In the past two decades, a form of physical music has gone from almost obsolete to a growing industry that appears to be going nowhere but up, in sales and possibilities. Before the introduction of the Compact Disk by Sony and Phillips in 1982, Long Play albums, or LPs, were a booming industry in the music world (Liversidge). However, the convenience, portability, and durability of CDs lured music fans away from vinyl very quickly. But alas, as time goes on and types of music consumption evolve, more types of physical music continue to decline in sales. After the introduction of Napster in 1999, Pandora in 2004, and Spotify in 2011, CDs have become a thing of the past (Evren). While the introduction of music streaming appeared to be the sign …show more content…
Vinyl consumers commonly state that a warmer sound quality creates a preference of vinyl over CDs. This is due to the digital format of CDs not being able to capture low-level sound waves which can be found in LPs (Liversidge). Another aspect of sound quality that appeals to listeners is the lack of audio pureness and perfection (Barron). These imperfections create an experience that appears to be more authentic for listeners. Additionally, in a culture where any type of music becomes available instantly, listening to vinyl creates an entirely different experience. Jeff Gordon, a general manager at Carlin Nashville, describes listening to vinyl as “a backlash to the ease at which music can be consumed. Vinyl demands attention. Playing a vinyl record is an activity that is engaging and ceremonial, and it causes you to listen to the music from a different place” (Interview). The engaged act of listening to a full album from beginning to end while physically flipping the record to continue listening creates an interactive music experience instead of playing it as background noise. Finally, aesthetics play a large role in the continued success of vinyl. Culture’s current obsession with “retromania” and all things vintage fuels the desire to own a turntable with …show more content…
While the investment may appear to be somewhat of a gamble, observing the increase of turntable sales demonstrates that the vinyl revival is not a passing fad. From 2013 to 2014, Crosley, one of the most popular turntable manufactures, saw a 32% increase in sales (Ringen). The purchase of a turntable signifies a long term investment in the vinyl industry and promise that the interest in vinyl will continue to rise. An expansion of the vinyl industry may include the introduction of companies who distribute monthly subscriptions of LPs to consumers. Some entrepreneurs are beginning to approach this idea as Vinyl Me, Please, VNYL, and Vinyl Moon are three subscription based vinyl businesses that send “must hear artists” to their subscribers in vinyl format. Because online shopping has gained popularity over the past decade, the combination of vinyl selling and online shopping creates easier access into the vinyl
We have all watched over the last year and a half as the controversy over the digital music provider Napster has clogged our television screens and lined our floors in the forms of newspaper articles. We are also well aware of the implications and revenue losses that the service either directly or indirectly causes. What I am going to investigate more in-depth in this article is, more specifically, the effect that Napster has on the operations of record stores worldwide. I am going to try to describe the most profound effects that Napster has on this industry.
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...
Henshall, March. "Vinyl vs CD In The Loudness War." Sound Matters. N.p., 7 Sept. 2007. Web.
Collins, K., The Future is Happening Already: Industrial Music, Dystopia and the Aesthetic of the Machine
The Internet—as it did for almost everything—has radically changed the way people get music. The Internet has cut into the music industry's profits. It reduced the demand for CDs, increased the interest in singles and let people decide whether they want to pay for the new Prince album. This alone could be offset if all of the people pirating music would go to their favorite artists' shows. However, the hard economy has rapidly cut into people's ability to spend on luxury items and concerts rank right up there with sports in terms of practicality.
Relevance of Topic for Audience: Every individual in the audience probably gets most – if not all – of your music online. However, vinyls are still widely used by club DJs, music aficionados, and maybe some of your parents, so it’s likely that you will come across one at one point in time in your life.
Music is universally known as an expression of emotion, rebellion against the man, a way of life, a random collection of sounds, an annoying thing kids listen to, or even a vacation from everything, but in reality music is free of all definition. The industry involved in buying, selling and recording of music has grown so old, treacherous, and ignorant that it can not figure out the steps it needs to evolve with the rapidly expanding music industry. Musicians and fans alike are screaming about the dire need of some modern day innovation in the market. Sadly the monstrous corporations that dominate the market have put a lid on the competitive edge, stopped the innovative changes any smaller companies can make.
Spotify’s Time. (n.d.). Music Business Journal Berklee College of Music RSS. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.thembj.org/2014/05/spotifys-time/
One important change that has occurred is the distribution of music digitally. Music now in our society is purchased through the Internet. The simplicity of having an entire library of music on one device has been adopted versus having stacks of CD’s or tapes. The emergence of the Mp3 file has changed how we listen to music. Mp3 are digital songs that are portable, provide high quality sound, and are less expensive. Essentially by eliminating middlemen, digital music took control of music away from the major record companies and put the power in the listener’s hands. Major companies such as Apple’s iTunes created the distribution of digital music. CNNMoney mentions, “iTunes is currently responsible for 63% of all digital music sales” (CNNMoney). They set the standard of 99 cents for a single song, which was quickly adopted by major music companies. Selling songs by singles provided more control ...
Back in the early 1980’s, record labels controlled what people could hear through airplay, record distribution and manufacturing, and selective promotion of music based on their judgement of their audience. An artist’s only feasible option was to go through this system. To obtain music of high quality, people had to buy vinyl singles or albums or tape, and later, only CDs. There was no practical way to listen to music before buying it without listening to or taping off the radio. Music was very restricted by several different record companies.
There are six key new market disruptions concerning the digital distribution of music: the creation of a new and broad customer base, the possibility of an annuity versus a per-unit revenue model, the gatekeeper advantage for a record company having proprietary access to a new digital distribution infrastructure, understanding of a technology that could be applied to other digital content, need for balance between physical and digital distribution strategies, the strategy the incumbent should adopt with respect to the evolving war over digital distribution standards. Was there a disruption or an evolution?
The music industry impacts the lives of people from around the world. With the implementation of technology, the influence of the music industry has spread to affect anyone with access to technology. Streaming services have contributed to the increased popularity of music. While there are positive effects to being able to stream music and have multiple ways of listening to it, the music industry suffers from the lack of revenue and illegal activity associated with technology. Technology has had both positive and negative effects on the music industry by affecting how people access music and how music is produced
In today’s evolving and changing society, many people do not appreciate how extraordinary music truly is. Since the birth of the vinyl record, there are less people who own and are interested in them. Even though vinyl records have recently been making a comeback, they are still not as popular as they once were. People take for granted how easily accessible music is today though in the past it was not as simple. Even though vinyl records may be costly and may not have a large quantity of songs, as time progresses and technology continues to develop, the way that people listen to music degrades their appreciation for music due to easier accessibility, weaker sound in terms of quality, and decaying genres.
The music industry started in the mid 18th century with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Through the decades there has been a great increase in this industry; however, the revenues for this industry have declined by half in the last 10 years. This has been caused by music piracy, which “is the copying and distributing of copies of a piece of music for which the composer, recording artist, or copyright-holding record company did not give consent” . After 1980’s, when the Internet was released to public, people started to develop programs and websites in which they could share music, videos, and information with...
Let’s flashback to the early years of childhood when artists would announce when their album would be released and us kids would get all excited and couldn’t wait to get into the store to buy it. We would save up all of our money for that day, beg our parents to drive us to the store, then would put the CD in our little CD players and listen to it on repeat. Nothing made us happier than buying that new CD from our favorite artists.