Marketing Music in the Digital World

Music is everywhere. It infiltrates every aspect of  human life and, unlike any other art form, it is readily available to us at any moment of the day. It has the ability to mark important moments in our life and evoke powerful emotion. We all remember the song that pulled us out of a heart-break or effect a meaningful moment with a boyfriend or girlfriend. It lifts our spirits and makes us introspective (Listen to 'Time' from the 'Inception' soundtrack and think about your life. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xeHiTmx5AU ). You will remember the first song as a newly wed. You might even know a song that has become so powerful in your life that you want it to be played at your funeral. There is nothing so pervasive as music and it is only becoming more commanding and easy to access.

Today, guitar shredder and diva-wannabees have every tool at that their fingers that, until the 21st century, could not be utilized unless one had the monetary means or an undeniable vocal prowess. With Pro Tools, Ableton Live or any other Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software, your next door neighbor's garage or even your own dorm room (or apartment) can be transformed into a high end recording studio. It has completely changed the way that music is created, produced and distributed today.

So the question must be asked: how do music moguls push their product in a world that no longer flips through the pages of magazines or newspapers? How do they get our attention while we are constantly being bombarded with flashing internet ads, text messages, and Facebook?

There is a simple answer:
They can't. At least, not as easily as they used to

The evidence is all there. MTV, now undeserving of the title "Music Television" is better associated with a petri dish of American culture, rather than musical exploration. Their directors believe that by simply playing a song on an episode of "The Hills" and displaying the song title and artist in a banner on the bottom of the screen, that they will have people hooked. Lady Gaga and the "genius" execs that created her persona  think that they can hypnotize us through indulgent fashion and hook-after-hook. The proof of their failure and the death of the music industry as we know it can be found here: ( http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/the-death-of-the-music-industry/). Music sales are failing and there really isn't anything music execs can do because we don't need them anymore to discover and/or listen to music.

It is my belief that the average American has music marketed to them from a source completely out of control of the music industry: their peers. The electronic revolution of iPods, Youtube, Laptop computers, burnable CDs, social networking, and cell phones has catalyzed a open source arena for the sharing of a person's music collection and thoughts. We no longer need to heed the words of Rolling Stone magazine's music reviews because we now have every outlet available to judge music for ourselves. iTunes allows us to sample every song off Incubus's new album; Youtube lets us hear, with great sound quality, full versions of anyone's favorite song.
If you are friends with me on Facebook, look at the box that contains every link that I have posted. There are 41 links that I have posted over the past year and almost all of them will connect you to one of my favorite songs that I can make available through Youtube. I have had people thank me for posting a song because they never would have heard it unless I had made them aware. When people comment on or "like" the songs I put up, I feel a sense of satisfaction because I hit the mark with someone's emotions or played their favorite song.  I am the pusher and reviewer of the music of the past and present. So are you.

If my friend tells me that I have to listen to a song on his iPod or if I see that someone has posted a song to his Facebook page, I will listen to it. Even the music played during a party on campus (or off) opens one up to music that one cannot find through the mainstream. I trust your opinion more than the business men who are only looking to take .99 out of my wallet.

Over the summer, several people left mix CDs in my car, all of which made me aware of artists and songs that I would never have discovered if I only listened to the radio or looked to MTV to build my playlists.
If you haven't realized it already, the radio industry is strangled by a select number of corporations that tell stations across the nation what to play. The term Disk Jockey is no longer viable in our time. It used to be that DJs had the freedom to play original music; an opportunity that little of them get to enjoy today. If you don't believe me, watch the documentary "Before the Music Dies". You can watch it here: http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi3758949145/  . More and more I hear that people do not listen to the radio. I only do when my iPod dies.

To sum up my thoughts, I quote John Mayer from an interview in Guitar World magazine. When discussing the avenues through which music is distributed and discovered, he says:

"I haven’t been handed a CD in a really long time. I’ve been handed a piece of paper with a MySpace link. That’s already become commonplace, and it’s important if you’re an artist and you want to promote yourself.
It used to be mailing lists. I used to go to Kinko’s and bring my Zip disk to the Mac tower to open up my Photoshop file with my little postcards about an upcoming show. I’d print them out, photocopy them, cut them, put stamps on them, and mail them. That went away, and then it was about programming HTML, so I learned HTML so I could build my first web site. And then it was about going on message boards and promoting yourself there. An artist has to accept that this is a constantly changing environment... The day of being a hero is over, because as soon as you become a hero, people can’t wait to take you down... I wonder if a new Eddie Van Halen could even exist these days, you know? Somebody would come out on a message board and argue that he’s not all that.
Buying a record used to be the end of the equation, but now it’s the middle of the equation. The end of the equation is the fans’ reaction to it. It’s the “voracious discussion” about it. A record is not the product anymore—it’s the catalyst. It’s the beginning of the discussion."
http://www.guitarworld.com/article/john_mayer_battle_star?page=0%2C4


We, as the most information rich generation of any in history, have the ability to create our own opinions about the world around us. Information and perception can no longer be propagandized as it used to and it is no better seen than in the death of commercialized music marketing.

~Parker Schweer- Junior BEM Major-Concentration in marketing (and obviously passionate about music)