[10 of 10] Raising artist profiles and getting paid

Should events that promote new, emerging talent pay artist fees, when promoters are making a profit? As a management and booking agency, ACA Music believes that artists should be paid. On the other hand, economic difficulties have meant that promoters are pressured and the stakes are high. For example, in light of the rising costs of running events and the high fees and deposits being demanded by headline artists (at festivals in particular), it has certainly been argued by promoters that budgets are significantly stretched. However, other sources also demonstrate that the live industry has endured and even thrived in some instances, despite such challenges. Hence, last year when a shortage of headline artists – throughout the festival season – sparked debate regarding the process of nurturing talent (see Music Week), ACA Music would like to ask this year: how do live music promoters expect to raise artist profiles, creating a professional environment for artists to grow and develop into successful headline acts, when these very same advocates expect artists to perform without pay?

We don’t profess to have all of the answers, but we do believe that our brand new online platform will help artists on their journey. As ever, we endeavour to focus our efforts on securing bookings for emerging talent. In searching for new music, we have transformed traditional A&R into a fully interactive and a constantly evolving process. Our new platform enables artists to increase their profile online & offline by connecting with new audiences, music users and talent buyers via an internationally recognised music company.

http://artists.acamusic.co.uk

[9 of 10] 360-Degrees: Grass roots to Superstar

In a report by Deloitte (2011) into technology, media and telecommunications predictions for 2011, Charles Bradbrook describes the emergence of 360-degree contracts as a possible model for the live industry to adopt; it recognizes the increasing importance of live revenue streams from tickets, merchandising and sponsorship, at a time when recorded music is considered (by some) to be a freely accessible commodity. Bradbrook also reveals evidence of an ageing generation of superstar acts in the USA, which currently dominate a large proportion of festivals and arenas throughout the world. A similar picture in the UK might also be said, with a Music Week article proclaiming that a drought of top new talent means that promoters are falling back to older veteran acts.

The apparent decline in A&R investment by record companies is predicted to continue into the foreseeable future, according to Bradbrook, so there is now a possibility and even necessity for the live sector to begin identifying, investing and commercialising up-and-coming artists. With a lack of talent being developed by the record industry (due to falling revenues) and companies who are continuing to invest in global hit making artists, the question is: how can the live sector continue to sustain the increased demand for the live experience whilst closing the gap between ‘grass roots’ and multi hit platinum selling artists?

Further reading: Deloitte

[8 of 10] Live Music: Saviour of the Music Industry?

The notion of music as a product has been challenged by digital technologies, consumer behaviour and economics; music as an experienced based service has instead taken root. The live sector has grown substantially, as major touring artists look to live revenues for future income. The recording industry has been slow to adapt, whilst their substantial investment in artists, production, marketing and distribution have created an elite collection of global hit selling artists – the kind that have been marketed to mass audiences, selling millions. These artists are sort after at festivals and arenas across the world; a relative shortage of headline acts create fierce competition between events and their promoters, ultimately driving up artist’s fees and ticket prices in the process (see Music Week).

Further reading: Music Week

[7 of 10] Live Music vs. Recorded

Just off centre stage, in the proverbial sense, there is a particular sector within the music industry that has capitalized greatly from being an experience-based service: the live industry. While record sales decrease year on year, the live sector has continued to grow steadily against a dwindling number of record sales (see PRS for Music). This has been described as a major shift in the way that live music has traditionally been viewed by the record industry: as a promotional tool to sell records. Whilst recording companies continue to sell recorded music as a product, in contrast the live sector has thrived by selling intangible but unique experiences. According to Mintel Oxygen (2010), over the past five years the concerts and festivals market has grown by more than 60% – faster than any other sector within the leisure industry. This report demonstrates that industries offering affordable escapism show strongest growth overall.

Further reading: Leonhard (2005); Leyshon (2005); Mintel Oxygen (2010); PRS for Music (2011).

[6 of 10] Users vs. Consumers

It is considered by Gürd Leonhard that the fundamental change between the relationship of consumers and music is not the need to own a product (by being a passive consumer), but to be able to freely access content as a user of large information networks. This is particularly true for the generation of youth that have adopted file-sharing habits. In addition, discussions related to the mass production of music, on a large industrialised scale, seeks to explore the notion that the music industry produces very little originality. It is therefore suggested that users, seeking highly individual tastes and interests, have sought to find other ways of sourcing content. For example, the ability for users to customise their consumption of music using vast P2P networks is a contentious issue: it not only undermines copyright laws (through the illegal copying and distribution of content), but it also destabilises the mass media model. This model traditionally works on economy of scale. Whereby, after initial high cost investment and production, the mass distribution of a product significantly reduces cost with large volumes, i.e. the distribution of an identical message to many recipients.

Further reading: Adorno (1991); Casadesus-Masanell and Hervas-Drane (2010); Küng (2008); Leonhard (2005); Negus (1999).

[5 of 10] Converging Industries

In the years that followed the growth of ‘digital’, new technologies and changing consumer behaviour has drastically reshaped the music industry. The barriers between content and the medium (through which this content is accessed and is available to consumers) has become increasingly blurred. Facebook and YouTube are two current examples of products that rely on a combination of these elements. This concept sees the bringing together, or convergence, of content creators, computing and communications.

New media platforms speak directly to consumers, reward users with content through engagement and attention, and freely allow and even encourage information to be shared. In other words, systemic value is created through the sheer size of the networks, as well as with free applications and services that users engage with and the traffic and data that it generates for advertisers.

Further reading: Casadesus-Masanell and Hervas-Drane (2010); Küng (2008).

[4 of 10] Music: Product or Service?

Prior to the digital revolution and the World Wide Web (WWW) as it is now known, the music industry enjoyed fifteen consecutive years of sales growth with the introduction of the compact disks (CDs) in the 1980s. However, roughly twenty years later, the proliferation of large-scale web portals (e.g. Google, MSN and Yahoo!) and interconnected networked economies (e.g. peer-to-peer services like Napster) gives rise to the view that access to content may (at some point) replace ownership. In other words, music could become a service and not a product. With new ‘freemium’ services like Spotify providing unlimited access to music, depending on user preference, the evidence suggests that a change has begun to occur.

Further reading: Leonhard (2005); Lessig (2008).