By Dimeji Ogunsola

Almost everybody is guilty of it; saving a couple of dollars
by burning an album via file sharing or downloading. Your
friend buys a CD, rips it onto his computer making it available
to everybody on their aim buddy list. Then you are constantly
bombarded by commercials featuring artists pushing for the
legal downloading and purchase of their songs and albums.
But common responses from consumers are complaints of the
lack of quality of music or the irrationality of buying an album
when it’s available for free. This controversy is due in large part,
though not fully, to the digital revolution of the late twentieth
century. With the high availability of music via downloading and
file sharing, what will be the future state of the music industry
in light digitalization? Furthermore, how will the relationship
between major record labels, artists, and consumers change as a
result of this digital revolution?

From 1999 to 2003, record sales of major labels declined
by one fifth. This decline was due, in part, to the development
of such downloading programs such as Napster, Kazaa, and
other file sharing mechanisms. In addition, the development
by Apple of its legal downloading program iTunes and its
complementary iPod contributed to competition in the market
and thus the decline in record sales. Illegal downloading has
been stabilized to a degree since 2003 as a result of multiple
lawsuits by artists and record labels.

Several other factors contributed to the record recession over
the last five years. These include rises in market competition,
the increase in the physical piracy of compact discs, decreases
in retail space, and arguably the most significant factor, the
decrease in overall music quality. Frequently consumers gripe
about the low quality of albums released by artists, who many
fans believe include only a few quality songs on an entire album.
Though quality is primarily subjectively measured, certain signs
provide more objective measures. The short length of many
musicians’ careers is one; many artists produce only one or two
albums before their careers fade. Another objective measure is
the fewer and fewer promotional tours artists embark upon.

In response to this consumer criticism, artists cite the
lack of control they have in their projects as the main cause
of decreased creativity. For example, in hip hop superstar
Mos Def’s sophomore album The New Danger, he voices these
points to the major record labels as the principal contributors to
the degradation of hip-hop. Although this idea is rampant in
hip-hop, the decline in quality cuts across all genres of music.
All these factors collectively add to the decline in music sales
and can only be remedied when the music industry reaches
compromises with the digital music companies.

To their credit, the attitude of many the major record labels
towards digitalization has changed in the last couple of
years. Music production companies know they have to gain
control of the digital industry in a way similar to their control
of the radio, another major medium of music exposure. In
order to address this, most major labels should focus first on
developing higher quality music, allowing artists to gain
exposure via file sharing and legal downloading, and develop
longer lasting careers. As artists produce more creative works,
record sales should increase by a portion, if not by a huge
amount. Eventually, however, as record companies begin to see
the advantage of promoting and selling music via digitalization,
they will most likely come to monopolize the digital industry as
well. This, unfortunately, will also probably result in the decline
again of quality as record labels focus more on sales than on the
development of artists. Until there is a strong and persistent
focus on artistry (as for example rapper/executive Jay-Z plans to
do through his takeover of Def Jam Records), the future of the
music industry will be economically driven no matter the form
of distribution.

del.icio.us! | Share on Facebook

See Also:

No related posts

<-->

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.