The basis of success in the music industry goes beyond the ability to make great music. Most people don’t wake up one day and say, “I think I’m going to be a successful musician today”. Those who have this seemingly random awakening experience still spend years getting to a stage of musical understanding and talent prior to launching their musical career. Even with years of formal or informal training and/or practice, talent is still not enough to be successful in the music industry. In fact, non-musicians have the potential for music industry success with increasing technological advances in the industry.
If musical talent isn’t enough, what makes a musician attain and maintain a successful career? Being successful in the music industry requires the right attitude for success, understanding of “popular” thoughts towards music creation, connecting with the right people, having the right team, re-directing industry disadvantages, artists treating themselves like a business, and last but not least, understanding how to make money in the music industry. Musical artists who embrace these requirements can save themselves the disappointments of being exploited or taken advantage of by others in the industry or from stagnant musical careers. Instead they can embrace that with knowledge in these areas of business comes growth to their musical career.
"There are more letters in the word 'business' than there are in the word 'music'." Anonymous1
Introduction
Understanding music without having a proper understanding of the basic principles of business equates to not understanding the music industry. For years, “getting signed” to a record label was the best option for an artist to experience success. However, millions of copies be...
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...essed 2/28/14, http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/how-did-birdman-and-cash-money-records-become-so-rich-and-so-powerful/
24. Peter M. Thall. What They'll Never Tell You About the Music Business: the Myths, the Secrets, the Lies (& a Few Truths), revised and updated, Watson-Guptill Publications, 2006.
25. Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, Ebury Publishing, Aug 31, 2011
26. Percy Miller, Guaranteed Success: When you never give up. Urban Books< LLC, Aug 26, 2008
27. "Berry Gordy Jr.." 2014. The Biography.com website. Assessed Apr 18 2014 http://www.biography.com/people/berry-gordy-jr-9316017
28. Robert Fink, "Goal-Directed Soul? Analyzing Rhythmic Teleology in African American Popular Music" Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 64, No. 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 179-238
Wilson, Olly. “On the Significance of the Relationship between African and Afro-American Music.” The Black Perspective in Music 2 (1974), 3-22.
In the article “The Case against College,” Linda Lee argues that upper-level education should only be for those who intend to go into jobs where a degree is essential such as medicine, law, and education. Lee dismantles the hope for higher education for those who are unsure of what they want to do or simply see it as the next step in life. Lee’s case is not specifically about why not to go to college; it is more about who belongs there and who does not. Receiving a degree, especially in the creative department of the music industry, may not be as important as society makes it out to be. Creativity is natural, and people are born with ingenuity; it cannot be taught. Lee’s argument is very fitting to those in the field of music. As a music business major, pursuing a career as a singer-songwriter, it is common knowledge that success in the music industry depends upon whom you know and how talented you are, not whether or not you have a degree.
As the 1930’s began, the effects of the great depression still ravaged the United States, which in turned caused a dramatic change in the music industry. Membership in the musicians’
The music industry can trace its roots to the 18th century when classical composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart sought commissions from the church or aristocracies by touring to promote their music (Boerner). By the early 20th century, recorded collections of songs were available for purchase for home listening. Towards the middle of the century, record album production had become the norm for getting new music to the masses and album sales had replaced sheet-music sales as a measure of popularity, with the first gold-recor...
Ya Salaam, Kalamu. “It Didn't Jes Grew: The Social and Aesthetic Significance of African American Music.” African American Review 29.2 (1995): 351-375.
In this day and age, pop music dominates the airwaves at every turn. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, and many are commonplace names among teenagers and younger demographics not only in the United States, but all around the world. The United States has accepted the position of international, cultural role model long ago, dating back to the 1950’s when rock and roll caught fire as a hybrid of blues, country, and jazz and spread to the rest of the world almost infectiously. Since then, every major artist that comes out of the United States has easily become a global icon, regardless of the language or nationality of their adoring fans. However, one could conceive that this glamorized version of music comes less from the soul of the artist and is merely born of fiscal ambitions and visions of grandeur. The point made previously is not to critique any pop icon’s talent, which clearly they have proved to possess an abundance of it to keep the public swooning at their every whim, but instead, to show that there are musicians out there producing beautiful music without the threat of corruption and adherence to mainstream culture.
Pop music has long been defined by “idols” and superstars that are subjects of high levels of adoration from severely devoted fans, whose love of these superstars often blurs the line between fandom and obsession. This love is mainly based off of physical looks and charm more often than actual musical talent, as majority of the songs written by these massive superstars are not written by the artists themselves, instead by people hired to write for these artists in a way that will best connect with a crowd willing to spend their money on these manufactured stars. Therefore, it has become evident that in the world of popular music, image has overtaken talent as the determining factor of success in the industry. Instead of skill and songwriting ability, good looks and the ability to draw large crowds of impressionable people have become the main factors of fame in music.
The music industry’s history is a convoluted mess. There is no real consensus on what the music industry IS and what paths it has taken. Were the Beatles the greatest band to ever exist? Maybe. Is there a hyper objectification of women throughout the “men’s club” that is the music industry? Probably. It’s this hard to define, frankly confusing business that is worth roughly $130 billion dollars today. With it’s flimsy and opaque edges, can the music industry ever be called into question on its wrongdoings? The racist undertone throughout its history may force it to. With the music industry as an ever growing business that seems to change almost every decade, the one thing that has not changed throughout time is an undercurrent of racism that
Working in the recording industry takes a lot of time, patience, and money. Starting with making records, to 8 tracks, to 4 track tapes, and now to CD’s, there have been many changes in bettering the production. There are five separate levels of responsibility the industry must go through before it reaches the public(148). One is the Artists and repertoire, which develop and coordinate talent. The Operations manage the technical aspects of the recording, such as: sound technicians, musicians, and even the people that
All these responsibilities require ability in music, some experience , combined with a thorough knowledge of music and music theory. It also requires music and sound production in a recording studio along with a key sense of listening. Some music producers work for record labels producing for recording artists under a contract which has very exact wantings for that artist. And while many are full-time employees, others are self-employed. Which means they must also have experience in running a business.
4. Gladney, Marvin J. "The Black Arts Movement and Hip-Hop". African American Review, Vol. 29, No. 2. 1995, pp. 291-301.
Breckenridge, Stan L. (2003). "The 'Path African American music for everyone. Second Edition. Iowa: Kendall-Hunt Publications, Inc. Enotes.
“Music Producer: Job Duties, Career Outlook, and Education Prerequisites.” Degree Directory. DegreeDirectory.org. Web. 5 December 2013.
Introduction: In the past, music has been a costly business, where only people with a lot of money could enter and be successful in the industry. Changes in the music industry, coupled with new computer technology, have made it much easier for people without a lot of money to compose, produce, and distribute their creations. In order to get a better understanding of the music industry in comparison to 2014, one has to look at its history. There were many things that happened from the 1980’s onward, and they brought on a significant impact towards the music industry.
Music Business Music Business Exam Number One Question 1 - What is The music publishing industry at a glance would seem to be those who print sheet music, method books, lead sheets, and all of the texts or notated music that musicians (and those aspiring to be musicians) use. Years ago, this was what most music publishers did, but as the industry has evolved, the process has become much more complex. Music is not just ink and paper, intellectual material and property to the individual who writes it. Therefore, the song does not become "a song" when it is written down. This is not an easy concept to grasp because the song itself has no physical makeup.