Audience and Institutions

The Music Industry

The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice

• What are the issues in the music industry?

• Social Influence; audience reception

• Bias; specific genres and cultures

• Dominance of industry; Popular vs independent or underground

• Money$$$$$$$

The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing

• In media economics, synergy is the promotion and sale of a product (and all its versions) throughout the various subsidiaries of a media conglomerate, e.g. films, soundtracks or video games.

• Walt Disney pioneered synergistic marketing techniques in the 1930s by granting dozens of firms the right to use his Mickey Mouse character in products and ads, and continued to market Disney media through licensing arrangements.

Synergy in Music:

• Universal Music Group, produces, distributes and markets music

• Owned by Vivendi..

• Which also owns: Canal+ Group, Vivendi Entertainment, Activision Blizzard, Maroc Telecom and SFR, and 20% of NBC Universal.

What does all this mean????

VIVENDI

Universal Music Publishing GroupUniversal Music Group DistributionInterscope-Geffen-A&MIsland Def Jam Music GroupUniversal Motown Republic GroupUniversal Music Group NashvilleVerve Music GroupDecca Label GroupUniversal Music Latin EntertainmentUniversal Music EnterprisesShow Dog-Universal MusicFontana DistributionV2/Co-operative MusicPolydor RecordsMercury Music GroupIsland Records GroupUniversal Music TVUniversal Classics and Jazz

And Universal Music Group owns:

The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production,

distribution, marketing and exchange

The Digital Age

The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences

Impact of Digital Technology

• Downloading – itunes, ipod,

• Digital Piracy – CD’s, filesharing

• Social networking sites - marketing

• Accessibility – everywhere??

• Control – industry/audiences

The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences

What does convergence mean and why is it important?

• When two or more technologies come together to create a new technology.

• Audiences: Everything in one product

• Institutions: Audiences tied to one product

The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by

international or global institutions

• Big label domincance• Appeal• Money $$ vs ££• Cultural

Values/Influence• Good vs Evil

Your Task• Pick a popular album, like Coldplay xy, and

then track it’s ownership path as well as other ways in which that particular product may have made money (technological convergence) i.e. Spotify, iTunes, etc. Where can you get access to what is on this album. Who ultimately gains from the sale of this album?