Music Piracy

WHAT IS PIRACY?

• Music piracy is a way of people being able to get music online for free illegal. It is now easier for people to download music for free illegally, so more people are doing it.
• This means that the artists are losing money to these illegal downloads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJc53KhtrUo

WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF PIRACY?

• Music piracy is killing sales growth and profits for the music industry. 
• It is estimated that they lose $4.2 billion to piracy worldwide each year.
• The more people can get music for free, the less they will bother to buy, so they take from the music industry without putting any money back in.
• For artists, this means that they have to focus even more on touring and selling merchandise as it is hard for them to make money from the sale of their music.
• It is also harder for smaller artists to get signed as many labels don't want to take on the risk of signing a small act with an uncertain audience.
• In the UK market alone, the record industry lost £180m last year, and will lose more than £1bn by the end of 2013.

Music Interview with a parent

MUSIC INTERVIEW  

NATASHA: I'm interviewing you to understand more about the music industry for my AS Media Studies coursework. 

QUESTION 1
You grew up as a teenager in the late 70s, what type of music did they have then? 

 -: There were some Punk rock and Disco but I really only listened to Pop music. 

 QUESTION 2
How interested were you in music then, and what did you listen to? 

 -: I didn't listen to a lot of music back than so I didn't have a lot of interest in music but I did like singers like Donny Osmond, David Essex, Gary Glitter, Bay City Rollers and the Monkeys. 

QUESTION 3
How did you purchase music? And how much did an average album cost? 

-: I couldn't purchase music back then because I couldn't afford it but an album cost about 7 shillings so about 35 pence.  

QUESTION 4
Was there an artist that inspired you back then? 

 -: Barbara Streisand because she has such a powerful voice. 

QUESTION 5
How do you think music has changed over the years? 

-: I think music has become more generic as music producers seem to just make music for the money. 

QUESTION 6
Do you have any favourite artists at the moment? 

-: Michael Bublé, Pixie Lott, Westlife, and Olly Murs.

Music Industry Interview

No 1 Christmas Song 2009

Rock band Rage Against the Machine have won the most competitive battle in years for the Christmas number one.

The band's single, Killing In The Name, sold 500,000 downloads beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry's The Climb by 50,000 copies to clinch the top spot.

Their success followed a Facebook campaign designed to prevent another X Factor number one.

One retailer said it was a "truly remarkable outcome - possibly the greatest chart upset ever".

Speaking on the Radio 1 chart show, Zack de la Rocha from Rage said: "We are very, very ecstatic about being number one." He added it was an "incredible organic grassroots campaign". "It says more about the spontaneous action taken by young people throughout the UK to topple this very sterile pop monopoly," he said.

McElderry, 18, praised the campaign, adding: "It's been exciting to be part of a much-hyped battle and they definitely deserve congratulations."

Thanking all the fans who bought his single, he said: "This time last year I never thought for one minute that I'd win The X Factor, never mind about having a debut single out, so I'm just delighted to be in the charts.

"It's been such an incredible couple of months and I got the best Christmas gift I could ever have asked for in winning The X Factor."

Domino Recording Company

Founded in London, the recording company relied on a weekly £40 grant when they first started. The label introduced a new-style of singer-songwriter recording that became known as Lo-Fi. Which meant that the artists could record at home in their own environment, free for inspiration. The label was proud of their british nationalism when Britpop  was introduced. All their acts had a distinct identity, no two acts had the same voice.

'Demise of the Music Industry' article

• Illegal downloads affect the music industry
• They don't make as much money.
• Rely on whats trending rather than whats good.
• Sales of singles are soaring because consumers can buy singles without having to but the album.
• Some offer free music for exchange of emails, this promotes the music because they then tell their friends of the music.
• People however pay huge money to see their favourite artist perform live.
• There is money in gigs.

Music Labels