Well, we are into week four of the digital marketing stratosphere and things continue to boggle my mind. This week's hot topic -- digital music and the marketplace. It's been an interesting look into the world of satellite radio, digital streaming, on-line radio and so much more.
As an avid music lover and fan of iTunes, I love that music is so accessible to the world. But, I feel so old. I remember the days of going to my local mall to buy my records. Yes, records. I'm that old. I can vividly remember fingering through the 45s, looking at the great album covers and taking my hard earned allowance to buy Michael Jackson's newest hit. Ah, those were the days...
But, just as the Internet blew open the windows of the world to 24-hour news, shopping and sports, it also has given music new life. Now, artists -- both known and unknown -- can share their creations with hundreds of millions of listeners via on-line radio or social networking sites. What is so great about this new age of digital music is that you feel more connected to the artists than ever before. You get e-mails and tweets from "them." Videos are readily available via YouTube (since MTV really isn't "music television" anymore), so now you can go back to enjoying the videos. The latest concert dates and other news are right at your fingertips.
In an article on wired.com -- http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/04/social-networks/ -- Eliot Van Buskirk talks about how social media outlets are both a blessing and a curse. He talks about social media being both good and bad for artists/musicians.
While these mediums provide access to broad markets, as they provide an avenue for people to trade and share music, often without paying for it. For years, many music/social networking sites have been battling it out with record labels over royalties. That fight is about to get bigger as ASCAP and BMI -- two of the biggest American agencies hired to collect royalties -- are now going after royalties on previews (i.e., the 30-second sound bites you get on iTunes before purchasing a song). It's unlikley this battle will end any time soon.
So, is there a silver lining? As Buskirk notes, possibly. The lining may come in the form of advertising revenue. Demographic information obtained through these social networking sites could be the bait they need to attract more advertisers. Data will readily be available to attract advertisers who are specifically looking to target their products to particular group or audience.
I love the line from Buskirk's, "Picture advertising as caterers at an online party. It’s easier for them to choose which drinks to serve if they know Early Man is playing."
So, will the caterers be able to deliver the music? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
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Throwing out there that I fully, 100%, support MTV cutting the million different versions of Flavor of Love and putting nothing but music videos back on. And maybe even some Making the Band/Making the video.
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming that developers are already cashing in on demographics. Two examples are the newly (ish) added feature in iTunes, Genius. It's awesome for us to use, but I'm sure that collecting our info and analyzing our libraries isn't useless to Apple, either. Another example I come across constantly is on Facebook. On my page, I have my favorite artists listed. I constantly see ads on the sidebar for Keith Urban or Bon Jovi tickets. Tell me that's coincidence. I don't think so.
Apparently, I'm not the only person that bugged, either. There's an entire Facebook group devoted to music ad rebellion: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2219981261&_fb_noscript=1
And to see if the ads really work, a member of a band did an experiment on it. This article has tons of great data from his own personal experience. I'd say he did a pretty thorough job: http://www.musicthinktank.com/mtt-open/2009/8/19/how-effective-are-facebook-ads-for-music-bands.html
I just hope that we can still listen to music online, legally, in the future. I fully support artists getting royalties, but there's got to be a line drawn somewhere. Too often it's not even the artists themselves complaining, it's the record companies.
How many billions do you need to make before it becomes about the fans again?
Sources:
(2009, August 19). "How effective are Facebook ads for music bands?" MusicThinkTank.com. Retrieved October 8, 2009, from http://www.musicthinktank.com/mtt-open/2009/8/19/how-effective-are-facebook-ads-for-music-bands.html
I think back to the days of Elvis Presley, the Beatles or Michael Jackson, compared to today’s musicians, like Beyonce and Taylor Swift and it is amazing how music has changed. I not only remember the days of the 45s, I still have some. My first car had an 8-track player and I fondly remember buying my first boom box and the cassette tapes to play in it. When I bought a Sony Walkman that played my CDs, I thought that was it. I know I’m a dinosaur in some respects because I still like my CDs. Of course I load them on my iPod so I can listen to what I want when I want more easily.
ReplyDeleteMusic fans, as you pointed out, no longer want their music on CDs. They opt instead to download music to their iPods, ultimately forcing businesses like Tower Records (my favorite music store when I lived in California) to close (The Associated Press, 2006). I must admit I like the easy accessibility that iTunes and my iPod offer as well as the connectability that you mention. Never have fans felt the connection to their favorite performers. That is what sets this new age of digital music apart. Here we are, right in the middle of football season and I can't help but note the similarities between football and today's musicians. Essentially digital distribution creates free agents out of musicians in much the same way free agency gives NFL players more say in their contracts.
The shift to digital distribution allows artists to take control of their careers and define their own success, similar to free agents.
One step the music industry has taken to bolster sales is to team up with social media darling MySpace to start a music Web site (Stone, B. & Leeds, J. 2008). MySpace Music service is an independent joint venture in partnership with Universal Music, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group. Visitors to the site will be able to listen to free streaming music and share customized play lists with their friends. The music on the site is paid for with advertising. The site is designed to compete with similar services offered by Apple, Amazon and eMusic by allowing users to download tracks to their mobile devices (Stone & Leeds).
For the music industry, the deal is partly born of desperation. Music sales dropped to $11.5 billion in 2006 from a peak in 1999 of nearly $15 billion (Stone & Leeds, 200). Whether the site is successful or not will take time. One thing is certain. The music industry will have to adapt or perish.
Reference
The Associated Press (2006, October 10). Tower Records Victim of iPod Era. Retrieved September 15, 2009, from http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/News/TowerRecordsToClose.aspx
Stone, Brad & Leeds, Jeff (2008, April 3). MySpace and Record Companies Create Music Site. The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/technology/03cnd-myspace.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print