Saturday, 24 March 2012

Marrakesh records comparisons

Marrakesh records survey had over 1,000 respondents between the ages of 15 and 24. This post shows the results as we compared these responses from 2009 to our opinions, 16 students between the ages of 16 and 18.


Which of the following have you done in the past 3 months?
2009 2012
Watched a music video online 75% 100%
Bought a CD 70% 50%
Listened to music on your mobile 62% 70%
Burnt a CD 55% 8%
Bought a music download 52% 40%
Played a music game on your console 45% 50%
Which of these devices have you used to listen to music in the last week?
2009 2012
Ipod/MP3 player 81% 95%
computer 80% 75%
Radio 71% 90%
TV 68% 95%
CD player 59% 65%
Mobile phone 54% 70%
Record player(vinyl) 9% 8%
Ipod/MP3 player 8% 0%
Where would you say that  you usually find out about new bands/artists that you like?
2009 2012
Listening to the radio 67% 85%
Your friends 63% 70%
Watching MTV or other music channels 49% 85%
Reading general interest magazines 21% 20%
TV shows like X-factor 18% 70%
Reading music magazines 17% 10%
Reading music blogs 14% 5%
Social media- internet 85%
Which website would you usually visit first to check out a new band/artist?
2009 2012
Youtube 38% 100%
Myspace 15% 0%
The bands own website 15% 40%
Facebook 8% 70%
NME 4% 5%
Last.fm 2% 0%
Yahoo music 2% 0%
bebo 2% 0%
msn 1% 0%
mp3 blogs 9% 0%
other internet sites 70%
spotify 20%
Do you feel it is morally acceptable to download music for free from the internet
2009 2012
Yes  66% 55%
No 34% 45%
Have you ever downloaded music illegally from the internet?
2009 2012
Yes 63% 95%
No 37% 5%
Do you feel guilty if you downloaded music for free from the internet?
2009 2012
Yes 30% 30%
No 70% 70%
Do feel feel you should have to pay for the music you want to listen to?
2009 2012
Yes 39% 100%
No 61% 0%
What do you think is a fair price for a CD of a band/artist you like?
2009 £6.58
2012 £6.84
What do you think is a fair frice for a downloadable album by a band/artist you like?
2009 £3.91
2012 £3.85
What do you think is a fair price for a download of a single track?
2009 £0.39
2012 £0.39
Roughly, what percentge of the tracks you own did you pay for?
2009 57%
2012 33%
If you were a big music celebrity which of the following would you most want to have?
2009 2012
Respect for your music/creative freedom 42% 15%
Lots of money 20% 40%
Performing infront of massive audiences 14% 25%
Travel 8% 20%
Getting lots of stuff for free 7% 0%
Worldwide fame 4% 0%
Lots of sex 4% 0%
Getting to meet other celebrities 1% 0%

Friday, 9 March 2012

Music marketing

What techologies and marketing strategies do institutions use to target and distribute products to audience?
  • Post case studies of specific artists on your blog using key terminology
  • Detail what your selected record label does and why they use this perticular strategy
Ways of advertising
_Multi platform social media_ 
 - Advertising bands or artists can be done over social networking sites- facebook/twitter
 - Convergance- Games, wallpapers, photographs, apps etc.
 - Viral marketing- Online games/ advertising, people can play, enjoy and pass it on.
_Direct marketing_
 - Registering to a bands page using an email address gives the industry the opportunity to advertise by sending emails to individuals.
Global artist
 - The opportunity to buy merchandise or music using different currencies due to the artist being global

Friday, 13 January 2012

CASE STUDY- Major record labels

There are three major record labels in the world:
  • Sony
  • Warner
  • Universal
There are 1000's of independent record labels.
There are many subsidiary labels owned by one of the major record company, EG. Def jam is owned by universal

My task is to choose one of the three major record labels to research and write about.- Include a couple of artists that belong to the record label.
and a UK independant record company

The record label I have chosen to study about is the Universal music group, the artist I have researched on in Lana Del Rey, she is currently signed to "Interscope records" which is a subsidiary label of Universal. Universal is an American record label and is has become one of the three major record labels in the world due to its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations.
The UK independent record label i will be researching about is "Monotreme records"-  http://www.monotremerecords.com/





Institutions and audiences

Institutions
Record label, promoters

Audiences
Consume music, physical sales, download- Mp3, merchandise, tour tickets

Past questions

January 2009: Production and distrobution methods.
June 2009: Importance of technological convergence to audiences and institutions.
January 2010: Domination of global institution setting to national audiences- agree/disagree.
June 2010: Significane of continuing development of digital technology for audience and institution.
January 2011: Issues raised by media ownership in production and exchange of texts.

Wednesday, 4 January 2012

music industry terminology

  • Convergence of technology- The change from analogue to digital
  • Convergence of industrial activity- Things that used to come from different companies but now can be found from the same.
  • Synergy- Two or more industries combine to produce a result that they can't achieve by themselves. EG. Morrisons advert-take that, Tony Hawks pro skater 4- AC/DC
  • Conglomerate- A company made up of companies, Eg. Sony
  • Globalisation- A record label that sells products worldwide (across the globe)
  • Analogue music- A vinyl or a tape from before the 1980s
  • Digitisation- The conversion of analogue (vinyl) to digital (MP3, CD) which came around 1984
  • Vertical integration - The merger or takeover of companies operating at different stages of the production/distribution process.
  • Horizontal integration- A record label like sony music owns a number of other music labels, for example Sony owns subsidiary labels like; Legacy, Epic, Arista and Columbia
  • Major record label- A large well known record label that owns subsidiary labels, There are only three major record labels in the world; Sony, Universal and Warner
  • Subsidiary label- A subsidiary label is a record label owned by a major record label Sony
  • Independent label- An independent record label is a record label operating without the help and funding of others out of the organisation
  • niche audience- A niche audience is a small fragment of a specialist audience
  • mainstream audience-The uncontroversial, generally accepted attitudes, believes and values of the majority populations 
  • fans- An individual with a strong interest or admiration for an in particular entertainment form.
  • active audiences- Individuals who promote an artist or a band just for the "thrills", they're not getting paid from any artist, band or company.
  • Audiophiles- Early adopters of music technology, sometimes paying large amounts for the top of the range technology.
  • Early adopters- Very responsive to new technology
  • Consumption- Purchasing products of the music industry; music, tour tickets, t-shirts etc.
  • web 2.0- The second generation of computing, an interactive use of the Internet.
  • meta-tags/ personalisation- The information within the file- Genre-Album-Artist-Rating.
  • download-  To be able to copy data from one computer system/ website to another or a disk. 
  • streaming-  Streaming is commonly a term used when a multimedia file such as an audio or a video can be played back without being completely downloaded. Most files like shareware and software updates that are downloaded from the internet are not streaming data but certain files like "real audio" and "QuickTime"documents can be streaming files meaning that they can be watched or listened to whilst it is being downloaded to the computer. Faster internet connections mean that audio or video files can be streamed live to a computer. 
  • Peer to peer- Sharing music or other media files to individuals through the Internet.
  • piracy- The act of downloading files from unauthorized sources and illegal radio or television station download. 
  • portability/ miniaturisation- The act of something being made on a greatly reduced scale.
  • multi-track- A device which is capable of recording several parallel parts of tracks which may then be mixed or re-recorded independently. 
  • sampling- The technique of digitally encoding music or sound and reusing it as part of a composition or recording 
  • Digital audio workstation (DAW)- A computer based set-up used for editing material.
  • A&R- Artists and repertoire- The division of a record label company that is responsible for scouting and overseeing the artists. The A&R also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.
  • record deal- contract- royalties- A legal agreement between a record label or recording artist/s. The artist/s make a record or album for the label to sell and promote.
  • distribution- The way something is shared among groups and recipients, eg. How an album is sold- Shops, Itunes ect. 
  • plugging/ marketing- The promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.