To what Level does Yt, Twitter, Facebook and spotify, affect marketing and consumption for the music industry

Websites such as youtube, twitter, faceboook and spotify has had a big affect on the music industry as it has allowed more people that are signed to independent labels to be found. Also this has created superior marketing for the major labels also it has allowed people to not just become consumers but now prosumers.

Major record labels have taken digital distribution in their stride as it allows the consumer to build more of a relationship with the artist, they do this is by assessing how many likes the artists videos have, how many followers, fans and how many people have listened to their 'work'. this is a good tool for the majors as it also allow them to see who the fans are and the can make the work more nostalgic for the consumers. A good example of this would be Xfactors and One Direction ( One D) whist they were on the "talent contest" they were voted in each week up until the final. The vote were a great way to see what the audience liked as it gave them feed back on what the consumers wanted, One D also realised vlogs on youtube every week while they were on the show, getting over 1million likes in over 24 hours, The record labels take these things in to account and use them to improve the artists. This also come with its downside the fact that in contemporary society, consumers care more about the visualisation of music that the actual music itsself. A good example of this is Gangnam Style as the songs its self is not at all good, but it has been a massive hit with people as it has a dance that people remember also prosumers can do it and recreate it them selfs.

It has a large affect on prosumers  and indie artist aswell. For the prosumers spotify, facebook and twitter  is am excellent way for them to get there name out and into the prosumer market, the only down side with prosumers are they have a very niche following,  normally its only other prosumers that take an interest in their work as it allows them to know what the competitors are doing. As prosumers work is mainly on youtube and spotify, it allows people to make music videos for prosumers, intern making them prosumers, this leaves out the need to be signed by a record label, due to the fact they can self promote using social networking websites.

Indie records relie massively on digital distribution as it is hard for them to get their artists know any other way as the major record label use synergy to get a lot of their artists know or promote them heavily on T.V and radio through interviews. Where as indie labels have to work harder to get them selfs know, they do this by self promoting and allowing the consumers to download the music free of charge and giving back to the people that made them known and not caring about piracy as it is free distribution.

A high level of digital distribution this does not have a massive affect on the marketing and consumtion for the industry it has only improved it.

Beck vs Xfactor

With the argument with Beck song reader Vs Xfactor, they are both have their pros and cons, personally I think that xfactor has devalued the face of music, the main reason for this is down to the act they call It a 'music talent' contest, where to be honest the talent is know better than your average karaoke singer. None of the contestant very show any real musical talent as musical talent involves writing music and playing an instrument, in the state if the xfactor, none of them write there own songs they just choose from sonys backcatoluge, the only artist that has ever written there own song on the Xfactor is Chico, that shows the lack of talent and re devaluation of music. Where a with Becks song reader, you can only enjoy I if you can play an instrument and read sheet music, the reason for this is down to the fact he only brought out the song as the pure sheet music, this has never been done before, this means his consumers will all be artist or musicians them selfs, so they understand the meaning behind the music, personally I think beck has not devalued music, he has improved it more as it is DIY music and not just cover as they have to put work in to it.

Past question 3

The success of the record labels is down to the way the market and distribute their 'artists' these days, a lot to of today's best selling artists have come from tv reality talent contests such as one direction. This is a great way of marketing and distribution because this completely cuts out the need for a talent scout, thiis is a great way of marketing as your audience gives you feedback every week with votes, they let you know what kind of music in popular at that particular time. During the xfactor they got the contestants to do vlogs and post them on YouTube artist like One Direction got over 1 million likes each week. The likes were a representation of what the consumers liked, as one direction brought out there 'own' album, there consumers started to become prosumers, recreating versions of One Directions 'song'. This was basically free advertising for them.

2. Research One Direction & their releases

There is a number of song from Sony Music Entertainment back catalogue that SYCO have got One Direction to re-brand whist they were contestants on the X-Factor, but the one that sticks out most is one they released when they were singed artists and it is the 'cover/mashup' One way or another (teenage kicks). Formally two songs original artists Blondie (one way or another) and The Undertones (teenage kicks).  

But to make more money and to save on the cost of writers for a new songs, SYCO who are owned by Sony Music Entertainment have just got them to cover two songs that Sony already own the rights to. This works out in the record companies favour as this will also boost the sales of the original songs as well as the One Direction 'cover'. In turn making the record company more money, and increasing the popularity of one direction.

the worrying fact is the song is still in the charts on todays date (15/4/13) at 25 in the UK official top 40 charts provided by BBC radio one, it has also lasted 8 weeks in the charts so far. 

Acquired from:http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles

3. How are One Direction is promoted & distributed (after and including Xfactor), how successful they are (sales, downloads, news articles, online games, advertising, Brit awards). How can do theycreate relationship with their audience?

X-Factor is the only reason that one direction are around to day, if the show wasn't around they would not be a success or together at all. As matter of fact One Direction never started out the Competition as a group they all started out as 5 individual artists who made it through to boot camp, but were not good enough artists on there own to make it to the next stage. But the producers saw an opportunity because all of the members got quite high individual attention so they decided to put them together and make One Direction. During the competition the X-Factor followed the boy band heavily which gave them an established fan base. also after every performance of theres on the show you could purchase the song they have just 'covered' on iTunes. this was a good way to promote them as the record company the song belonged to would get royalties from it, the song no doubt being one in the back catalogue of sony music entertainment, as the shows founder Simon Cowell who own SYCO who are own by Sony. Now One direction not being on the Xfactor anymore they are still being heavily promoted as they had a there first album "Up All Night" made it to number one in 15 different countries including America which made them the first ever uk artists to make it to number one in the states with there debut album. They headed up there albums success with a world tour. 

Just some of their ticket sales. 

After the band had finished their tour, they shortly released a DVD of it. which resulted in more advertising for them after their nearly sellout tour. with adverts on prime time television and kid tv channels. This also resulted in them telling their fan based that they are bringing out another album witch they will be able to get and the fact that they will also be realising there tour dates again soon. The main way they promoted this was by giving out the information on early morning telly at about 7:45 to 8:00 just before kids would leave for school so that the majority of people would know about their up and coming releases. Another big way One Direction are promoted is by twitter and Facebook as they have a massive fan base and people will retweet and share anything they posted and some how it will end up on peoples timelines. This will result in more people following them being able to know who their target audience are  and so they can change and make sure they always have an audience and maintain there relation ship with them .

4. How does XFactor Produce, Market, Distribute & Exchange music and & how does this relate to Sony's back catalogue? 

X-Factor is a very popular show that is aired on prime time which means it has a rather high audience. Where they get thousands of people a year to audition and sing song to the judges, the majority of these songs will be owned by Sony music entertainment. The reasons the songs will be own by Sony music entertainment is due to the fact that the X-Factor will not have to pay royalties to other music producers, this keeps the running cost of the show down, meaning they can make more money. This also means that people who watch the show might like the songs and then go on to buy them this also means that more money will be flowing in to the record company. just for the fact that the X-Factor is distribution for free and giving them free advertisement, in result X-Factor is a giant marketing campaign for Sonys back catalogue of music. As another fact is you can but all the songs the finalists perform on the show on iTunes. There is always a hit in the UK top 5 around christmastime from the winner of that years Xfactor, this has been going on for the past 7 years. 

Evidence musicians

Production, Distribution, Exchange

Production

• Creating the Media 
• Production requires finance 
• Includes pre,post and production 

Exchange

• Examples include iTunes, youtube and Spotify
• The Distributor is paid by the company selling the product
• The media product is exhibited through non-profit means to get audiences to buy their product such as TV and Radio

Distributor

• Record labels are responsible for prints and marketing
• Prints are Physical copies of the media product 
• Marketing creates hype and anticipation for the product
• Distributors are commonly part of the production company
• Long term agreement with the production company 
• The distributor gets hold of the product after completion 
• Some albums have different distributors or methods for different countries 

Exhibition/Exchange 

It was previously known as exhibition but now due to the demand of music on online services such as iTunes albums are now not normally exhibited. Some albums still are in stores like HMV. The online services do not allow you to gain a actual physical copy of an album, this means throughout the buying process you are not exchanging any physical product. 

Production

• - CD Manufacturer
• - Audience Research
• - Producer/Writer
• - Studio
• - Music Video Director

Distribution and Marketing

• Web Distributor
• Music Magazine
• Retailer
• Merchandising
• Distribution Company (Logistics)

Exchange

• Music TV Channel
• Venue
• A&R
• Radio Station
• Artist Website

Online piracy industry response

To battle online piracy the industry has raised prices of merchandise, albums and concert tickets. The industry sees piracy as the most important problem, with the economy being in constant turmoil people have less money in their pockets to spend on luxuries. With prices going up and up people see piracy as their only way to obtain a new album which creates a catch 22. The industry’s main income now is concerts.

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