Music Industry overview

Production
- Advance in technology
- User-based production
- No reliance on record company
- Musical expertise not needed e.g. Garageband, loop based, evident in manufactured pop artists.
- Cost no longer an issue - prosumer software

Distribution
- Internet primary medium, use of web2.0
- Can be free, largely accessed as 'free' music
- Not legal in most cases, filesharing through limewire, torrents
- Making physicals formats obselete, (tapes, CDs) > impacts on retail outlets
- Difficult to track/monitor
- Industry forced to think of new ways of marketing, in keeping with interactive nature of distribution e.g. iTunes store

Consumption
- Follows trend of using new media technologies e.g. Youtube, iPods
- Link to image more explicitly, through visual media
- Saturated and diluted experiences of accessing music > devoured?

The Big Four
Sony
WarnerBrothers
Universal
EMI

Stafford quote - Page 160 of media textbook

Music industry & Technology

Portability & hardware proves to be a main factor
Rapid movement in technology and production

Short timeline of events relating to the Music industry and technology;

1980 - Compact disc
1982 - CDs available to use on PC
1988 - CD overtaken the Vinyl discs
1990 - Record CD
1997 - mp3
1999 - Napster - involved legal battles for copyright, consumption ..........and production
2000 - Broadband invented
2001 - Apple - iPod/ iTunes
2003 - CD sales dropped a third
2005 - iPod shuffle - downloading became cheaper, more ..........accessible


Key term;
Vertical integration : When a company is able to control how the consumption, and distribution is undergone, e.g. iTunes - only able to buy from the iTunes store, only accessible - IF you own an iPod, cheaper than buying albums in shops - convincing, more accessible, easy to use