music distribution: technology and the value of art in society

7/30/2019 Music Distribution: Technology and the Value of Art in Society

1/38

Network Computing Laboratory

Music Distribution: Technology

and the Value of Art in Society

Sungwon Peter Choe

KAIST Network Computing Lab


2/38

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and TechnologyNetwork Computing Laboratory | 2

Contents

IntroductionThe Relationship Between Technology and Art

Historical Roles of Music and Musicians

The 20th Century

Technology and MusicRise of the Music Industry

The 21st Century

Disruptive Technologies

Current stateFuture possibilities


3/38


Technology = Art

Ancient Greek Romanization Meaning

Techni Art

Art and technology differentiated only by time

E.g. printing press => novel

Or context

E.g. fireworks => gunsInstruments of

Destruction Creation


4/38


Historical roles of music and musicians

Traditional Folk MusicMusic part of life

social, communal, religious activities

Most learned to sing from childhood

Little or no separation between performers and audience


5/38


Current roles of music and musicians

MusicProduct

Complex legal restrictions (copyright, licenses)

Music owned by corporations, not musicians

MusiciansProfession

Distinction between performers and fans

Small number of commercial superstars

Large number of poor artists


6/38


The 20th Century: Technology and Music

Cultural globalizationEuropean colonization and American Slavery

Fusion of African rhythms & European harmony

Blues, Jazz, Rock, all popular music


7/38Korea Advanced Institute of Science and TechnologyNetwork Computing Laboratory | 7


New technology for new musicElectric Instruments (Electric guitar, keyboard) and Equipment

Big Band, Rock, Jazz

Recording technology

Collage music: Musique Concrte, Dub, Electronica, Hip-Hop..

Problems with copyright




CapitalismArt given monetary value

Restrictions on music (intellectual property)

Copyright

Licensing

Recording Technology

Physical mediums (record, tape, CD)

Allowed for global distribution

Music no longer local/communal

Allowed for packaging and sellingof music



1970s: The Good Old Days

Long, long ago (the 1970s)

In a country (USA) not so far away

There were many small record companiesOwned by people who loved music

Then the CD was released

The music industry became profitable

Imperial Corporations bought up all the record companies

Source: PBS Frontlines The Way The Music Died



The Reign of the Music Industry

Four corporations control

82% of the globalrecording

industry market

Result

CEOs out of touch with music

Music is manufacturedproduct is not art!

Music choice is limited

Music profits go to the

corporations

not to the musicians!

Source: wikipedia



The Music Industry and Musicians

In 2002, if a band sold

500,000 albums in the US:

Total gross of ~$8.5 million

Band gets: $161,909

Divided among 4 members =

$40,477.25 eachThats a best case scenario

of a 15% royalty

Source: New York Daily News



The Music Industry and Musicians

Oh by the way, in 2002

30,000 albums were released

128 went Gold (i.e. 500,000+

albums sold)

Yep, thats 0.43%!

What about the 99.57% ofother musicians who released

albums?

Source: New York Daily News



The State of Music in Society Today

Shaped by 20th Century TechnologyCapitalismMonetary value on everything

Recording Technology

Distribution by sellable physical unit

Result: Controlled by Corporate Interests

Contracts, Copyrights, Licensing

Limited choice

Manufactured music

Genre mining (e.g. grunge)

Fans, even musicians have little control

This is how society values music??



The 21st Century: Technology and Music

The Internet = Disruptive technologyMusic PiratingThreatens the music industrys

Distribution model

Business model

Changes fans relationship to music

Free

More and more varied music available

Pirating Communities



The 21st Century: Technology and Music

Professional Recording and Other Music Software

Allows musicians greater independence from labels

Blurs the line between musicians and fans

E.g. Mash-ups



The Music Industry and the Internet

The Music Industry

Physical sellable unit (record, CD, etc.)

The Internet & Digitized Music

Infinitely reproducible and shareable information (mp3 file)



The Music Industry and the Internet

Kbler-Ross Five Stages of Grief

Denial (late 90s)

Pirating only on campuses

Depression (early 00s)

Pirating depressing sales

Anger (early 00s)

Suing companies (Kazaa, Grokster, etc.)

Suing fans

Bargaining (present)

Selling individual files or monthly subscriptions (iTunes, etc.)Selling ringtones, etc.

(Acceptance)



The Music Industry Online

99 cents per song in the US

(cheaper in Korea- non-DRM track W700 at Soribada)

99 cents x 12 songs = $11.88

Hey thats about the price of a CD

Oh, waitNo manufacturing & packaging costs

No distribution costs

Wheres that extra profitgoing?

Savings for the user?

Royalties to the musician?



The Music Industry Online

But Napster offers unlimited downloads for

$14.95/month!

So?

They offer no added value

There is no incentive not to continue pirating musicLacks imagination

No exploitation of new technologies

Same paradigms, just online



Future Possibilities

20th Century

Our values shaped by the structures of technology

21st Century

Can our values shape technology?

How will we value art?



Possibilities: Free Music

Free Music

Inspired by Free Software movement

Targets restrictive music copyrights and licensing

Not necessarily free of cost

Free Music can be freely copied, distributed and modified

Values

Information should be free

Creativity is inspired by those before and can inspire those that come

after

But not a model
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/philosophy/fmp.html



Possibilities: Open Music Model

Proposed by Shuman Ghosemajumder (MIT)

$10/month all-you-can-eat price point

Five requirements for a viable commercial P2P network:

Open File Sharing: users must be free to share files on their hard drives

with each other.

Open File Formats: content must be distributed in MP3 and otherformats with NO digital rights management protection.

Open Membership: content owners must able to freely register to

receive compensation.

Open Payment: users must be able to access the system using either

credit cards or access cards purchasable anonymously in cash from retailstores.

Open Competition: there must be multiple such systems which can tie

into each others file sharing databases. It must not be a monopoly

through legal design.


23/38


Possibilities: Open Music Model

Open Music Model weaknesses

Like iTunes with open standards

No added value

No non-philanthropic incentive not to pirate

Doesnt exploit new technologies


24/38


Towards a new music distribution/businessmodel

Values

Music is art not just product

Music belongs to all people

Goals

Musicians should be given fair compensationMusic should be freely shareable

Music quality should determine its success

Make money

(Capitalism still rules, what ya gonna do)


25/38


The Anymusic Platform the NCLab approach

Sell added servicenot music

You can pirate music for free anyway

What service?

Ubiquity

Access to any music from anywhereSocial Networks

Music profiles built from users statistics (like last.fm)

Music discovery and recommendation through the network

Ubiquitous Services & Social Networking

Find clubs, stores that play music you like

Have stores, clubs play music based on customers profiles

(Charge for business subscriptions)


26/38


In the park near HongDae

sungwon

HongDae, Seoul

I wonder whos nearby

you friends music neighbors

younga

HongDae, Seoul

Spiral Architect - InsectsMusic neighbor? Lets see

what shes listening toWow, she likes a lot of the

same music I do Butwhos Spiral Architect?

Ill check them out

retrieving songHey, this song is great! Im

gonna message hersungwon: spiral architect is awesome!

younga: yeah, right?

younga: oh, youre sitting just overthere? why dont you come hereand talk to me?

sungwon: ok! ^^


27/38


Anymusic - Musicians Perspective

Upload their own music to share

Automatically promoted

Social networks

Genre playlists, etc.

Receive compensation proportional to popularityFrom user statistics

Independence from labels

(Cheap professional recording software)

Anymusic for promotion and distributionFree to own copyright/not to copyright at all


28/38


Anymusic The Money

Sell information and service, not product

Limitless growth!

Data is the real source of revenue

Users music listening habits

Users location data

Aggregates and correlations of the above


29/38


Anymusic in Businesses (bars, stores,restaurants)

SoulJazz

Fusion

Classic

Rock

Monthly Business

subscription

User aggregate-

generated playlists

In this bar are

Anymusic users wholike

Soul

Jazz Fusion

Classic Rock

The bar can then(automatically) play

a mix of such music


30/38


Anymusic in Businesses (bars, stores,restaurants)

SoulJazz

Fusion

Classic

Rock

Genre/Mood

playlists

User requests (via

personal devices)

User bookmarking

user hears a song shelikes

checks her device to

see what it is

marks it as a favorite

Store music profiles

searchable by users

w/ description


31/38


The Future

Almost anything possible

What values do we keep/create?

How do we use the technology available to us?

Technology

Values

Environment


32/38


Extra Slides


33/38


Historical roles of music and musicians

Western Art (Classical) Music

Highly-trained musician class

Musicians supported by patrons or churches

Audience often separate from performers/composers

Audience mostly wealthy upper classes


34/38


Possibilities: FairShare

Proposed by Ian Clarke (Freenet)

Patronage system for copyright-less world

Patrons invest in artist

45% goes to artist

45% goes to previous investors

10% goes to system maintainers

Not a complete model

Discovery?

Distribution?

Doesnt exploit new technologies


35/38


Related Businesses: Last.fm

Web Service/Social

Network

User profile of:

Most listened to artists

This week

Overall

Etc.

Provides plugins for music

players

Sends every song to

central server which

updates user profile

Last.fm Software


36/38


Goals

Show how the relationship between technology and

music changes not only the music itself, but also

how society listens to and values music


37/38


38/38

Current Distribution Methods

Method Cost Benefit To User

Physical Media (CD) $12 CD artwork, liner notes,

bonus material (video)

MP3 (pay per song) 99 cents/ song Convenient (if no DRM)

MP3 (subscription) $15 / month Convenient (if no DRM),

Unlimited downloads

Mobile Phone direct

download

$1.99 / song (V Cast) Very Convenient,

ubiquitous

MP3 (pirated) Free Unlimited downloads,

Convenient, No DRM,

Free

music distribution: technology and the value of art in society

Documents