ihum280 : December 2014

In every industry, the essential purpose is to increase capital. While sometimes not inherently highly profitable, the business side of the arts is constantly looking for ways to gain enough money to stay afloat and thrive. In the twentieth century, the music industry had developed a lucrative system where big record companies with developed distribution centers, highlighting artists through radio and TV promotions, worldwide tours, and control over record content. Many people have long been frustrated, however, with the amount of money the record companies gain at the expense of the individual artist. For example, recording costs are generally born by the artist (many times with a loan from the record company) and for every $16 CD sold, the record companies take $10 (Rapaport). Not only do they take from the artists monetarily, but the record labels are notorious for completely controlling the artist’s image and persona.

However with the invention of the Internet, there came a shattering disruption of the industry. New, unconventional distribution methods have emerged, changing all of the rules. The music industry now faces a new age of music production. Huge names are bursting on the scene from self-produced YouTube videos, and online streaming is making it possible for people to produce and sell their own albums without the costs of creating physical records or having to pay back the record labels. In the midst of these and other changes, the rise of piracy, has created a prevalent fear among the music industry giants that illegal downloading will be the death of the music industry all together. But because of shifts in the way people consume music, and by embracing the new methods, the society is actually empowering artists and driving the music world into new, potentially dynamic economic areas.

Walter Benjamin, a German philosopher associated in the 1930’s with the Marxist Frankfort School for social and aesthetic theory, hypothesized that by making art mass produceable, one can democratize it. In Benjamin’s day, the conversation was about the new, widely accessible technology of the camera, wherein anyone could frame or create a picture, as opposed to the traditional painting method that took unusual amounts of training and time. He said in an essay, “For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual. To an ever greater degree the work of reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility” (Benjamin). He firmly believed that this new technology produced and distributed cultural creations and therefore had emancipatory potential (Benjamin). By “mechanical reproduction”, the camera unmasked the mystery of art production, and made art much more accessible to many more members of society; democratizing both production and consumption. Much to the chagrin of today’s big record labels, Benjamin might be happy with our new technology that allows musicians from basically anywhere to produce and distribute their own music to the masses. With the Internet, new artists have control over their own material, and are not (directly) limited by commercial pressures to mold their identity or product. And the chance to become a big star, in theory, is available to anyone.

Figure # 1 : the youtube world fell in love with him like this, and made him a superstar

Many artists have launched prominent and sustained careers by putting homemade videos on YouTube. Justin Bieber, for example, started out as a kid playing acoustic guitar online. His now manager discovered his videos and signed him at 13-years-old. Justin Beiber has since created a #1 album and three top 10 singles, been nominated for three Grammys, and grossed $44 million on his concert tour, “My World Tour” (Ford). Another example is the hip hop duo Karmin, who started by filming covers in a basement, and have now scored a double-platinum hit, appeared on Saturday Night Live, and the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. Rapper Solja Boy initially self-published his single “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” which in September of 2007 hit #1 on the Billboard charts for seven weeks (Staff).

Figure # 2:Pentatonix in their own house, singing for their youtube channel

Or Pentatonix, who initially started/was discovered by a reality television show, “The Sing Off,” which won them a record deal. About a year later were dropped by that label (read the interview here) and started a YoubTube video to promote themselves. So even though they may not have started organically, they saved their careers by doing so. They have since toured around the world and are currently nominated for a Grammy Award for their mash up of daft punk songs. All of these artists were able to carve clout and autonomy for themselves in the world of music because of the twenty-first century egalitarian access via YouTube.

Along with YouTube, websites like “Band Camp” and “Reverbnation” allow artists to self-publish, self-promote, and ultimately sell without the commercial restraints and economic hand-cuffs of a record label, thus giving them more control over their own music/image etc.. For example Lana Del Rey signed with a record company in 2007, but after she released her 1^st album digitally, she bought herself out of that contract. When her 2014 album was released, it became the #1 on the Billboard Top 200 list (click here for more info). Now able to completely control her own artistry, Lana has become an auteur in her own right. Thanks to the easy access of the Internet around the globe, her artistry and her economics are her own.

From such easy Internet access, the online phenomenon of “pirating” has come about. Pirating is a phrase that references the downloading or accessing of something online without purchasing it. While it is illegal, it is nearly impossible to enforce regulations against piracy, at least completely, and so it is becoming more and more common. There is a deep concern among the music industry that pirating will kill the business completely. The New York Times discussed the dangers of piracy to the industry. In it, the music federation blamed the 30% decline in global music sales from 2004-2009 on the culture of “tolerated apathy toward illegal file-sharing” (Pfanner). CDs fell by about 16 percent worldwide, causing overall industry revenue to decline to about $15.8 billion in 2009 from about $17.5 billion a year earlier (Pfanner). Album sales have decreased; the top 25% of artists sell less records.

Figure # : really music sales haven't decreased, just record sales

But the interesting development is that the other 75% of artists are actually benefiting from filesharing and profiting (Ernesto). People have more opportunity to discover new artists if they can browse for free. More often than industry managers might expect, people actually buy the music after they have pirated it for free (Ernesto). “Ironically, so-called piracy is thus promoting exactly what copyright is meant to protect: the creation and dissemination of new artistic works” (Neal). It is the albums and artists that are over-promoted that are suffering; the ones that make the record labels most of their income, it is becoming harder for artists to be marketed to the top of the charts. From Benjamin’s perspective, because of the freedoms of the Internet, it is becoming harder for the record companies to control their customers because of how many people are pirating music that they simply like to listen to as opposed to those that are pushed forward by the record labels.

Some artists have used this increasing awareness of people using bittorrents and piracy to their advantage. Iron Maiden, for example, used analysis drawn from music consulting firm, Musicmetric to find out where their music was being downloaded the most. They discovered they had a huge amount of illegal downloaders—and therefore assumed a large fan base—and tailored their next tour around the fan demographic found via bittorrent analysis. Gregory Mead, CEO and co-founder of Musicmetric said, "With their constant touring, [the] report suggests Maiden have been rather successful in turning free file-sharing into fee-paying fans” (Rutherford) utilizing the way of the current system to their advantage.

Figure # :Radiohead pay-what-you-want album

Anther band that turned this current world of pirating into a beneficial situation was Radiohead. They kept hearing about so many people stealing their music—downloading it illegally—and so they decided to just give it out. They launched their next album, In Rainbows, in a digital, download, pay-what-you-want model. Most people paid nothing for the download, and even still, pre-release sales for the album grossed more profit than the total sales from the album Hail to the Thief, which had sold 100,000 copies (Nme news). Thom Yorke stated that Radiohead had made more money from digital sales of In Rainbows than the digital sales of all previous Radiohead albums combined.

Few people expected the band to have the capacity or ambition to put an album out completely on their own. Thom Yorke told TIME magazine, "I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one. And, yes, it probably would give us some perverse pleasure to say 'F___ you' to this decaying business model” (Tyrangiel).

The music industry is changing. Companies and artists are adjusting to this world of Internet reality. While the big players in the industry might be frustrated and upset about this change, it is inevitably going to continue to democratize and explode in different directions. Benjamin would be proud and excited for our country; everyone who knows how to press record on his or her computer can be an artist, and can get their art to the world without the commercial pressure of the bourgeois culture machine pushing down on the man. How progressive.

References:

Benjamin, Walter, “THE WORK OF ART IN THE AGE OF MECHANICAL

REPRODUCTION”

http://www.wordsinspace.net/course_material/fmt/BenjaminWorkOfArt.pdf

http://www.wbenjamin.org/walterbenjamin.html

Ford, Rebecca; Schillaci, Sohpie; Carlson, Erin, Justin Bieber By the Numbers: 18 Key

Stats From His Music Empire and Beyond. Hollywood Reporter. March 1, 2012

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/justin-bieber-18-birthday-my-world-296096#related-galleries

Neal, Meghan, Sweet Irony: How Piracy Leads to More Hit Music. January 2, 2014

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/sweet-irony-how-piracy-leads-to-more-hit-music

NME News, Radiohead reveal how successful 'In Rainbows' download really was

Facts for pay-what-you-want release finally made public. October 15, 2008