[M.I.I] Implications for music industry/ Conclusion with mark sheet

My investigation involved exploring whether the online age has affected the pop music genre. I looked at different social networking sites and internet websites which help distribute and promote their music. Having done this research it is easier for me to understand what kind of sites are affecting the way listeners consume music and why.
When considering the amount of pop music artists online, one internet site is easiest to find this. As Myspace keeps a record of their artists in genres, users can see that Pop artists have in total: 723,426 (11/10/09). The genre with the most artists is Hip hop with 2,539,664. My findings tell me that the online age has both improved and damaged the music industry. It is very difficult to pin-point whether Pop music has been directly affected amongst all the other genres. As technologies have advanced, genres and music have become accessible; it has become easier to find music that consumers will enjoy.
One of my earlier posts was focused on looking at two pop artists: Lily Allen's and (La Roux's) Elly Jackson's views on file sharing, which contributes to illegal downloading. This either shows how Pop music is actually being affected (the artists have been affected) or as they are artists themselves and are out-spoken, they can put their point across. The latter possibility is probably more accurate. As they have had to go through the process of becoming an artist and noticed by listeners, they will have had problems with illegal downloading so they know the exact problem and how it is unfair.
"The reasons for wanting CDs include a desire to have sleeve notes, the sound quality and the desire to own a physical object. But 44% of respondents said that one reason for wanting a CD was that it "cannot be deleted", an indication that young people have taken note of the problems that have occurred in the past when access to rights-managed music files has been withdrawn because services have been shut down. Overall, the survey offers no coherent picture of the state of young people's consumption of and attitude to music, perhaps because things are changing so fast and young people are so quick to adapt to new technological realities that there simply is no single coherent model that will explain it all." Bill Thompson, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8197574.stm).
As music formats have changed to not needing it in physical form, this doesn’t mean that we do not buy or want to buy physical forms. Research carried out to find the way consumers obtain music the most is extremely hard to complete and is an ever-changing process.
The advance in technology has helped bands and artists promote their music, through downloading and other means of using the online age. To obtain music, users can go to downloading sites (illegal and legal) whilst also being able to listen to music using sites such as Spotify and Last.fm. By promoting and marketing their music for free, artists can be listened to by listeners who would not usually listen to them. Last.fm has a great way of recommending other artists which are in similar genres to what a user looks at and listens to. Not only technology has improved bands and artists chances of being heard however. Festivals such as Latitude and Glastonbury are great for unsigned bands to advertise their work. Every artist/band would have done some kind of gig too.
Amazon has a new feature on their website the “Bestsellers MP3 Downloads: Pop”, which is impressively updated hourly. Today being the 21st October has Cheryl Cole’s “Fight For This Love” as the most downloaded song, at 69p. Amazon’s downloads are very cheap when comparing them to iTunes, making it another legal downloading competitor.
Advertisements and TV programmes are another interesting way of letting bands and artists promote their music. Some examples are, The Noisettes with "Don't Stop the Rhythm" for a car advert, and many artists were used in the Skins series, such as The Gossip. Mainstream pop artists have more chances of having successful careers than an unsigned artist, which is obvious. Once an unsigned artist becomes noticed by a record label and they have the potential of becoming more a mainstream artist, they will most likely have a better music career. Record labels offer deals, expensive but overall they help an artist "live their dream". To have the opportunity to perform to audiences, from 500 people to 100,000 people, it is a chance for the artist to distribute their music. Audiences will then spread the artists name and music which is a method of promoting their music. Many bands and artists have and still do achieve great things from word-of-mouth.
Having researched different ways of consuming music, I have gained knowledge of how listeners have adjusted and become accustomed to other ways, some legal but unfortunately illegally methods too. The questionnaire samples responses were quite shocking at how ninety percent of my young sample had/do download illegally. On the other hand, with the amount of online users, it is not so surprising, as music is extremely accessible and available. The consequences of downloading illegally are not made aware to young users, maybe this should be improved to try to deter them. Downloading sites and softwares draw users in by using the word, "FREE" and who would not consider looking at what they are about. I remember asking a family friend who is a computer expert about Limewire, he responded that it is a big risk unless you delete the tracks, (or something). I did not bother to look into it further as I did not want the responsibility of damaging the (important word:) family computer.
The investigation I chose to carry out shows how more in-depth research is needed to fully comprehend it. The online age has definitely affected the way we listen to music (like other technologies), but whether or not Pop music has been directly affected is a very difficult topic to explore.