of The Music Industry - Business Insider,” February 18, 2011. http://www.businessinsider.com/these-charts-explain-the-real-death-of-the-music-industry-2011-2
• Gordon, Steve. “Why Apple’s Acquisition of Beats Is Bad for Indie Labels, Artists, and the Industry.” Digital Music News, June 6, 2014. http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/06/06/apples-acquisition-beats-bad-indie-labels-artists-industry.
• Image: Australian War Memorial http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/010872/