Wednesday, December 17, 2014

The Death & Life of the Music Industry in the Digital Age (Book Review)


Jim Rogers, a Research Fellow and Associate Lecturer at the School of Communication in Dublin City University (Ireland), has recently published a book called “The Death & Life of the Music Industry in the Digital Age” under his PhD thesis at the university. Prior to writing his book, he interviewed 30 music business professionals in the UK and Ireland from 2007 to 2010. Interviewees range from music publishers to artist managers and the author collectively brings in their thoughts to tackle the main research question: Is there a crisis in the music industry from the emergence of digital era that is indicating its final disruption or has it resulted in making evolutionary changes by restructuring and reordering the whole industry?

          After providing the readers with brief information on theoretical and historical context of music industry in chapter 1, the author analyzes the general impact of digitization based on in-depth interviews with various music business professionals in the following chapter. The overall consensus is that the power of record industry has diminished substantially overtime as a result of technological change, primarily because of the proliferation of P2P file-sharing software on the Internet. Consequently, the decrease in record industry sales can be reflected as the key evidence of a crisis, along with the loss of jobs in the sector. However, it is important to note that the majority of responses are initially focused on record industry, which only contributes to the larger framework of the music industry. Thus, network of publishing, live performances, and other music services should be taken into consideration in the main argument. Furthermore, the respondents of the interviewees stress the recession in recorded music industry by highlighting the proliferation of CD-burning technologies, introduction of portable storage device such as MP3 players, alteration of consumption habits, and the rise of large supermarket music retailers such as Walmart that devalues music and ruins specialized music retailers. Although Rogers highlight the different level of views on file-sharing studies, however, he does not evaluate any of them and leaves the question open on whether or not file sharing has a negative impact on record sales.

In chapter 3, the author highlights the “Response strategies of the music industry” from the music companies as they reposition themselves to respond to challenges faced by the emergence of Internet technologies. Music companies can be characterized by “tumulus oligopoly” in which the number of record companies fluctuated to just three major players
Major Record Companies: Universal, Sony, Warner
by 2011, due to the outcome of “fierce internecine competition”(Kline, 2003).  With the continuous pursuit of file-sharing technologies from individuals and suppliers, respondents reacted by emphasizing the role of copyright laws through legislative and judicial systems, licensing of online and mobile digital music providers, and opening up of new music market in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries in recent years. The author concludes that the new strategies of agreement between the music industry and the technology sector has created business models and licensing systems and overall, “the range of revenue streams open to artist and music companies has increased significantly with the proliferation of internet and mobile platforms”(Rogers, 2013).

In the next chapter called, “Developments beyond the digital realm”, Rogers highlights the relevance of the new revenue sources as well as the rise of live music sector. While major record and publishing companies benefit from licensing digital music and other commercial users of music, they also demand to participate in the booming live music market, which has proliferated since the 1990s. The author brings the concept of “360-degree artist contract”, which is a deal of multiple rights, in order to emphasize the convergence of live music sector, record industry, and music publishers. For example, Madonna has signed a 360-degree contract with Live Nation in 2007 and Jay-Z in 2008. 
Madonna 
Jay-Z


 "Ultimately, such convergence brings broader landscape of music industries and this paints a significantly healthier picture than the digitally induced Armageddon suggested by record sales data and popular media reports”                                    
      - Jim Rogers, 2013
Social Media

          The two following chapters titled “New rules for the new music economy? – Part 1 and Part 2”, explore the question on whether or not disintermediation between artists and music companies has become a reality in the digital era. In another words, with the emergence of digital platform, can independent artist and labels succeed in the marketplace without the intervention of major record labels? To answer this question, the author introduces the “do-it-yourself” approach, where the digitalization can help an individual artist to produce, promote, and distribute relatively cheaply and efficiently without the help of major record companies. This process is enhanced by the proliferation of “social media”, which is understood as a way to “communicate and congregate” with connected users online (Watkins, 2009). By using social media, it can “empower the users by enabling bottom-up interaction in new ways, for example, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube” to compete for the notice of major music companies (Srinivasan, 2013). This is possible trough the idea of “moral economy”, which is a term used to describe the “social norms and mutual understanding that make it possible for two parties to conduct business” (Jenkins, 2013).  Independent artists who produce musical content may not receive immediate payment but can be reimbursed through pride, worth, and self-branding. Nevertheless, the author concludes that if an artist hopes to succeed in the international mainstream market, they will still have to be dependent on network of music majors.
          
          Jim Rogers further explains this theory in the part 2 of the next chapter. Based on interviews from music professionals, the author claims that the major players continue to hold dominate power in controlling the access to the music market. Hence, it is often difficult for independent record labels to enter the market since the major record labels mediate their access. There is also an issue of “first-copy cost”, which is all the cost needed to make a production before it reaches its first consumer. The risks are high and major music companies, “having size and being conglomerate”, tends to have greater advantage in managing those risks (McChesney, 2013). Moreover, although there is a rise in various music promotion platforms on the Internet, Rogers reveals that terrestrial radio is still the most powerful force when it comes to influencing mass consumer market. Unfortunately, he concludes that an independent artist can self-promote and have access to the market but only to some extent because such approach has limits that can generally only be surpassed by engaging the support and resources of a major company.

Unlike recorded music industry,
live-music has benefited in the digital era
In the final chapter titled, “Evolution, not revolution”, the author sums up his claims and rejects the general notion that the music industry was disrupted by the emergence of digital revolution. The music industry has gone through an intricate set of restructuring processes in the past decade. Although changes primarily stem from the convergence of Internet technologies and other digital developments, disruptions within an industry are never caused by technology alone as they are also designed to manage the harmful outcomes of technological innovations. His main argument is that the structural break in the music market only impacts the recorded music industry while the other music sectors such as music publishing and live-music have benefited from the digital era. Major record companies continue to hold dominant power and independent record companies are inevitably dependent on them. Artists have to cooperate with the major players to gain access to the international market and terrestrial radio continues to be the main source for successful commercialization. Moreover, the proliferation of 360-degree artist contracts resembles a higher level of dependence on individual artists from the network of major music companies.

             Amazon and Apple           
         
          Although continuities play an important role the evolution of music industry, I disagree with the author’s claim that change cannot be characterized as revolutionary. Robert McChesney, American professor at University of Illinois-Champaign, claims in his article that we are entering the fourth communication “critical juncture” in the digital era, which is a new period where “digital revolution is overturning all existing media industries and business models” (McChesney, 2013). The whole music network has restructured in the past decade and new players such as Amazon and Apple have entered from outside the traditional music market, approaching consumers with new technologies. This primarily led to the radical changes in the music consumption behavior, causing revolutionary changes in the music industry.
          
          Throughout the book, Rogers fails to deliver a theoretical concept of revolution and evolution as his analysis is based on mere claims from the various interviewees. Thus, he is misled to observe in the course of digitization that the music industry in undergoing evolutionary change rather than a fundamental transformation. Nonetheless, readers are able to hear different perspectives and opinions from 30 different music industry professionals as they discuss the process of disruption and reconstruction in the music industry.

  

Work Cited
Jim Rogers, The Death & Life of the Music Industry in the Digital Age. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013. Print.

Henry Jenkings et al., "Where Web 2.0 went wrong," Spreadable Media (2013).

Robert McChesney, "How can the political economy of communication help us understand the Internet?" in Digital Disconnect (2013).

Ramesh Srinivasan, "Bridges between cultural and digital worlds in Revolutionary Egypt," The Information Society 29 (2013), 49-60.

S. Craig Watkins, "The very well connected: Friending, bonding, and community in the digital age, "The Young and the Digital (2009).

Stephen Kline et al., "The new cyber-city: The interactive game industry in the new millennium," Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing (2003). 


About the Author



"Jim Rogers is a Research Fellow and Associate Lecturer at the School of Communications, Dublin City University. His research focuses on the evolving form and nature of the media and cultural industries in the digital era." (Bloomsbury Publishing) 

Book Reviews

David J. Park, associate professor at Florida International University, writes in his review that the book is clear, interesting, focused and well researched. He recommends the book for anyone interested in how digitization is affecting the music industry, as Rogers manages to make his study comprehensible to scholars and non-scholars. 
This book review article includes a review from R. J. Phillips, who is a professor at Colorado University. He gives 2 stars and recommends the book to those who are interested in future of music.
This online book review, written by Peter Tschmuck, has positive comments on author’s experience with interviews from 30 different music professionals but contradicts his main argument.

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