Music Banter - View Single Post

Adam Duffill · 05-28-2013, 06:22 PM

I honestly think that whilst the internet has made music more accessible (with regards to being able to watch and be aware of bands from all over the world, regardless of whether they are on a major label or not), I agree with some of the comments that it has devalued music somewhat, and would go a step further and say it has hurt the industry more than it's helped it.

I feel this is because the market has become more saturated - it's almost like there is too much music now (if that's possible!) & the major labels are aware that there are so many acts/bands to choose from so in some ways abuse the situation. Due to the whole situation with illegal downloading of music which is partly a result of music being available on the internet, that has kind of killed the major labels. As a result, they are reluctant to invest time & perhaps more significantly money into talented artists/bands/writers & instead rely heavily on TV shows such as BGT/AGT & X Factor who are sure bets to sell records, at least in the short term. I feel what this means is that we are seeing a time where artists have no longevity, because as soon as an act loses there popularity they simply get dropped from the label (because there are plenty of others to choose from!), by which time the next set of semi finalists/finalists from BGT/X Factor are ready to be marketed & the whole process repeats itself.

As a Singer/Songwriter myself however, it would be hypocritical of me to say that it is all bad - obviously I upload videos to YouTube, promote my music in blogs, on social networking sites etc, so obviously from a promotion/marketing point of view the internet has opened all sorts of gateways to getting my music heard as an independent artist.

However, on the whole I believe that less people are buying records because they can hear it online for free & less people are going out and watching live music because they can watch it online for free - so all in all, surely there's no positive the internet can bring that can outweigh the negatives of less people buying & watching live music.

05-28-2013, 06:22 PM	#7 (permalink)
Adam Duffill Groupie Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 14	I honestly think that whilst the internet has made music more accessible (with regards to being able to watch and be aware of bands from all over the world, regardless of whether they are on a major label or not), I agree with some of the comments that it has devalued music somewhat, and would go a step further and say it has hurt the industry more than it's helped it. I feel this is because the market has become more saturated - it's almost like there is too much music now (if that's possible!) & the major labels are aware that there are so many acts/bands to choose from so in some ways abuse the situation. Due to the whole situation with illegal downloading of music which is partly a result of music being available on the internet, that has kind of killed the major labels. As a result, they are reluctant to invest time & perhaps more significantly money into talented artists/bands/writers & instead rely heavily on TV shows such as BGT/AGT & X Factor who are sure bets to sell records, at least in the short term. I feel what this means is that we are seeing a time where artists have no longevity, because as soon as an act loses there popularity they simply get dropped from the label (because there are plenty of others to choose from!), by which time the next set of semi finalists/finalists from BGT/X Factor are ready to be marketed & the whole process repeats itself. As a Singer/Songwriter myself however, it would be hypocritical of me to say that it is all bad - obviously I upload videos to YouTube, promote my music in blogs, on social networking sites etc, so obviously from a promotion/marketing point of view the internet has opened all sorts of gateways to getting my music heard as an independent artist. However, on the whole I believe that less people are buying records because they can hear it online for free & less people are going out and watching live music because they can watch it online for free - so all in all, surely there's no positive the internet can bring that can outweigh the negatives of less people buying & watching live music.