The state of the music industry

The Music Industry

Without a doubt the music industry no longer has the same worth as it did in the previous decades. This as highly focused on in my AS year is due to the rapid proliferation of technology. With the quality of technology on a steady uprise it grants people the ability to not be dependent on what would have been essential to be notified about the latest songs such as radio, word of mouth and posters. In contrast to the way we are distributed music such as social networking websites and the ever famous Youtube allowing free browsing and the ability to hear a song as many times as you desire. The beneficial aspect of the new technologies is that it allows new comers the chance of being spotted bringing them closer to their dreams via going viral. The recent Krept and Konan cover of Jay Z's 'Otis', thanks to the ability to "share" allowed them to reach 4million Youtube views in the short time of 3 days catching the attention of rapper Wiz Khalifa which evidently proves that it increases your shot at making it big because the video to the song was not heavily edited nor a colossal amount of effort put into it as it is two young men rapping in a park with props corresponding to their lyrics. 

A similar case of going viral is the "teenage heartthrob" Justin Beiber, from producing music from the comfort of his house to getting signed and having possibly the biggest fan base in the last few years.

In a nutshell, the purchasing of music is a thing of the past. With the positives comes the negatives; The uprise in the level of technology has replaced the CD Rom with mp3's. With mp3's having the easy accessible advantage record companies have seen a rapid decline in the number of music being legally purchased via illegal downloads leading to stores such as Woolworths and Zavvi closing down and the dominant entertainment supplier HMV closing 60 stores 'in the wake of a profit warning following poor pre-Christmas sales.' It should be noted that 3/4 of all downloaded music in the UK is illegal, a large amount of lost sales for the record companies. This can act as a disincentive for artists to produce music if they feel their efforts are not going to be rewarded. However, in my media class the vast majority of people agreed that they would purchase an album if an artist deserved it. With this being said the artist must come from a peoples point of view and be evident that they have worked hard to get to where they are now or worked as hard as they physically can in the marketing campaign ranging from gigs to fan interaction. I believe that the record companies need to note that if their artist can not be accepted with authenticity by the public and not just gimmicks to sell their product, then the music industry will be in for a steeper decline as the years progress...