The Evolution Of The Music Industry Essay

Every music artist begins somewhere. Every artist had to do something to get their music out there. No one just automatically becomes famous. Then everyone wants to listen to your music. You start out new and anonymous and become more popular over time. Artist become famous by advertising. Every music artist should be able to advertise.

The music industry is an oligopoly. Since the late 1800’s people like Thomas Edison have been buying up patents in communication technology, forming monopolies, leading to a non-competitive entertainment industry. With only a handful of corporations controlling all aspects of acquisition, distribution and marketing of music, harsh business principles create an exploitative industry that takes the best of what artists have to offer and leaves many of them unable to support themselves. Beginning in the 1950’s with payola and white cover music and ultimately evolving into iTunes and Spotify, the music industry has grown into a billion dollar industry with far-reaching influence and control. Contracts rarely serve the artists’ best interest and many are left out to dry when their usefulness has expired.

Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming services, offering more songs than any other service, including Pandora and Apple Music. After noticing many people using Spotify, both in and out of school, I decided to join and quickly realized why it is so popular. You can access every song in just a few seconds, making it extremely convenient for its users. I no longer have to endure the hassle of searching through iTunes to pay $1.29 for each song that I want to listen to. Spotify also offers a lot more features than other services do. You are able to create your own playlists as well as listen to the many Spotify playlists, which are constantly

I propose that all unsigned rising artist should target the business side of the music industry to be successful in the entertainment business because it allows the artist to be taken seriously and make solid connections that can further his/her career. Learning the works of the music industry also enables a new artist to be further successful and profitable. Recent studies show that most new artists without professional representation and a business mindset have a slimmer chance in getting signed to major or independent labels (Lowry, 2011). Overall, the specific change needed is that unsigned artists should be concentrating on their careers as professionals and not amateurs, thus focusing on the ins and outs of the music business and

Spotify has gained recent competition with entities such as iTunes Radio and Beats By Dre, meaning that music is becoming more accessible to the general public without having to pay for each individual song you want to hear. People are catching on to Spotify’s idea of a monthly flat rate, which is creating more competition in the industry. Furthermore, it is has been discovered that this could be ‘inherently unprofitable’ for Spotify because their margins do not increase as they become larger. Yes, it is an industry because they do produce goods for a certain market.

With Spotify penning licensing deals with these three majors, Spotify has an upper hand on Pandora. "Spotify recently launched twelve new apps backed by the major labels. Pandora lacks such deals, as do many other services. Because of this, Pandora pays a hefty sum in royalties-a significant strike against its business model" �. Due to the absence of deals with the major record labels that Spotify has, Pandora not only struggles with expanding its music library but also with maintaining a feasible monetary system. "Pandora operates annually at a loss of millions due to complicated digital streaming rights and bandwidth costs. If the service cannot combat the Spotify horde swatting at its crown, Pandora will find itself permanently dethroned" �.

This case study about the Spotify business model allows a broader vision of what the digital music industry is. In a short time, many companies have developed and managed marked their territory in a highly competitive industry. The start-up Spotify has undergone a remarkable evolution in a financial point of view but also in terms of its popularity. Its various competitive benefits regarding the market leader and its respect for music labels have enabled the company to be renowned and to have a reputation in the real business. Today, five years after its creation, Spotify is certainly criticized in some aspects of

Most artists had no other choice than to join the online streaming universe. The triumph that Spotify has is greatly contributed to their system of free music with customizable playlists, playlists based on your likes, and the top charts from around the globe. Seeing the mass amounts of consumers Spotify rallied in the streaming world has led to major labels forming contracts to receive payments for streams. Warner Music has “generated its highest full-year revenues in eight years” (Nicolaou) just in the past year; this is a perfect example of Spotify’s immense

In the midst of the United States’ “dot com bubble” (years 1997-2000), there was a surge in technology that brought about file sharing and digital downloads. Threatening the survival of the music industry and introducing a unique set of challenges for the industry to overcome. To remain relevant in the new global market of digital music online, the music industry would have to evolve and change with the introduction of each new facet technology had to offer. The introduction of digitally compressed music files, so easily attainable for a small fee or downloaded legally (pirated) for free, made the music industry reevaluate how to make a profit and protect copyrights. Social media created a visible opportunity for both consumers and artists to maintain digital relationships while providing a platform for consumers to follow and discover new musicians and bands, naturally, making the internet a promotional medium for artists. As the corner record shops closed to make way for virtual storefronts and instant downloads; the internet, digital downloading, and social media made an enormous impact on the music industry that has changed the way consumers purchase, source, listen to, and produce music today.

Nowadays, teenagers are living constantly surrounded by technology. Even if the younger generation may not see it, technology has had an impact on different factors. The widespread use of digital technology in the music industry has allowed consumers to reproduce digital versions of copyrighted songs inexpensively, with the help of many software and websites. There has been an increase in digital copying activities and those are most of the time claimed responsible for producers’ loss in revenues. While some people claim that the increase of digital technology has killed the music industry, in fact it has lead to innovation and new ways of consuming and sharing music, such as

The music industry is very sensitive to changes in technology. Since the recording and playing back of audio was made possible in 1877 by Thomas Edison’s wax cylinder phonograph the industry has gone through numerous changes due to the evolution of technology. Multi-track recording was one of the earlier advancements in the music industry and is essential to all styles of music today. The digitization of music is one of the biggest changes in the music industry and has informed the direction of the music industry ever since. Finally, the shift to streaming as a business model has fundamentally changed the way in which users consume music. The music industry is often at the forefront of technology and artist’s are always pushing boundaries.

He can still remember it as if it was yesterday – how he had his heart broken for the first time and not tell anyone. Through his growing years, his mom bought him numerous records of his favorite artists. He loved it dearly and listened to it every day. When he realized that some of it had been broken, he tried searching for new copies on record stores, but he was not able to find any. On the back of his mind, he was asking, “How can they not carry those amazing records anymore?” However, all those years of pain were momentarily forgotten when music streaming was introduced in the 2000’s. “It was life changing” he said. Now, he would be able to listen to his favorite music through Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube. Streaming is the ability to listen to different songs, and watch videos without having to download the file; it is very convenient, and most people find it a blessing, for they can listen to the type of music or even a particular artist that they desire in just one click and cost-free. However, some believe that although it is beneficial for most people, streaming music comes with a huge price. Unseen by the naked eye, streaming music exponentially ruins the music industry.

The future of music is now. Every aspect of the music industry is changing. The ways in which the public discovers, listens, and purchases music are being revolutionized. As Allen Bargfrede, Berklee associate professor of music business, puts it: “as the music industry evolves and streaming services become the dominant means of listening, recording artists ' and songwriters’ rights and the flow of money within the industry is the single biggest challenge today 's musicians face—.” The internet and its many artist-friendly technologies (YouTube, TuneCore, Bandcamp, Reverbnation, CDbaby and many more services) make it easier for a band to be independent. The tyrannous reign of profit hungry record labels is over; the power, shifted by waves of technological advancements, is now in the hands of the artist.

As you know Spotify is an online music streaming service that was launched in 2008.(Spotify for Dummies Introduction). Since, our launch Spotify has over 12.5 million subscribers currently boasts a library of around 15 million music tracks and about 50 million users (Spotify Press 2015). Spotify is a service and "services are deeds processes and performances (Business Service Marketing Page 5) our service provides consumers with music to suit their needs. Though Spotify still sour behind some of the higher end contenders, Pandora being the current market leader, therefore it important to understand how Spotify has managed to succeed in the music streaming industry thus far.

We usually consider music as the necessity of life because it brings comfortable environment or the resonance of heart. However, with the development of modern computer technology and the industrial regulatory loopholes, the situations mentioned in the article have become a common phenomenon. Although some music fans may get their benefits from the pre-leaked CDs or illegally recorded products, the music smuggling and pirate have made negative impacts on the entire industry. The pirated music creates tort and serious threat toward the development of original music industry, violating the legitimate rights and interests of the original music manufacturers. As a result, the original music industry now is in a state of extreme instability with enormous losses.