Homework recap – in pairs discuss
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For a musical artist of your choice
write about them, introducing them
and how they have been marketed:
• Using traditional marketing?
• Or non-traditional marketing?
• Or a combination of both?
Marxism
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The Marxist approach:
- Karl Marx said that one reason the working
masses (proletariat) were being controlled by
the “dominant ideology” was through the
media.
- The “dominant ideology” of the government
and big businesses control the “means of
production’.
In the new ‘digital’ world the “means of
production” is increasingly handed over to new
groups of society – us!
The masses and not the “dominant ideology” of
government and big business are setting the
agenda for making media.
The Music Industry
Case studies:
EMI and Def Jam
Case Studies
In order to achieve success in this exam you will
need to write about specific case studies in your
essay.
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You should be very familiar with at least two record
companies – one major label and one independent
label and the ways in which they operate.
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We will look at two together here and then in groups
you will research into another two that you will
present back to the class in the form of a
PowerPoint.
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Multi –nationals .. A reminder.
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Large profits:
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‘The big four’ accounted for 71.7% of the global retail music sales:
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Universal Music Group — 25.5%
Sony BMG Music Entertainment — 21.5%
EMI Group — 13.4%
Warner Music Group — 11.3%
independent labels — 28.4%
EMI
EMI is one of the world's leading music companies,
home to some of the most successful and best known
recording artists, songwriters and music catalogues.
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EMI has two operational divisions - EMI Music and
EMI Music Publishing.
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- EMI Music deals with the artists and the promotion
of music
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EMI Publishing looks after the rights of songs. Every
time a song is played on radio or used on TV for
example the publishing company ensures that the
artist gets paid. This is a successful source of income
for the company and they look after acts on other
record labels as well as their own.
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EMI is the only privately owned major music company
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EMI Record Companies
Owned
EMI have bought out and also own lots of other record
companies:
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EMI Artists
History – Key
Developments
The Electric and Musical Industries Ltd formed in March 1931
from the merger of the UK Columbia Graphophone Company and
the Gramophone Company, famous at the time for its record label
"His Master's Voice". From its beginning, the company was
involved in both the manufacture of recording and playback
equipment and the provision of music to play on its machines
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In 1931, the year the company was formed, it opened the
legendary recording studios at Abbey Road, London.
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EMI released its first LPs in 1952 and its first stereophonic
recordings in 1955 (first on reel-to-reel tape and then LPs,
beginning in 1958).
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History – Key
Developments
During the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, the
company enjoyed huge success. The groups and solo
artists signed to EMI and its subsidiary labels -including Parlophone, HMV, Columbia Graphophone and
Capitol Records -- made EMI the best-known and most
successful recording company in the world at that
time, with a roster that included scores of major pop
acts of the period including the Beatles, the Beach
Boys, and Pink Floyd.
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History – Key
Developments
Robbie Williams signed a 6 album deal in 2002
paying him over £80 million ($157 million),
which was not only the biggest recording
contract in British music history, but the
second biggest in music history
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In May 2006, EMI attempted to buy Warner
Music Group, which would have reduced the
world's four largest record companies (Big
Four) to three; however, the bid was rejected
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EMI and New Media
Technology
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1993: EMI Music's first websites went live
1998: EMI streamed the first complete album over the
internet, Mezzanine by Massive Attack.
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1999: EMI was the first company to release a digital
album download, David Bowie's …Hours.
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2001: EMI launched the first internet video single.
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2007: EMI became the first major music company to
make its music available without digital rights
management (DRM) software.
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Def Jam Background
Def Jam started out as an independent record label. An
independent record label (or indie record label) is a record
label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations
of the major record labels.
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However, it was bought out by Polydor in 1994 and in 1998 it was
merged into Universal music (one of the big 4).
•
In the UK it is operated through the Mercury music group
(another part of Universal)
•It has always been and still is primarily a US based hip hop label
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Founded by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons in 1984
•Many of the big hip hop stars of the 1980’s were signed to the
label such as Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys and LL Cool J
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Links with other record
companies
In 1997 the company struck a deal with Roc-a-Fella records and
made a big star out of Jay Z. Roc-A-Fella also launched the career
of Kanye West. Jay Z eventually became president of Def Jam in
1999 and was so until 2007
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In 1999 Def Jam created a spin off record label called Def Soul.
In 1999 it also began distributing artists on the Murder Inc label
including Ja Rule and Ashanti
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Def Jam have also extended the brand through the HBO Def
Comedy Jam show which helped launch the career of many
African American comedy performers and Def Jam:Icon PS3 game
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Def Jam Artists
Def Jam - Website
The website is a good example of a record label
website, giving opportunity to view new videos and
purchase music as MP3 files, ringtones etc. It also has a
Def Jam radio station.
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http://www.defjam.com/site/home.php
Group seminar task
In groups research one of the other big 4 companies:
Universal, Sony or Warner.
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Then investigate a smaller record label or music streaming site
of your choosing.
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For both your major label and small company consider the
following:
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Who are they owned by?
-What artists do they have?
-What is their history?
-Do they operate in other media areas as well?
-What is their relationship with new technology?
-How do they market their artists?
-You will present your findings on your company to the class in
the form of a PowerPoint presentation. Do not copy and paste
everything from Wikipedia – choose the key facts and then talk
around them!
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Some sample questions….
A) Discuss the issues raised by institutions’ need to
target specific audiences within a media
industry which you have studied.
B) What effect has new technology had on media
industries?
C) Discuss the ways in which media products are
produced and distributed to audiences within a
media area which you have studied.
D) How are media products marketed and
distributed within the media industry that you
have studied?
E) How has the audience relationship with your
media industry changed over recent years?