Introduction to Mass Media Recordings: Demanding Choices

What music do you listen to? Popular music: rock, rap/hip-hop, urban, country and pop Religious Classical Big band Jazz Children’s recordings

What types of music do people buy?

Who pays for music?

The recording industry Of all media industry, the recording is the most suffered from internet technology. Decline of music sales because of illegal downloading, Center of debate on protecting artistic copyright Concert performances become necessity. Celtic Woman: You raise me up

Recording of sound An experience of recording

The History of Recording 1877, Thomas Edison invented phonograph

1887 Emile Berliner developed the gramophone Flat disk replaced Edison’s cylinder Formed Victor Talking Machine Company (later become RCA Victor)

Standard of recording Edison and Victor compete the technology for the industry. Victor disc won Early players required large horns to amplify the sound

1927 the first Jukeboxes were manufactured and brought music into restaurants and nightclub After World War II, 78 rpm were standard, 3 minutes each recording, 1947, Peter Goldmark created LP (long-play) record, 23 minutes each record, larger disk, 33- 1/3 rpm.

Record Format 1948 Sarnoff of RCA introduced 45 rpm record. Players were developed to play all three speeds.

1950s, Hi-Fi and Stereo Rock In Rock' n' roll redefined the concept of popular music , the success of popular entertainers like Elvis Presley. Recording industry improve recorded sound quality, e.g. Hi-Fi (high Fidelity) by London Records. Tape recorders by German during WWII

3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing) perfected the plastic tape. Tape can be edited and refined. 1956, Stereo invented The improvement of recorded sound quality contribute to the success of recording artist like the Beatles

1960s, portable transistor radio carry sound everywhere 1979, Sony introduce walkman as a personal stereo. In 2000, CD (Compact Discs) and CD-RW (Re- Writable) made copy of music easily. 2001, Apple ipod allow users to store and play music downloads, 2003, Apple launched iTunes, online music store

iTunes become the dominant consumer source for contemporary music. 2007, iPhone iTunes become the dominant consumer source for contemporary music. In 2015, the most watched YouTube video: Hello by Adele

Recording Industry at Work Artists and repertoire: develop and coordinates talent Operations: manage the technical aspects of the recording Marketing and promotion: decides the best way to sell the recordings Distribution: gets the recordings into store, Administration

Concerts Bring in Important Revenue Concerts require high-tech innovation Concert ticket sales are an essential source of revenue for large bands

Four Major Companies Dominate About 5000 companies in US produce music, but four large corporations dominate the industry: EMI, Sony/BMG, Universal, Warner. The four companies sole 2 billion recordings each year. The main recording centers in US are Los Angeles, New York and Nashville.

Music Sales and Licensing Drive Industry Income The recording industry collects income from: Direct sales Music Licensing Music videos Music downloads The income is declining today because of internet and file sharing

Industry struggles to protect content labeling Three issues facing today’s recording industry Attempts to control music content through labeling Overseas piracy copyright protection for music file sharing The recording industry responded to threats of government regulation of music lyrics by adopting its own standards for music labeling

MP3 digital technology, perfected in 1999, allow good quality music directly downloaded from the internet Music sharing company Napster was sued in 1999 for copyright infringement by RIAA and shut down in 2001 In 2003, 261 individual music downloader was sued by RIAA , but people still continue to download

Music Industry Wins Legal Action In2007, a federal jury imposed a penalty for file sharing of $222,000 against a woman Jammie Thomas. In 2009, a federal jury reaffirmed the decision against Thomas and awarded the recording company $1.92 million or $80,000 per downloaded song. Thomas appealed. In 2010, a judge reduced the award to $2,250 per song. RIAA asked for a third trial

Changing Technology Transform Delivery In 2003, Apple’s iTune, provides a legal way to download music Despite aggressive attempts by RIAA to stop music file sharing, the practice is still widespread.

Internet brings new obstacles and new opportunities In 2007, RIAA estimated $1 billion lost in revenue from illegal music downloads In 2010, RIAA estimate “globally only one of 20 downloads is authorized. Online piracy rates is 99%” The Case of Apple --- a dominant music retailer. By April, 2008, iTune is the largest music retailer in US.

Tactics The recording companies have to pursue copyright infringement, reduce oversea piracy. The industry also encourages all legal music download services, like iTune, and subscription sites.