Digital Music Distribution

The widespread problem of music piracy implies that the solution to stopping it will be

We live in an ever changing world, with technological advancements being made every day. Digital formats are everywhere, from phones to watches with music being a part of it all. Musical formats prior to digital formats have, for the most part, faded into the background, but there is one relic that is regaining popularity and that is the vinyl record. Vinyl records burst on the scene at the beginning of the 20th century and are more popular than ever boasting 52% increase in sales from 2013 to 2014, while the popularity of digital downloads are slowly decreasing dropping by 9% (Gibson). As vinyl makes its way back into the hands of audiophiles, new consumers are racing to get their paws on these vintage music format, but where does one go to acquire vinyl records? Luckily, there are several options from the old standard of the record store to the all inclusive online store. There are also some unusual places to find vinyl such as the thrift and discount stores and the occasional jackpot at a garage or estate sale. Overall the record store has the other choices beat due to the overall experience the collector gains through the record store’s various assets such as, locations and instant gratification, a tangible experience, interacting with owners and other vinyl enthusiasts, and special discounts and events like Record Store Day.

-Product Differentiation: HMM will be the only company to distribute music thru digital media in

Digital recording and digital distribution has affected the Recorded Music Industry in many different ways; it has created issues for major record labels and solutions for independent artists. Digital recording has made it harder for labels to stop piracy, and easier for independent artists and labels to distribute and create music. The evolution of digital music has created an apparent and drastic shift in the way consumers and producers view and use the music industry. The existence of these music files that have been digitally compressed, making them easily obtainable for a small fee or illegally downloaded for free, has made the music industry reevaluate how they are able to make a profit from their art form. “These new means of music distributing and marketing have not only pushed the music industry to new levels, but has created a whirlwind of changes as record labels are losing control, with artists and consumers having the upper hand”(Stafford).

The three music labels Kobalt Music, BMG, and Cooking Vinyl all share unique and similar characteristics when pertaining to the interest they have for their artist, publisher, writer and the label as a whole. With Kobalt Music, their main goal is to be able to construct technology solutions in order to provide a more transparent, yet efficient future for their owners. They want to make sure that their artists, writers, publishers etc. all have the right to be paid accurately. This company was able to achieve that by providing the world’s most advanced global licensing, collection and payment platform. They also implement an online copyright administration which coincides with the company being completely transparent. With these features, the artist has the opportunity to reach full potential with their releases and record sales.

The major music-only stores such as Tower Records (which once wielded considerable influence in the industry) went bankrupt, replaced by box stores (such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy). Recording artists began to rely primarily on live performances and merchandise for their income, which in turn made them more dependent on music promoters such as Live Nation (which dominates tour promotion and owns a large number of music venues.)[6] In order to benefit from all of an artist 's income streams, record companies began to rely on the "360 deal", a new business relationship pioneered by Robbie Williams and EMI in 2007.[7] At the other extreme, record companies also used simple manufacturing and distribution deals, which gives a higher percentage to the artist, but does not cover the expense of marketing and promotion. Many newer artists no longer see any kind of "record deal" as an integral part of their business plan at all. Inexpensive recording hardware and software made it possible to create high quality music in a bedroom and distribute it over the internet to a worldwide audience.[8] This, in turn, caused problems for recording studios, record producers and audio engineers: the Los Angeles Times reported that, by 2009, as many as half of the recording facilities in that city had failed.[9] Consumers benefited enormously from the ease with which music can be shared from computer to computer, whether over the internet or by the exchange of

Aside from the aforementioned factors, there are numerous others that are taken into account when determining the industry’s profitability as a whole. Some of the many various revenue streams include physical format or record sales, digital downloads, performance rights, and synchronization revenues. While profits from one variable may face a sharp increase, another may see a major decrease. For example, between 2003 and 2009, U.S. revenue for single downloads increased by over $1.2 billion and by nearly $0.8 billion for album downloads. On the other hand, during this 6-year time frame, CD sales in the United States dropped over $1.6 billion and cassette tape revenues practically reached zero by the end of 2009. Evidently, one of the most vital revenue streams of the industry

Over the past decade, since online music distribution networked its way into existence, the digital music forefront has proven to be a precarious foray — companies have come in and out of the market, utilizing a full spectrum of creative business models in attempts to lasso these newly unleashed possibilities of online music distribution. Some offer distinctly legal solutions that consumers are more or less resistant to and others hover ambiguously over the boundaries of copyright law, attracting users through questionable means. Roxio's Napster 2.0 and Altnet's Kazaa utilize two vastly different business models and, when compared, serve as a good illustration of the contrasting approaches companies use to capture the frontier market of

The digital music industry is forever evolving. The problem of piracy has been created when people began to illegally download music. Music should not be pirated. Piracy can be partially reduced by using various advertising messages encouraging students not to pirate. Music producers should be a given the right to their music. Producers and advertising agencies can work hand in hand to fight the battle of music piracy.

Introduction: Setting the trend for the future, the distribution and consumption of recorded music transformed dramatically with the launching of Apple’s iTunes in 2001. The proliferation of online music subscription services and other music sharing services exerted a great pressure on the conventional music distribution business model. Combined with this transformation, piracy of digital music had a profound impact on the whole industry. These worsening conditions in the market place for recorded music forced both established and upcoming new artists to experiment with new ways of selling their music.

In “In Praise of P2P,” The Economist reports on the improvements of P2P technology for content distribution, and use of internet-routed phone. The P2P technology is praised as a bright system if we use it in an appropriate way. It seems that the entertainment industry should change it’s tactics against file sharing. Instead of demonizing P2P sharing, they should align themselves to take advantage of it. They should supply music through the internet in a more attractive way than underground. In “Anger Leads Metallica to the Internet,” it is introduced

The landscape of music industry sales has changed within the last 5 years with the changing technology innovations of computers and the dependency on the Internet. The issue of competition has leveled out due to the ability of services ands products being marketed globally using the Internet. Most importantly, the distance between "buyer" and

successes. Each EMI record label marketed its artist’s recordings to the public and sold the

Internet sales - Internet has become the fastest growing media for music distribution and many analyses expect that the downloading trends will continue to grow in a future. The success of Apple i tunes has show it is possible to sell download music over the internet with many customers willing to pay rather than download the music for free from such sources as KazaA, Morpheus and many more where legality is still a rather grey area. Selling music by internet download may be an area EMI may try to enter directly or through collaborations and increase market share.

Sonic has been a popular name in the music industry for over thirty plus years. This music company has decided to shorten their brick and mortar approach and expand its into the online music field. Entering into the online music scene, Sonic needs to have a well thought out strategic plan to operate this new function of business. In today’s world, having an online business is a plus. The plan to add an online music business will help this organization increase its revenue. The need of purchasing a compact disc from a Brick-and-Mortar store front is now considered obsolete. Sonic will be entering the online music business much later than many other companies. The competition at this moment for online music is challenging, but since Sonic does hold a name in the music industry, many consumers will take a chance on Sonic even