Pieces of the Industry

12Jun08

When taking a look at the fluctuations of music in sales, popularity, and gains and losses, people are being more and more swept away by how it fits into their lives. The triangle of music, technology, advertising is gaining a power over society that is fairly predictable, and logically so.

The more you can use something, be around something, or like something music-related, the more you are immersed in it. This is what is happening with iPod’s, YouTube, ringtones, music sites, and how how they are featured in an increasing number of venues. According to http://www.musicsquare.net/news/exclusive/755 in an article called U.S. Album Sales Fell 9.5% in 2007, “The recording industry has continued to benefit from mobile music, with mobile phone owners buying 220 million ringtones, the firm said.”

In yet another article from the same site, “Digital downloads should make many of the standard industry deductions irrelevant (such as breakage and deduction costs, but the whole issue is complicated by the fact that many contracts didn’t include any provisions for digital download sales when they were signed.” This statement really summarizes the current adjustments artists have face regarding their wanted or unwanted presence of having their music on-line. Especially since intellectual property is not even finished adding new facets to its legal boundaries, this concern holds pirating and theft in much contention.

This is part of our modern culture which we should be interested by, not because it is taking millions of dollars away from Americans, but because it is changing who we are as a society. Thinking about the economic impact of this type of spending should certainly be of interest to somebody. Imagine if no one cared that downloading sites have actually robbed artists, companies, and labels of millions of dollars in royalties…uh oh!

Anyway, what does this all mean to the people who think mp3’s, digital media, and mobile phones are everything to life? Well, it means people have access to more information than they think they do, even if they don’t take advantage of it. Technology defines the Information Age only by its mere presence, not to mention how it is altering how people live and communicate. Some people would argue music is not a part of communication, but in a lot of ways I think music is the part of communication everyone looks forward to.

Pieces of the music industry are finding themselves being formatted, altered, and brought to life in ways that put them on the spot. This hurdle for music artists is one that is putting on the pressure for people who really want to prove how much they are willing to give back to fans who know them best through technology media.

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