Musical Commerce

Musical Commerce

People are strange when you’re a stranger – Jim Morison for the Doors, lyrics

Commercialization of musical talents has revealed that success depends on a large audience. Alleyne (2009) feels that due to globalization some art ends up selling out. Although the notice has been discussed before, it may be a slight exaggeration. Many have mean things to say about pop artists and how they trade their souls for money and so on and so forth. Musicians deplore dilution likewise; Rihanna has commented on how generic some of her contemporaries’ tunes sounded. Mass marketing demands some changes (that can be very profitable). A fascinating 80% of market share belongs to the four major music corporations: Universal Music, EMI, Sony Music International and Warner Music Group.

Stephens (2007) provides insight into the digital music industry of the Atlanta region. The author defines digital music simply as “music that has been digitally constructed” (Ibid. p. 13), the recording software used are Compact Disk and MP3. Other channels are ringtones, online radio, and synthesizers. Ringtones seem to be gradually replacing traditional CDs. However, the exact figure seems hard to pinpoint in the literature. Sources’ estimations are that ringtone sales for 2005 amounted to $600 000 in the US, while analysts forecast 800,000 Euros in European sales for 2007. But, predictions about 2010 went as far up as 11 billion by 2010, while CD and DVD sales represent close to 5 billion in the US and 20 billion globally.

Music of the square. Photo by Elena

In addition to aiding individualism and social cohesiveness, music also generates profits. At least since the 1900s a certain commercialisation of music went on, although not unheard of since even troubadours made somewhat of a living playing instruments a thousand years ago. As elsewhere in oligopolistic business, a few large companies have divided the market among themselves. The digital music industry differs from the traditional one along the value chain. The value chain is a managerial accounting concept and refers to the path travelled by a product from its invention and design through ordering, production, packaging, sale and customer aftercare. Because of the informational nature of the product advertising and distribution expenses are lower for digital music than for non-digital music. Production costs are similarly reduced. Atlanta’s digital art form is explicated in terms of the Porter Diamond framework, which encompasses competitive strategies, customer needs, resources and support system. Electric guitar sounds were excluded from the digital sample of analysis (Ibid).

References:

    Alleyne, M. (2009). Globalisation and commercialisation of Caribbean music. World Music: Roots and Routes. Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences 6. Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, 76-101.

    Stephens, A. R. -M. (2007). Atlanta’s digital music industry: Implications for workforce and economic development. Master’s Degree Thesis. School of Public Policy and College of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology.