MUSIC MATTERS CAMPAIGN

The Music Matters campaign is a collective of people across the music industry, including artists, retailers, songwriters, labels and managers, formed to remind listeners of the significance and value of music.

Music is easier than ever to download illegally and it's easy for people to forget about the lengths the artists have gone to when recording their songs and the effect music has on people. Music Matters have made a trust mark which means that any website that people go onto to receive music or download it will have their trust mark which shows the site is legal. Trusts marks are needed as 19 out of 20 tracks are downloaded illegally the trust mark will help music fans to know which website is legal to show they are supporting the musicians, songwriters and everyone who is involved in creating the music for people to enjoy. Downloading music is the same for unsigned bands as it is for bands who have a record deal. Unless the unsigned band chooses to sell their music to fans for free.

Music services which support music matters are: amazon, BT, HMV, iTunes, m flow, mtv, myspace, napster, orange, our song, ovi nokia, play.com, spotify, tesco, three, tunetribe, vidzone, vodafone and we7.

Case studies of Anna Calvi and Justin Bieber

MP3 and the future of the music industry

Its been 10 years since the origianal ipod which changed the way we listen to and buy music. There are now more apple products where we can listen and buy music such as; Ipads, Iphones and Ipod touches.
The Ipod classic hasnt been updated since September 2009 which now has more capacity from 120GB to 160GB. The Ipod was developed during spring in 2001 and brought to the market within just eight months.
Apple Ipods would be able to hold 1,000 songs and could be recharged within an hour.

Audience survey

The online revolution has proved as damaging to independent labels as to multinational companies. How far do you agree?

Institutions and Audiences

AS Media Studies Unit G323 - exam

Section B: Institutions and Audiences

For Section B, we shall be studying the music industry. We shall focus on case studies of two record labels within the contemporary music industry which target British audiences, including their patterns of production, distribution, marketing and consumption by audiences. This will be accompanied by study of the strategies used by record labels to counter the practice of file sharing and their impact on music production, marketing and consumption.

Candidates should be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as, the nature of audience consumption and the relationship between audiences and institutions. In addition candidates should be familiar with:

·         the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;

·         the importance of cross media convergence and synergy, in production, distribution and marketing;

·         the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, marketing and exchange;

·         the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;

·         the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;

·         the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international and global institutions;

·         the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.

Domino Records

1. What differences do you notice between Domino and Universal in terms of artists and genres?

      Domino Records and Universal have different artists and genres. Domino records has lower profile artists whereas Universal has more well known artists. Domino genres are more indie and rock whereas Universal records has more of a variety genres such as; pop, rock, rap, rnb and classical.

2.  a)  How would you describe Domino’s target audience(s)?

Domino's target audience is

b) How does the label address and appeal to its audience?

The label addresses and appeals to its target audience by

Convergence

advantages and disadvantages of convergence.

Universal Music Group and Multi- platform promotion

1.  In what ways is UMG working towards intergrating music with television? Why do you think that this is an important focus for the label?
Universal Music Group was once the music company attached to film studio Universal Pictures.  This could be an important focus for the label as they were once attached to film studio Universal which could help to gain more audiences and be able to add their music to television programmes etc.
2.Globe Productions is UMG- owned but UK-based, with a partnership between Globe and ITV. Why do you think it is important to UMG to open companies like this in countries outside the US?
I think it is important for UMG to open more companies outside the US so that they can gain a wider audience.  ITV is a popular company which has gained alot of different audience for UMG. This also gives UMG an advantage for their own company to be known world wide rather than just people in the US experiencing their company.

3.Find out about the ITV programme popstar to Opera star, produced with Globe Productions. How did UMG use the programme to promote its artists and songs? Why do you think it is important to UMG to open companies like this in countries outside the US?
The programme pop star to opera star was produced by UMG as well as Globe productions.
UMG had a lot of their own artists appear on the show which helped to promote it's artists songs. The show was on ITV and would probably had a wide range of audiences' which means that people who wouldn't normally listen to a certain artist would hear their music and maybe enjoy it and go onto buying some of their music. This is another reason for UMG to open companies outside of the US as it gives their artists and opportunity for various people to listen to their music even if they wouldn't normally.

4. Search the UMG website for information about six-string, the UMG guitar game. Why is it a different and successful product? Why do you think UMG has made a deal to make it avaliable on iTUNES?
The UMG six-string game is a free guitar game which allows users to download onto their ipod touch or iphones and play along to their favourite songs. It is a different product as fans don't have to be able to play a guitar but this gives them an experience of performing their favourite songs because there is not another product like this one it makes it unique and successful. I think UMG has put this product on to iTUNES as a lot of fans will buy it and if they enjoy it then they will buy extra songs by their favourite artist/band to use on the product.

5. What can you find out about Web 2.0? Consider its effect on the music industry?
Web 2.0 allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue. Web 2.0 includes social networking sites, blogs, video sharing sites, web applications and more. Web 2.0 has effected the music industry by :
- allowing people to share music they already have for no cost.
- allowing people to illegally download music.
- Youtube is a video sharing site where people can
listen to their favourite songs for free and even convert them to their ipods. This means that people rarely go out and buy music now as they know they can get it for free somehow using the web 2.0. Although in some cases it can be an advantage for new artists by going on to youtube for viewers to see and then letting people download their music for free which means they will send it to other people helping to get their music heard.

Subsidiaries

FASCINATION RECORDS AND ISLAND RECORDS


The advantages for using smaller labels means that it focuses on specific artists. The artists are more likely to be kept individual and more unique. Although they still have many big artists within their record companies they are more distictive. They also have more attention as the label companies try and help the artists to find the best way of marketing their work to a specific audience they have targeted their music at.The artists are more likely to be put into a label that specialises in their own genre which means they will have more help to get the most out of their music. 

The genre specialisms of the subsidiary label and the expertise they can therefore provide to develop and promote niche or mainstream artists.
UMG have a number of smaller record labels including; fascination and island records which are dedicated to specific genres of aritsts who are signed to UMG. The different labels will help to represent the artists genre which will give them an advantage. The labels will have contacts they can use which will be useful for their specific artist they are working with, all of this will give the artist an advantage for their music.

The brand image and target audience of each label and the ways in which audiences might relate to the label.
By looking at record labels websites artists can get an idea of the attitude of the label and deciding which record label is best for them. The attitudes portrayed from labels may also seem more suitable to one artist than another one. It may also influence what genre the label is trying to portray by supporting a certain artist/group within their specific genre who they can focus on and will have an advantage within the label. If the brand image that the artists/band represent go well with the record label then this will also give them an advantage as they will be able to attract the right target audience the label is focused on.
FASCINATION RECORDS
For example some of Fascination Records artists include ; Cheryl Cole, The Saturdays, Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers. These artists would most likely come under 'pop' music which is related to younger audiences mostly being teenage girls. This shows that Fascination records focus on pop music which is why these artists have done so well with their music and brand image.
ISLAND RECORDS
Island Records artists include; Drake, Nicki Minaj, NDubz, Jessie J and Florence and The machine. Island records has more variety when it comes to genre of music. This lets the record label be more free as they can decide on different artists with different genres that they think their audiences will enjoy. This shows that Island record will have more of a range of audiences.

Universal Music Group (UMG)

Universal Music Group (UMG) is the world’s leading music company and is comprised of two core businesses: recorded music and music publishing.
It is also the world's leading music company representing 98% of the music market and has licensees in 77 countries. The company discovers, develops, markets and distributed recorded music through a network of subsidiaries.

Who owns the company?
The universal music group is owned by Vivendi.

Where is it based? In which countries does it have offices?
UMG’s corporate headquarters are located at 2220 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, New York. UMG has offices in over 40 different countires including: Greece, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Russia, Italy, Spain and Denmark.

Is it part of the same company as:
1) A music publishing group? UMG is part of a music publishing company called the Universal Music publishing group (UMPG). UMPG owns or administers more than 1 million copyrights and They are one of the largest music publishing businesses in the world with more than 47 offices in 41 countries.
2) A music distribution company?
In the U.S., Universal Music Group Distribution has been the industry market share leader for the past ten years and consists of four major divisions: Universal Music Distribution (UMD), Fontana, Vivendi Entertainment (VE), and UMGD Digital. Although in some markets outside the U.S., UMG companies handle their own distribution and sales.

Music Industry Research

How far do you think developments in technology have changed the way the music industry operates? Consider how new technologies have changed the relationship between audiences and artists

There have been a lot of technological changes throughout recent years which has changed the ways in which the music industry works. Looking back a few generations in the music industry shows how much technology has changed it all. The only way you could listen to music was by buying a song or an album. If you wanted to listen to the song without buying it then you would have to wait for it to play on the radio. Later on the cassette was introduced then CD's were introduced where you can play them at home on a CD player. CD's are still being used and brought today but has much more competition with the new way of purchasing music by downloading it from the internet either legally or paying for it.

With the use of new technology people can download music instantly from the internet. To listen to the music you can save the tracks onto an Mp3 player/ ipod or even on your mobile phone. This means music can be listened to on the go. The changes in technology have also increased in piracy within the music industry. Illegal downloads occur more no that new software and technology allows it too such as lime wire.