Embracing the Internet – Nat Setz
Developments in technology, particularly those relating to the internet, have ensured that the role of computers are becoming increasingly important in relation to the production, distribution and consumption of music. At present, the consumption and distribution of music via digital computer networks is of most concern to the music industry as it is the most prominent way in which listening practices are being reshaped by new technologies (Jones, 2000).
Unfortunately, this new technology also has what Kate Holton describes as a “dark side” – referring to the people who have used the internet to create services to download music illegally (2009). This of course has the industry severely pissed off as they are loosing big dollars, however, thankfully some can still see the internet as the great opportunity it is as a vehicle of innovation which can expand and redefine the industry.
Michael Robertson, the head of MP3Tunes, urged the industry to go further and allow more experiments with their music: “There is innovation happening but it’s coming from the dark side of the Internet, from pirates, from the underground. And that is showing where the industry is going to be. ” (Holton, 2009)
The connection of the personal computer to the Internet also brings potential for the consumer to be connected to a wide variety of music, broadening the scope of the consumer’s listening possibilities (Jones, 2000). One female vocalist who has seen this opportunity presented by the Internet, and used it to her advantage, is Lily Allen.
With her record label prioritising other artists, Allen utilized the social networking site Myspace to share her music with the world. In November 2005 she created a Myspace page and began posting demos which attracted thousands of listeners and offered her the most valuable asset an artist can hope for – exposure. As a result of this popularity, her label was convinced to allow her more creative control over her album, and in March 2006 she received her first mainstream coverage, appearing on the cover of The Observer Music Monthly which included an article about her success through Myspace.
In an interview with Pitchfork, Allen talks the impact of Myspace on her career. It is interesting to note the emphasis that is laid on the fact that there were no “industry machinations” behind her Myspace success with Allen stating “my record company didn’t even know what MySpace was!” This gives an idea of the powerful tool the internet has become in the distribution and consumption of music and the way it is transforming the music industry in a real way.
To read the interview visit – http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/6476-lily-allen/
Lily Allen’s Myspace page – http://www.myspace.com/lilyallen
References:
Jones, S. (2000) “Music and the Internet” Popular Music 19, pp 217 -230
Holton, K. (2009) “Music industry urged to embrace the internet” – http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE50J03U20090120?sp=true
female7 said,
June 1, 2009 at 10:18 am
KYLIE VOGHT
In 2008, some 95 percent of the music downloaded from the Internet, or more than 40 billion files, was illegal, leaving the overall music market down around 7 percent on 2007. (Music industry urged to embrace the Internet Tue Jan 20, 2009)
What is the technological age doing to music?
Not only is it allowing people all over the world to gain illegal access to their work – which is stealing money from both the artists and the producers….
But I think we need to also look at the double edge sword of technology in the actual creation and alteration of music. Does the technology alteration cheapen the musical experience? Music is played over so many mediums and altered every time to suit, what is genuine music anymore? Or has music lost all connection with the artist and is merely a product for consumption? In a world of DJ’s, miming and digitally enhanced sounds, how do we ever get a REAL PRODUCT?
female7 said,
June 2, 2009 at 4:52 am
(Nat Setz)
This idea of the “real product” relates back to issues authenticity. Is technology extrapolating the musical creation so far from its original “live” source that it has become less authentic?
This in turn opens up the whole debate of whether live music is more authentic than recorded music and I am reminded of Simon Frith’s comment:
“I listen to records in the full knowledge that what I hear is something that never existed, that never could exist, as a ‘performance,’ something happening in a single time and space; nevertheless, it is now happening, in a single time and space: it is thus a performance and I hear it as one. . ” (1998 p211) ”
This statement pretty much sums up my ideas as i personally feel that just because technology is changing the production and creation of music it doesn’t necessarily mean that the product is becoming less authentic. A piece of music which has been digitally altered doesn’t make it any less musical, it just makes it a different piece of music – a different ‘performance’ of music.
Ref: Frith, Simon (1998) Performing Rites Harvard University Press