Buy essay on How a new technology (recording) challenges old social arrangements

I would like to discuss in this paper one interesting topic that will answer on the question about nowadays perspectives in music area and how a particular modern-day media technology is challenging social arrangements. Media were made to create a pop-cult, perhaps even more than the actual musical recordings, because it is not sold as much music as an image and lifestyle. The musicians have never been so rich and famous, as in our time. Once completely unnoticed music transformed from entertainment into a factory cults. The pop star is not only more popular, but even more prosperous than banker or industrialist. Is it taking a place by chance? Or it goes after sober business calculations…
If the music is primarily a business on emotions, it is obvious that media and digital technologies are necessary in this area. They have made possible the mass enthusiasm for music. Earlier only musicians presented songs and people visited concerts to listen to their favorite music, but now it is possible to buy any disc and listen to music everywhere. This situation has changed radically with the advent of a record industry. Music from the accompaniment of religious ceremonies and social life has become a powerful social phenomenon, and musicians became major cultural heroes. For example, to the of our century, when all more or less cultured people disillusioned with political leaders, musicians, along with actors, became favorite heroes of the nation.
Today the core of the music business is the major record studios like Warner Music. According to the annual report about the State of the News Media (2009) for a half century the problem of the studio is to find new talent and invest in its promotion money on the stage of creative growth and distribute recorded music in retail stores, which are usually located in the heart of the city. But in the Internet era, all these functions had lost their meaning.
The first and the most significant change was the distribution of music that is not distributed any more on physical media (vinyl or CD), but distributes in digital format. According to the International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI), in 2011 on a digital format would have been 25% of the total sold in the world of music. The more customers spend to buy music in digital format (for playing on home computers and portable players), the faster falling CD sales, reducing earnings of record companies.
According to Rossiter (2009) the second change was that successful untwisted studio musicians who had been milch cows for the record companies now could conduct business independently. Thompson (2009) mentioned that they sign a deal with the specialized companies and promoters with an aim to earn an independent force of their own brand. Of course, the young musicians for promotion often need help of studios, but as soon as their name became music brand, they tend to go to the free floating.
Also today, even the young performers can achieve success without the help of studios. This helps them with their online social networks such as Facebook or Myspace, which are considered technological challenges of our world. Young artists are not yet able to earn by selling music through the Internet, but they are actively using it to promote their performances and concerts. “Social networks allow me to keep in touch with my fans, who are aware of where and when I have concerts. My concerts are collected not big amount of people, but it is always regular listeners who like my music and do not regret to buy a ticket to my concert,”- said Adare Manor, a young Israeli singer, who lives in London.
In this situation we see the next solution in the third tendency of music world. In my opinion exactly the “return to the scene” – is the third important trend in the music business. According to the London Music Managers Forum, in the late 90’s, about 65% of profits came from sales of music recordings in CD format. Remaining 35 % of income was taken from concert tours, the sale of goods with symbols and logos, as well as advertising. Today the proportion has changed: two thirds of income gives concerts and promotional deals. Only in the U.S. and Canada, selling tickets for music concerts have grown from 1.7 billion dollars in 2000 to 3.1 billion dollars in 2006, for example.
Taking into account all above stated information we could conclude that old social arrangements were changed and the combination of these factors led to a serious crisis in the recording business. The result is an unenviable financial position of the studios. Trying to fix the situation, the studio began to offer musicians’ contracts to 360 degrees. Instead of earning a percentage of sales of CDs, they offer artists a comprehensive contracts, which include concerts, release of goods with symbols and advertising. Such transactions have become particularly important for the studios in those regions where piracy is widespread, for example in Asia or Latin America. But this model is not very happy with the musicians – only a few have signed such contracts. Sound Recording Studios will have to invent new ways to create income – via supported by advertising sites that deal with companies to produce video games or social networks such as Facebook. In my opinion, record companies have no choice: either to change even faster than they do now or go away from the music scene, leaving it to the artists-entrepreneurs.

References:
Rossiter, N. (2009). Creative Industries, Comparative Media Theory and the Limits of Critique from Within. Topia, 11.
The State of the News Media. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2009/index.htm.
Thompson, B. (2009, November). Social media challenges social rules. BBC News.