The modern music industry is a rather strange phenomenon that does not stand still and is constantly evolving. Those who have worked in the musical “kitchen” for many years know that sometimes it can be very difficult to predict what awaits us in the future in musically. However, the profit system is always the same, and anyone who is serious about turning their music into hard cash would do well to have at least a basic understanding of how the music business works.
Therefore, we decided to write a small guide for daredevils who want and intend to promote their music and make good money from it. This is just enough information to give you a basic understanding of what the music business lives and breathes, and to get you thinking about how you could become a part of it.
Record companies
The “traditional” path to success in the music industry is to have your record heard by a well-known label who will then sign you to a contract to promote your work. It’s even better if you’ve already recorded several compositions that can be included in your mini-album, or in a full-length album, or several albums online.
Essentially, the label acts as an investor who invests their money in you and your project. This money goes toward studio rent, mixing and mastering, and your advance, which is paid up front so you can live until you start receiving your share of the sales, known in the industry as royalties.
The label also handles all the paperwork needed to release a track/album, which includes a breakdown of how royalties are divided: what percentage of each coin earned goes to you personally, the collaborators, and what percentage goes to the label to cover its initial investment and receive further profits that the label could invest in your promotion again.
Musical kickbacks
The Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) pays royalties for each copy of your track. This means that the more records you sell, the more you get. In addition, if your song ends up on CDs, or DVDs, or is used in any other way, then you also receive a certain amount for this.
For example: there are 20 compositions in the collection, and one of them is yours. This means that the Copyright Society will pay you 5% of all sales.
The long-awaited release of your music
Releasing your music means using your track in any form, and any revenue generated by the release of your music can come from many and varied sources. In reality, money comes in from every time a song is played on TV, radio or used as a film soundtrack, money comes in even when the track is played in Topshop dressing rooms. The list goes on and on.
Theoretically, it turns out that you get money for any use of your track. This system works thanks to collection agencies such as PRS in the UK or ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Writers and Publishers) in the US. These organizations track all the ways your music is used, then collect and distribute the money accordingly.
TV, movies and more
The main distribution channels and sources of profit in the music industry are TV, film and video games, and specifically, the distribution of the soundtrack of your music through these channels. The advantages of a phonogram are obvious: they will pay you just to use your composition; as a result, you receive new income from the fact that your song is used in film projects or TV shows, for example, as a soundtrack. Using your music in this way allows you to increase the recognition of you and your work, since it will be heard by a potentially huge audience that was not previously familiar with your music.
It's not easy to get tracks into TV and film projects, but there are specialized production companies that will act on your behalf to push your music in one direction or another. So, you can continue to do your own thing while agencies like these promote your tracks to people involved in film and television.
The need to compile a catalog of music that will be in the music library of music companies (in Lately referred to as Music Production Companies) is quite understandable. After all, it is such a catalog that is potentially the most profitable of all the things you will do. As a rule, such a company will take a percentage for promoting your music. But you don't have to pay them upfront to represent you. Payment is made upon receipt. What's even better is that they don't get paid until your music hits the market, which means they'll work as hard as they can to get the word out about you.
Think about Rembrandt's "I'll Be There For You" - the Friends soundtrack - and how many people around the world know him...
Other sources of profit
What if you wrote and produced absolutely nothing? Don't worry, you can still make money from music. PPL streaming is not some typical distribution channel for songwriters. This is an additional source of royalties paid by broadcasters to artists for the use of their music. All those involved in the creation of the song (bassists, backing vocalists, etc.) also receive a small amount for their work.
Distribution
The distributor is responsible for getting your music from the warehouse to the store. To do this, if you create physical content, you need to enter into a distribution agreement.
As we know, 'physical' music lags in popularity compared to digital music, which is good news if you're starting your own label, since distribution doesn't have to be as effortful or expensive. Digital distribution means that your records will be available for sale digitally in all the places where your fans want it. For example, Amazon, Beatport, iTunes. In other words, digital distribution saves you from unnecessary fuss in every sense.
And finally
All of the above is quite difficult to accept, but if you want to connect your life with music, then you must understand the basic mechanisms of such a huge musical machine, and you must be ready, if you really want to make a name for yourself and leave a mark on the musical field, take on this is the case and go to the end, no matter what.
And we wish you good luck!
How often music reaches us from everywhere. Music becomes the sound background of our lives. Do you know the feeling when you simply forgot to take your headphones with you? Silence, no, even emptiness. It’s unusual, and your hands try to turn on something. The music stops playing - the inner voice turns on, and somehow you don’t want to listen to it at all. Reminds us of unfinished business, reproaches us for something, and brings serious thoughts. No, the new track would start soon. We’re just used to music, we’re used to not being alone all the time, but with these fun (or not so fun) musical rhythms.
Probably everyone has favorite melodies, the sound of which brings up lines of familiar songs somewhere deep inside. At the same time, it often happens that a person knows the lyrics of a song by heart, but he has never thought about the meaning of the words imprinted in memory and even often spoken. This happens because most people are used to listening to music in the background or relaxation, that is, relaxing and not thinking about anything, enjoying emotions or simply immersed in extraneous thoughts.
As a result of such listening, a person’s worldview is filled with texts and meanings that have not been filtered at the level of consciousness. And since the information is presented accompanied by various rhythms and melodies, it is absorbed very well, and subsequently begins to influence human behavior from the subconscious level. What kind of behavior programs is conveyed to a mass audience by modern popular music - the kind that is played on TV and radio, and is it possible to treat it unconsciously, that is, without thinking about its influence? Let's watch some video reviews:
After watching these videos, it is appropriate to recall a quote from the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius: “The destruction of any state begins precisely with the destruction of its music. A people without pure and bright music is doomed to degeneration.”
Please note in last review it was not only about the content of specific songs, but also about the general orientation of the themes of popular music. This important nuance, which must be taken into account. After all, music should reflect different aspects of our lives, and not elevate one to an inappropriate size and importance.
A person’s creativity, when it comes from the soul, always reflects his inner world, touches on issues of personal development, and the search for answers to pressing questions. If creativity is replaced by business, and making money comes first, then its content is automatically filled with corresponding meanings and forms: primitive, stereotyped, insipid, stupid.
Listening to the content that is played on most radio stations today is a real process of programming people to unconsciously implement in their lives all the behavioral models listed in the videos.
At the same time, in the presented video reviews, only the content of the texts and video clips were analyzed, but the rhythm, tonality, melody, and volume of the music have a huge impact on a person. After all, any music is, in the end, vibrations that can either harmonize with the internal state of a person, or literally act destructively.
The influence of music on society
Dissonance in music, sudden changes in rhythm, loud sound - the body perceives all this as stress, as a polluting factor that affects not only the nervous, but also the cardiovascular and endocrine systems. On the Internet you can find the results of many experiments that show that if classical or folk music improve mental abilities, then modern pop music, built on the same rhythms, or heavy, ragged music, on the contrary, depress the human psyche, worsening memory, abstract thinking, and attentiveness.
You can clearly see the influence of music in these pictures:
These photographs were taken by Japanese explorer Masaru Emoto. He exposed water to various melodies and human speech, after which he froze it and photographed the resulting frozen water crystals with high magnification. As can be seen on the slide, under the influence of sounds classical music crystals of distilled water take on graceful symmetrical shapes; under the influence of heavy music or negative words, emotions, frozen water forms chaotic, fragmented structures.
Considering that we are all mostly made of water, you can imagine how much influence music has on us. For this reason, the choice of those compositions that you often listen to yourself or play for your children should be made consciously, assessing the impact of the music and the effect that you would like to achieve.
Music influences a person in 3 aspects:
- The content of the lyrics and video clips
- Vibrations of music (rhythm, tonality, melody, voice timbre, etc.)
- Personal qualities of popular performers whose lives are on display
The third point on this slide we highlighted the personal aspect associated with the morality of those performers who receive fame and glory. Since modern show business is built on the fact that it brings to public discussion the entire personal life of the so-called stars, imposing them on the younger generations as idols personifying “success”, then when assessing modern songs One must also take into account the lifestyle that their performers convey through their example.
Everyone has probably heard about such a popular Western singer as. Let's see what ideology she promotes through her creativity and personal example.
As part of the Teach Good project, similar reviews were made on other most popular Western performers: , – and it’s the same everywhere. Their careers develop as if according to a pattern: from relatively simple and modest girls, having entered the show business industry, they gradually turn into those whose photographs and works of creativity are even awkward to demonstrate during a lecture due to obsessive vulgarity and vulgarity.
At the same time, it is these stars who are constantly awarded the main awards. music awards, their videos are played on TV channels and radio stations, even here in Russia their songs are played regularly. That is, the same system is built in the music industry, based on 3 main tools: award institutions, financial flows and control over the central media.
Where to look for good songs?
It is almost impossible for good performers - those who sing truly meaningful songs and try to direct their creativity for the benefit of people - to break through this barrier. The situation is only beginning to change today, when with the advent of the Internet, each person has the opportunity to act as an independent media outlet through their accounts on social networks, through blogging and creating websites.
The emergence of the Teach Good project and many other associations of caring people is a natural process of destruction of the old system, built on strict control of persons admitted to the media. And it is on the Internet that you can find songs by those artists whom you will not hear on TV, but whose music is really pleasant and useful to listen to.
They also tour cities, perform on stages, and sell out houses, but their photographs are not published in glossy magazines, and their songs are not broadcast on popular radio stations or music TV channels. Because for the modern music industry, their work does not fit the “format” determined and imposed on a wide audience through the same media, or rather, the means of forming and managing public consciousness.
As an example of meaningful creativity, we bring to your attention one of the songs that was invented and recorded by readers of the Teach Good project.
Before the advent of modern portable audio sources, digital signals and music, the process of recording and playing back audio has come a long way. On turn of XIX-XX centuries The music industry had a certain system, which included: concert and touring activities, sale of sheet music and instruments. In the 19th century, the main form of musical goods was printed music. IN late XIX century, the emergence of devices for recording and reproducing sound, and as a consequence the emergence of record companies, led to significant change the structure of the music industry and the emergence of such a phenomenon as the music business at the beginning of the 20th century.
Human nature is such that he cannot imagine life without sounds, harmony and musical instruments. For several thousand years, musicians have honed their skills in playing the lyre, jew's harp, lute or cistre. But in order to please the ears of high-ranking customers, the presence of a troupe was always required professional musicians. Thus, the need arose to record music with the possibility of its further playback without human intervention. In addition, the music business owes its origins primarily to the advent of sound recording.
It is believed that the first device for reproducing sound was the invention of the ancient Greek inventor Ctesibius - "hydravlos" . The first descriptions of this design are found in the manuscripts of late antique writers - Heron of Alexandria, Vitruvius and Athenaeus. In 875, the Banu Musa brothers, borrowing an idea from the manuscripts of the ancient Greek inventor, presented to the world their analogue of a device for reproducing sounds - "water organ" (Fig. 1.2.1.). Its operating principle was extremely simple: a uniformly rotating mechanical roller with skillfully placed protrusions struck vessels with different amounts of water, which affected the pitch of the sounds, thus causing the filled tubes to sound. A few years later, the brothers presented the first “automatic flute”, the operation of which was also based on the principle of a “water organ”. Until the 19th century, it was the inventions of the Banu Musa brothers that were the only in an accessible way programmable sound recording.
Rice. 1.2.1. Invention of the Banu Musa brothers - "water organ"
Since the 15th century. The Renaissance era was covered by the fashion for mechanical musical instruments. The parade of musical instruments with the principle of operation of the Banu Musa brothers opens - a barrel organ. The first musical clocks appeared in 1598, in the middle of the 16th century. - music boxes. Also, the initial attempts at mass distribution of music were the so-called "ballads-leaflets" - poems printed on paper with notes at the top of the sheet, which first appeared in Europe in the 16th-17th centuries. This method of distribution was not controlled by anyone at that time. The first consciously controlled process of mass distribution of music was the replication of sheet music.
In the first half of the 19th century, the trend of development of mechanical musical instruments continued - boxes, snuff boxes - all these devices had a very limited set of melodies and could reproduce a motif previously “saved” by the master. It was not possible to record the human voice or the sound of an acoustic instrument with the possibility of further reproduction until 1857.
The world's first sound recording apparatus is - phonautograph (Fig. 1.2.2.), which was invented in 1857 by Edouard Leon Scott de Martinville. The principle of operation of the phonautograph was to record a sound wave by capturing vibrations through a special acoustic horn, at the end of which a needle was located. Under the influence of sound, the needle began to vibrate, drawing an intermittent wave on a rotating glass roller, the surface of which was covered with either paper or soot.
Rice. 1.2.2.
Unfortunately, Edward Scott's invention was unable to reproduce the recorded fragment. A few years ago, a 10-second fragment of a recording of the folk song “Moonlight,” performed by the inventor himself on April 9, 1860, was found in a Paris archive. Subsequently, the design of the phonautograph was taken as the basis for the creation of other devices for recording and reproducing sound.
In 1877, the creator of the incandescent lamp, Thomas Edison, completed work on a completely new sound recording device - phonograph (Fig. 1.2.3.), which a year later he patented in the relevant US department. The principle of operation of the phonograph was reminiscent of Scott's phonautograph: a wax-coated roller acted as a sound carrier, the recording of which was carried out using a needle connected to a membrane - the progenitor of the microphone. Catching sound through a special horn, the membrane activated a needle, which left indentations on the wax roller.
Rice. 1.2.3.
For the first time, recorded sound could be played back using the same device on which the recording itself was made. However, the mechanical energy was not enough to achieve the nominal volume level. At that time, Thomas Edison's phonograph turned the whole world upside down: hundreds of inventors began experimenting with the use of various materials to cover the carrier cylinder, and in 1906 the first public audition concert took place. Edison's phonograph was applauded by a packed hall. In 1912 the world saw disc phonograph , in which a disk was used instead of the usual wax roller, which significantly simplified the design. The appearance of the disc phonograph, although it was of public interest, was from the point of view of the evolution of sound recording practical application never found it.
Subsequently, starting in 1887, the inventor Emil Berliner actively developed his own vision of sound recording using his own device - gramophone (Fig. 1.2.4.). As an alternative to the wax drum, Emil Berliner preferred the more durable celluloid. The recording principle remained the same: horn, sound, needle vibrations and uniform rotation of the disc-record.
Rice. 1.2.4.
Experiments that were carried out with the rotation speeds of the recorded disk-record made it possible to increase the recording time of one side of the record to 2-2.5 minutes at a rotation speed of 78 revolutions per minute. The recorded disk-plates were placed in special cardboard covers (less often leather), which is why they later received the name “albums” - in appearance they were very reminiscent of photo albums with city sights, sold everywhere in Europe.
The cumbersome gramophone was replaced by a device improved and modified in 1907 by Guillon Kemmler - gramophone (Fig. 1.2.5.).
Rice. 1.2.5.
This device had a small horn built into the body, with the ability to place the entire device in one compact suitcase, which led to the rapid popularization of the gramophone. In the 1940s A more compact version of the device appeared - a mini-gramophone, which became especially popular among soldiers.
The appearance of records significantly expanded the music market, since, unlike sheet music, absolutely any listener could purchase them. For many years, gramophone records were the main recording media and the main musical product. The gramophone record gave way to other media of musical material only in the 1980s. Since the early 1990s. and to this day, record sales account for a few or even fractions of a percent of the total turnover of audio products. But, even after such a decline in sales, the records did not disappear and have retained their insignificant and small audience among music lovers and collectors to this day.
The advent of electricity marked the beginning of a new stage in the evolution of sound recording. Starts in 1925 - "electric recording era" using a microphone and an electric motor (instead of a spring mechanism) to rotate the record. The arsenal of devices that allow both sound recording and its further playback has been replenished with a modified version of the gramophone - electrophone (Fig. 1.2.6.).
Rice. 1.2.6.
The advent of the amplifier made it possible to take sound recording to a new level: electroacoustic systems received loudspeakers, and the need to force sound through a horn became a thing of the past. All physical efforts of a person began to be performed by electrical energy. All these and other changes improved acoustic capabilities, and also increased the role of the producer in the recording process, which radically changed the situation in the music market.
In parallel with the recording industry, radio was also beginning to develop. Regular radio broadcasting began in the 1920s. At first, actors, singers, and orchestras were invited to popularize new technologies on the radio, and this contributed to the emergence of a huge demand for radios. Radio became a necessity for a huge audience and a competitor to the phonograph industry. However, a direct dependence was soon discovered on the sound of the records on the air and the increase in sales of these records in stores. There was an increased need for music commentators, the so-called “disc jockeys,” who did not just put records on the player, but helped promote new recordings on the music market.
During the first half of the 20th century, the basic model of the music industry underwent significant changes. Sound recording, radio and other advances in scientific and technological progress have greatly expanded the original audience of the music business and contributed to the emergence and spread of new musical styles and trends, such as electronic music. They offered the public a more attractive product and organically fit into the forms that were common in the 19th century.
One of the main problems with sound recording devices of that time was the duration of sound recording, which was first solved by the Soviet inventor Alexander Shorin. In 1930, he proposed using film as an operational recording, passing through an electrical recording unit at a constant speed. The device was named shorinophone , but the quality of the recording remained suitable only for further voice reproduction; about 1 hour of recording could already be placed on a 20-meter film.
The last echo of electromechanical recording was the so-called “talking paper”, proposed in 1931 by the Soviet engineer B.P. Skvortsov. Sound vibrations were recorded on plain paper using a pen drawing with black ink. Such paper could be easily copied and transferred. To play back what was recorded, a powerful lamp and photocell were used. In the 1940s last century were already conquered by a new method of sound recording - magnetic.
The history of the development of magnetic sound recording almost all the time ran parallel to mechanical recording methods, but remained in the shadows until 1932. Back at the end of the 19th century, inspired by the invention of Thomas Edison, the American engineer Oberlin Smith studied the issue of sound recording. In 1888, an article was published devoted to the use of the phenomenon of magnetism in sound recording. Danish engineer Waldemar Poulsen, after ten years of experiments, received a patent in 1898 for the use of steel wire as a sound carrier. This is how the first sound recording device appeared, which was based on the principle of magnetism - telegraph . In 1924, inventor Kurt Stille improved the brainchild of Waldemar Poulsen and created the first magnetic tape-based voice recorder. The AEG company intervened in the further evolution of magnetic sound recording, releasing a device in mid-1932 Tape recorder-K 1 (Fig. 1.2.7.) .
Rice. 1.2.7.
Using iron oxide as a film coating, BASF produced real revolution in the world of recording. Using alternating current bias, engineers achieved a completely new sound quality. From 1930 until 1970, the world market was represented by reel-to-reel tape recorders of a wide variety of form factors and with a wide variety of capabilities. Magnetic tape opened creative doors for thousands of producers, engineers and composers who were able to experiment with sound recording not on an industrial scale, but right in their own apartment.
Such experiments were further facilitated by the emergence in the mid-1950s. multi-track tape recorders. It became possible to record several sound sources on one magnetic tape at once. In 1963, a 16-track tape recorder was released, in 1974 - a 24-track tape recorder, and 8 years later Sony proposed an improved digital recording scheme for the DASH format on a 24-track tape recorder.
In 1963, Philips introduced the first compact cassette (Fig. 1.2.8.), which later became the main mass format for sound reproduction. In 1964, mass production of compact cassettes was launched in Hannover. In 1965, Philips initiated the production of music cassettes, and in September 1966, the first products of the company's two-year industrial experiments went on sale in the United States. The unreliability of the design and the difficulties that arose with recording music prompted manufacturers to further search for a reference storage medium. These searches became fruitful for the Advent Corporation, which in 1971 introduced a cassette based on magnetic tape, the production of which used chromium oxide.
Rice. 1.2.8.
In addition, the advent of magnetic tape as an audio recording medium gave users the previously unavailable opportunity to independently replicate recordings. The contents of the cassette could be transferred to another reel or cassette, thereby obtaining a copy that was not 100% accurate, but quite suitable for listening. For the first time in history, the medium and its contents ceased to be a single and indivisible product. The ability to replicate recordings at home has changed the perception and distribution of music among end users, but the changes have not been radical. People still bought cassette tapes because it was much more convenient and not much more expensive than making copies. In the 1980s the number of records sold was 3-4 times more than cassettes, but already in 1983 they divided the market equally. Compact cassette sales peaked in the mid-1980s, and a noticeable decline in sales began only in the early 1990s. .
Subsequently, the ideas of sound recording, laid down at the end of the 19th century by Thomas Edison, in the second half of the 20th century led to the use of a laser beam. Thus, magnetic tape was replaced by "era of laser-optical sound recording" . Optical sound recording is based on the principle of forming spiral tracks on a compact disc, consisting of smooth areas and pits. The laser era made it possible to represent a sound wave into a complex combination of zeros (smooth areas) and ones (pits).
In March 1979, Philips demonstrated the first prototype of a compact disc, and a week later the Dutch concern entered into an agreement with the Japanese company Sony, approving a new standard for audio discs, which were put into production in 1981. The CD was an optical storage medium in the form of a plastic disk with a hole in the center; the prototype of this medium was the gramophone record. The CD contained 72 minutes of high-quality audio and was also significantly smaller vinyl records, its diameter was only 12 cm versus 30 cm of vinyl, with almost twice the capacity. Undoubtedly, this made it more convenient to use.
In 1982, Philips presented the first CD player, which surpassed all previously presented media in terms of playback quality. The first commercial album recorded on a new digital medium was the legendary "The Visitors" by ABBA, which was announced on June 20, 1982. And in 1984, Sony released first portable CD player - Sony Discman D-50 (Fig. 1.2.9.), the cost of which at that time was $350.
Rice. 1.2.9.
Already in 1987, sales of CDs exceeded sales of gramophone records, and in 1991, CDs had already significantly displaced compact cassettes from the market. At the initial stage, the CD retained the main trend in the development of the music market - it was possible to put an equal sign between an audio recording and a carrier. You could only listen to music from a disc recorded at the factory. But this monopoly was not destined to last long.
Further development of the era of laser-optical compact discs led to the emergence of the DVD-Audio standard in 1998, entering the audio market with a different number of audio channels (from mono to five-channel). Beginning in 1998, Philips and Sony promoted an alternative compact disc format, Super Audio CD. The two-channel disc made it possible to store up to 74 minutes of sound in both stereo and multi-channel formats. The 74-minute capacity was determined by opera singer, conductor and composer Noria Oga, who at that time also served as vice president of Sony Corporation. In parallel with the development of CDs, handicraft production - copying media - also developed steadily. For the first time, record companies began to think about the need for digital data protection using encryption and watermarks.
Despite the versatility and ease of use of CDs, they had an impressive list of disadvantages. One of the main ones was excessive fragility and the need for careful handling. The recording time of CD media was also significantly limited and the recording industry was intensely looking for an alternative option. The appearance of a magneto-optical mini-disc on the market went unnoticed by ordinary music fans. Mini-Disk(Fig. 1.2.10.)- developed by Sony back in 1992, has remained the property of sound engineers, performers and people directly related to stage activities.
Rice. 1.2.10.
When recording a mini-disc, a magneto-optical head and a laser beam were used, cutting through areas with a magneto-optical layer at high temperature. The main advantage of the mini-disc over traditional CDs was its improved security and longer service life. In 1992, Sony introduced the first player for the mini-disc media format. The player model gained particular popularity in Japan, but outside the country, both the first-born Sony MZ1 player and its improved descendants were not accepted. One way or another, listening to a CD or mini-disc was more suitable exclusively for stationary use.
At the end of the 20th century came "era high technology" . The advent of personal computers and the global Internet opened up completely new opportunities and significantly changed the situation in the music market. In 1995, the Fraunhofer Institute developed a revolutionary audio compression format - MPEG 1 Audio Layer 3 , which was shortened to MP3. The main problem of the early 1990s. in the field of digital media was the unavailability of sufficient disk space to accommodate a digital composition. The average size of the hard drive of the most sophisticated personal computer at that time hardly exceeded several tens of megabytes.
In 1997, the first software player entered the market - "Winamp" , which was developed by Nullsoft. The emergence of the mp3 codec and its further support from CD player manufacturers led to a gradual decline in CD sales. Choosing between sound quality (which only a small percentage of consumers actually experienced) and the maximum possible number of songs that could be recorded on one CD (on average, the difference was about 6-7 times), the listener chose the latter.
Over the course of several years, the situation has changed dramatically. In 1999, 18-year-old Sean Fanning created a specialized service called - "Napster" , which sent shockwaves through the entire music business era. With the help of this service, it has become possible to exchange music, recordings and other digital content directly via the Internet. Two years later, this service was closed for copyright infringement by the music industry, but the mechanism was launched and the era of digital music continued to develop uncontrollably: hundreds of peer-to-peer networks, the operation of which was very difficult to quickly regulate.
A radical change in the way we receive and listen to music occurred when three components came together: the personal computer, the Internet and portable flash players (portable devices capable of playing music tracks recorded on a built-in hard drive or flash memory). In October 2001, Apple appeared on the music market, introducing the world to the first generation of a completely new type of portable media player - iPod (Fig. 1.2.11.), which was equipped with 5 GB flash memory, and also supported playback of audio formats such as MP3, WAV, AAC and AIFF. In size it was comparable to two compact cassettes folded together. Along with the release of the concept of a new Flash player, the company's CEO Steve Jobs developed an intriguing slogan - "1000 songs in your pocket" (translated from English - 1000 songs in your pocket). At that time, this device was truly revolutionary.
Rice. 1.2.11.
Further, in 2003, Apple proposed its own vision of distributing legal digital copies of compositions via the Internet through its own online music store - iTunes Store . At that time, the total database of songs in this online store was over 200,000 tracks. Currently, this figure exceeds 20 million songs. By signing agreements with recording industry leaders such as Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group International, EMI and Warner Music Group, Apple has opened a completely new page in the history of recording.
Thus, personal computers have become a means of processing and reproducing audio recordings, flash players have become a universal means of listening, and the Internet has acted as a unique means of distributing music. As a result, users received complete freedom of action. Equipment manufacturers have met the consumer halfway by providing support for playing the compressed MP3 audio format not only in flash players, but in all AV devices, from music centers, home theaters and ending with the conversion of disc CD players into CD/MP3 players. Thanks to this, music consumption began to grow at an incredible rate, and the profits of copyright holders began to fall just as steadily. The situation could not be changed by new, more advanced SACD disc formats, which were designed to replace CDs. Most people preferred these innovations to compressed audio and other revolutionary innovations, for example, the iPod music player and its many analogues.
Using systems of the simplest generation of sound signals on personal computers, computer music began to be created in huge quantities. The Internet, along with digital technology, has made it possible for producers to create and distribute their own music. Artists used the network for album promotion and sales. Users were able to quickly receive a recording of almost any piece of music and create your own music collections without leaving home. The Internet has expanded the market, increased the variety of musical material, and contributed to the active adoption of digital technologies in the music business.
The era of high technology has had a huge impact on musical culture, contributed to the emergence and further development of the music industry, and, as a result, the development of the music business. Since that time, alternative options have emerged for artists to enter the music market without the participation of large record companies. Old patterns of product distribution are under threat. Over the past few years, 95% of music on the Internet has been pirated. Music is increasingly no longer sold, but freely exchanged on the Internet. The fight against piracy is taking on unprecedented proportions as record labels lose profits. The computer industry generates more revenue than the music industry, and this has allowed music to be used as a product to promote digital sales. The impersonality and homogeneity of musical material and performers has led to market saturation and the predominance of background functions in music.
The situation in beginning of XXI century, is in many ways reminiscent of what happened in the music industry at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, when new technologies broke established traditions, and records and radio actively took root in the music business. This led to the fact that by the middle of the century the music industry had formed an almost new basic structure, on which the “era of high technology” at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. had a detrimental effect.
Thus, it should be concluded that the entire history of the development of sound data carriers is based on the heredity of the achievements of previous stages. Over 150 years, the evolution of music industry technology has come a long way of development and transformation. During this period, new, more advanced sound recording and playback devices repeatedly appeared, ranging from the phonautograph to compact discs. The first sprouts of recordings on optical CDs and the rapid development of HDD drives in the late 1980s. In just one decade they have crushed the competition of many analogue recording formats. Despite the fact that the first optical music discs were not qualitatively different from vinyl records, their compactness, versatility and further development The digital direction expectedly ended the era of analog formats for mass use. The new era of high technology is significantly and rapidly changing the world of the music business.
The beginning of the 20th century is characterized by the rapid development of the music entertainment industry. The St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society, the Moscow Philharmonic Society, the Russian Musical Society, the Russian Music Circle, and the “House of Song” concert music organization, which existed until 1918, played a major role in the development of concert activities. The musical stage during this period was mainly in the hands of private enterprises.
The recording industry is developing particularly rapidly. The first record factory in Russia opened in Riga in 1902. And in 1907, the production of records was organized by the Pathé company, which imported matrices from abroad (since 1922 - “Factory named after the 5th anniversary of October”). Since 1910, the Metropol-Record factory at the Aprelevka station near Moscow began producing records. In 1911, the factory of the Sirena-Record partnership was put into operation, which printed 2.5 million records in a year.
The State Duma adopted the Law “On Copyright,” which for the first time took into account the interests of recording companies. The Agency for Musical Rights of Russian Authors (AMPRA) was founded. The annual gross production in Russia was 18 million records, and there were about 20 companies operating in the market. The Aprelevsky plant increased its capacity to 300 thousand records per year. The “Syndicate of United Factories” was created in order to counteract large foreign manufacturers. However, after the outbreak of the First World War in Russia, their number decreased.
In 1915, the “Writing Cupid in Moscow” plant came into operation. Before the revolution, there were six factories in Russia that produced 20 million records per year; in addition, 5-6 million were produced using imported matrices. Most of the factories were founded on personal Russian capital - “Partnership of Rebikov and Co?” and others.
However, at the same time, the market is faced with the first negative phenomena in the music industry, which are also characteristic of modern show business. The first pirated records appeared, produced by the Neographon company and the St. Petersburg branch of the American company Melodifon. Entrepreneur D. Finkelstein went the furthest - his Orthenon partnership produced exclusively pirated records.
Similar phenomena occurred in music publishing houses. At the beginning of the 20th century, music publishing in Russia reached a high level of development, not inferior in terms of printing technology to foreign musical publications. Russian music publishing houses such as Jurgenson's have gained worldwide recognition.
In the first decades of the 20th century, there were numerous music stores - firms in the periphery (Yaroslavl, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, Saratov and other cities) engaged in music publishing activities. Music publishing houses and music stores in Russia published catalogs of the sheet music they published, which are still valuable sources of study to this day. musical tastes era.
Dramatic changes in the art of music occurred after the 1917 revolution. Publishing business passes into the hands of the state (Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of December 19, 1918). In 1921, music publishing houses and music printing houses merged into a single music publishing house, which in 1922 became part of Gosizdat as its music sector. In 1930, the music sector was reorganized into the State Music Publishing House "Muzgiz" with a branch in Leningrad, which became the largest music publishing company.
During these same years, a number of other music publishing houses operated, in particular, the cooperative “Tritron” (1925-1935). They published sheet music and books on music. A number of public organizations and departments are involved in the occasional release of sheet music: the Moscow Society of Dramatic Writers and Composers (MOPIK, 1917-1930), the All-Union Directorate for Copyright Protection.
In 1939, the USSR Musical Fund was created under the Union of Composers, whose tasks included publishing works by Soviet composers. In 1964, “Muzgiz” and “Soviet Composer” merged into one publishing house “Music”, but in 1967 they separated again. These publishing houses publish the magazines “Soviet Music” and “Musical Life”.
The record industry was also undergoing a period of dramatic change. This industry was nationalized. And one of the first gramophone records released under Soviet rule was a recording of a speech by V.I. Lenin "Appeal to the Red Army". In 1919-1920 The “Soviet Record” department of Tsentropechat produced more than 500 thousand gramophone discs. These were mainly speech recordings - speeches of prominent party and public figures.
In the 20s, production was resumed at old enterprises, and in the 30s, the All-Union Recording House began work in Moscow. In 1957, the All-Union Recording Studio was founded. In 1964, the All-Union company Melodiya was created, uniting domestic factories, houses and recording studios and becoming a monopolist in sound recording for many years.
There have also been big changes in concert activities. The organization and management of the entire industry passed into the hands of the state, which had a great influence on the ideological orientation of the performers’ creativity. This has become especially noticeable in the field of pop art. Special government institutions were created that organized concert activities of artists of all genres, including pop.
This system, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, included “State Concert”, “Soyuzconcert”, “Rosconcert”, republican, regional and city philharmonic societies, concert associations that managed the entire complex concert life in our country. Free enterprise was punishable by law as an illegal activity. Together, during this period, musical, educational and cultural work comes to the fore.
Concerts take place not only in concert halls of big cities, but also in small clubs, cultural centers, in the workshops of factories, factories, state farms, collective farms, in red corners and on farms. At the same time, payment to the artists was carried out according to strictly established tariffs - from 4.5 to 11.5 rubles per concert.
With the emergence of a market economy, alternative trends begin to develop on the official stage. Problems arise related to the reorganization of this activity. A main contradiction has emerged: between the personal nature of talent and the state’s practice of appropriating its labor. After all, the right to pay the performer based on demand was previously absent. The emergence of numerous firms and companies working in the musical variety industry has become an objective response of modern times to the increased interest of both consumers and entrepreneurs in the variety music industry in general and its directions.
In Moscow there are currently over seventy public and private associations, firms, companies, and associations involved in organizing concert activities. Without taking into account illegal, unregistered associations, such multifaceted activities can only be managed by highly professional specialist managers, who must not only and not so much satisfy the growing demands of the public, but also anticipate them, clearly grasping market conditions and monitoring the activities of competitors, taking into account other factors in their work of this market, such as the solvency of the population, etc.
Competition in show business has led to the emergence of music industry marketing. When audio art became an entrepreneurial field, he needed tools to promote his products. Marketing in music is based on traditional strategies and methods, but, of course, has many specific features and characteristics.
Marketing concept
The consolidation of production and the production of more and more high-quality goods leads to the fact that special efforts become necessary to stimulate consumer activity. As productivity increases, the first ones arise. Initially, it was aimed at improving goods and production, but modern ideas about promotion are gradually being formed as a special activity aimed at satisfying needs through exchange. Today, marketing refers to special communication between the manufacturer and the buyer, which leads to the satisfaction of needs. It is designed to help the buyer and seller achieve their goals. In this sense, music industry marketing is also a specific interaction between producer and consumer. The producer offers a product on the audio market that will allow the listener to satisfy his needs.
The Emergence of Music Marketing
The emergence of music marketing is associated with the formation of the entertainment and leisure industry. When show business appears, an area in which people earn money by providing entertainment services, there is also a need to satisfy the needs of the market as fully as possible. The more competition grew, the stronger the need for special efforts to sell the product being created was felt. The beginnings of music marketing can be found in old times. For example, Mozart’s father essentially performed the function of a musician’s producer: he selected the repertoire and conducted propaganda activities in order to organize concerts. The composer and performer was a means to make a profit and to satisfy the public's needs for entertainment. But in the full sense of the word, music marketing appears only at the stage of high development of the entertainment industry. Only with market oversaturation and great competition There is a need for thoughtful promotion of a musical product.
Formation of the music industry
Show business includes several industries: cinema, theater and entertainment, music. The audio industry is a branch of the global economy that makes profit through the sale of a music product or service. Man has felt the need to listen to music since ancient times; the phenomenon of its impact on the psyche has not been fully studied. However, it is obvious that it is closely related to emotions, which are a deep human experience. It is with them that the importance of music in human life is associated. Since there is demand, then naturally there is supply. The music industry arises along with the possibilities of mass distribution of audio products, that is, along with technical progress. Show business appears along with public spectacles; researchers determine the date of its birth in different ways: from the 11th to the 19th centuries. But since the first legislative acts regulating the organization of public shows appeared only in the middle of the 19th century, this is where the countdown is traditionally made. The music industry was formed with the advent of the gramophone recording, which began to distribute the musical product to the masses. The next revolutionary stages are associated with the emergence of radio and television. Subsequently, the industry is only gaining momentum, sound carriers are improving, circulation and competition are growing. Every year the music industry market continues to increase by several percent, with especially noticeable growth in the Internet segment. Today, without promotion, it is impossible to realize any music project, even with the most talented performers.
Music as a commodity
Songs, performances of audio works, musical groups and soloists are a means of generating profit. The peculiarity of music as an object of promotion is that it simultaneously combines the properties of a product and a service. An audio product must satisfy the listener's needs, have certain quality and its corresponding price, it must have prestige and consumer value, like any product. In addition, music, like a service, is inseparable from the performer, it is intangible, and the result of its consumption cannot be predicted. At the same time, an audio product is a product because it has a price, quality, can satisfy a need and requires promotion from the manufacturer to the buyer.
Profession: producer
The music producer plays the most important role in the creation and promotion of a musical product. He conceives the product, selects the performer and the material in accordance with the needs of the market. He understands market trends well, can influence the tastes and desires of the public, and is able to anticipate the needs of listeners. The music producer also financially ensures the creation of the product, he finds equipment, buys music, lyrics, pays for the work of performers and accompanying personnel. And another important function of the producer is to ensure product sales, he plans marketing events, organizes tours and concerts. Producer - central figure in the music industry, he is a marketing and management specialist at the same time.
Marketing goals and objectives
Music industry marketing, like any other, has its most main goal- this is an increase in sales. But in order to increase demand, it is necessary to solve related problems. An important goal of music marketing is to spread awareness about the product and artist. Only high awareness can lead to a purchase. Another goal of marketing is to create a product that satisfies the needs of listeners. Therefore, each performer must have not only unique quality, but also unique positioning. Music marketing must maintain constant communication between the listener and the performer, take into account changes in the perception of the product, and form a loyal attitude towards the product on the part of the consumer.
Promotion objects
There are several promotion objects in music marketing. First of all, it is a performer or a group. When a new name appears on the music market, marketing tasks become to create awareness of it among target audience. Promotion of groups and soloists begins with the development of positioning, and only then communication is planned, demand is formed and stimulated. A performer also needs branding; every musician strives to become a brand, because this leads to constant high sales. An audio product can also be the object of promotion. A record, a concert, a film - all require a thoughtful promotional plan to maximize demand and profits. Music hits are most often the result of clever marketing efforts.
Marketing strategy
A long-term product development plan is called a marketing strategy. In order to develop a strategy, you need to have a good understanding of the state of the market and the specifics of the segment to which the product is being promoted. Music marketing as a special activity cannot apply all existing marketing strategies. This requires a special approach that takes into account the characteristics of the musical product. The most appropriate intensive growth strategies are those based on increasing marketing efforts in existing markets. It is also possible to apply a deep market penetration strategy, in which case marketing programs stimulate the purchase of more goods, as well as services. Strategies must promote long-term and sustainable demand, so the image of the artist is extremely important in the music market, which must be carefully planned and maintained.
Music Marketing Target Audience
Marketing of the music industry is based on the concept, that is, on identifying a special target audience for which a given product is being developed. Defining a segment is extremely important for successfully marketing a product. The identification of the target audience in the music market is most often done according to the following parameters: age, gender and lifestyle. There is a product for youth, children and mature people, music for men and women. Lifestyle, interests, tastes are also criteria for identifying the target audience. You can see that today in all markets, including music, demassification is taking place, products are being produced for increasingly narrow audiences. Yes, there is music for lovers Korean TV series or for ready. This allows you to sell more goods.
Promotion methods
There are four main methods of achieving goals in marketing: demand stimulation, direct sales, PR and advertising. All four elements of the marketing mix are used in promoting a music product, but are used more often than stimulating demand. Promoting a song without advertising and PR is impossible. In order for albums to be bought, it is necessary to create awareness and demand, and for this, methods such as direct media advertising are used - posting information materials in the media, as well as BTL tools - event marketing, communications through social networks, Internet marketing.
Music product promotion plan
Based on the chosen marketing strategy, a promotion plan for the artist or group is developed. At the first stage, it is necessary to determine the goals of promotion, this could be, for example, creating awareness or maintaining fame. Then activities are planned in three areas: promotion (placing the product in television and radio broadcasts), publicity (creating information noise around the product, launching legends and gossip, giving interviews, placement in ratings, creating journalistic materials), performance (organizing live communication between the performer and listener, organization of concert performances, autograph sessions). Musical groups and soloists must be constantly heard, so it is necessary to use a variety of advertising and PR means to ensure the constant presence of the performer in the listener’s information field.
Brands in music
Marketing in musical art initially associated with the creation of stars, that is, brands. In order for the listener to trust the performer and feel sympathy and affection for him, it is necessary to carefully consider the image future star. Promotion of groups or soloists begins with the creation of a name, which should contain a certain philosophy, a message, on the basis of which communication with listeners will subsequently be planned. The next step is to create a personal story. Fans want to know everything about their idol, so they will start looking for information about his personal life, past, and the producer must take care of the selling myth in advance. For example, the legend of the mega-popular group “Tender May” was a story about children from an orphanage, this gave the group an additional aura of pity and contributed to their popularity. It is also necessary to consider appearance performer so that it meets the expectations of the target audience. In addition, you should formulate a key message that will need to be reinforced in the minds of listeners. For example, Stas Mikhailov is positioned as a singer for mature, divorced women, and this is his competitive advantage. Once all brand elements have been created, it is necessary to systematically maintain the performer's image.
Global experience in music marketing
Today, musical hits are born not only thanks to the talent of composers and performers, but most often thanks to the efforts of producers. Modern industry has put the process of star birth on stream. Of course, talented material is needed to start, but what is more needed is a competent producer who is familiar with effective marketing methods production of music brands. A striking example of such work by producers are, for example, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber or the Viagra group.