It is interesting how music itself changes over time, but in regards to this class I'm looking at how the music industry has changed. After the invention of Napster several years ago, the way most people look at and acquire music has changed drastically. The music has almost eliminated the musician, and it has turned into record sales. WAIT! Record sales??? That is what people said over a decade ago, but now artists have find ways to make money and be noticed. This is because of albums getting leaked to websites that allow users to download the music to their compute. It has changed the way I view music. I don't have to save up money to get a CD, I have to decide if I want to wait for the album to download to my computer. So for smaller musicians I have noticed they have done different things to make money. Ticket and merchandise prices have gone up. I am worried that my generation, the generation of "I have to have what I want right now" will ruin how music is done. I hope that albums will still be bought and I hope that prices of concerts will not keep most people at home staring at their computer. There is a culture that comes along with concerts and live music. If people continue to stay at home and not support the artist that they are listening to, it could kill the way music is. It sucks because I find myself not actually supporting the artists that I love.
I find this post to be pretty interesting because I've also noticed some of these changes in the music industry. I hear people talk about downloading music for free all the time, especially when Limewire was still up and running. I'm personally a fan of going out and actually buying a CD from the store or off of iTunes. I really like the feeling that I'm actually helping out the artists that I love and like you said, simply downloading the music somewhere for free doesn't really help the artists. So buying albums, concert tickets, and merchandise is definitely something we, as fans, can do to support artists and make sure they're able to be successful and continue to make music.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say I agree with you Trent. Our generation is a have to have it now and have it free generation. I remember when Napster was first released. I had dial-up internet and it took me around two hours to download one song. Now days with high speed internet it takes second to have a song downloaded to your computer. I admit I still download music for free, but there is some music I cannot find from my sources and I am forced to buy the song or album from iTunes. If it is an artist I like I will usually buy thier album from a store or iTunes. I know that if we continue to get it for free, there will not be much of an incentive for artists in the future.
ReplyDeleteonce again I am reminded of how me and technology don't always get along. I can honestly say that I have never downloaded a song from the internet, pirated or paid (such as Itunes). The music I have comes from CDs I have bought, then it goes on my computer and I get frustrated while I try to remember how to get it on my mp3 player. The next time I get a CD I go through the process again. For someone that plays as much music as I do this might seem surprising but often times if I do not own a song I want to play along with, i just look it up on youtube, or just play along with whatever is on the classic rock stations on the radio. I do hope we don't loose albums and live performance though.
ReplyDeleteYour right, the industry is changing rapidly. The internet has turned the old business model of selling records on its head. When you said its "eliminating the musician", I couldn't disagree more. Yes, over the past 10 years revenues have been decreasing and the past 3 or 4 years they have been plummeting. Yet the number in choices of artists has grown exponentially. How can this be? Now, yes the old giant record companies are drying up, because of their lack of brains and vision. They’ve had it good for a long time, but the cookies in the cookie jar are running out. The people who are surviving and working hard in this industry are the producers of the product – the musicians. Indie artists have paved the way for musicians to make music and make a living. The do it yourself, freelance self-promotion, is more work, but the net has made that easier and more effective/efficient for independent artists. The result is there are more artists out there recording music. Which means more choices for consumers. The internet has really been the biggest friend to the consumer statiscally we are listening to more music then previous generations. Now piracy is wrong and needs to be stopped, but don’t think enforcing laws on teenagers pirating is the answer. The answer is for entrepreneurs to find a way to give consumers a better alternative to piracy, i.e. a better choice of value in experiencing music while at the same time allowing musicians to be compensated for their craft. I know I will never pirate music again. Couple of years ago I tried to download a bit torrent file of a Clientele album and my computer literally blew up.
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