The Effect of Music Discovery Websites on the Music Industry - Part 3

From the opposite point of view, music blogs and discovery websites provide easy hunting grounds for labels that are looking for the next big artist.  Being able to not only hear the music but also see what kind of reaction the community gives, and how many people follow the artist are essential tools for signing a new talent.  These artists now not only have a record deal and a large fan base, but a fan base comprised of the most dedicated and active music listeners who are most likely to provide the loyalty required for financial success.

The newest development in the utilization of these websites has been the releasing of singles and leaks from established artists.  By doing this, artists can promote and build excitement for an upcoming album, expand their fan base and its loyalty, or simply maintain their name in the industry and community.  There is no such thing as a large enough fan base, and the music community’s constantly evolving taste may produce new fans who never before had interest in an artist’s music.  Besides beginning the loyalty-building process mentioned before, blogs and music websites are “potential publicity bonanzas for artists who are mentioned and recommended” (Revised & Updated 2003).  Artists may leak a song from an upcoming album to the blogs to build anticipation and excitement for their name, the upcoming album and the song itself, and then release the song for purchase as a single a month later. Advanced audio software allows artists to do things like this as well.  A song that’s free to listen to and download undoubtedly will receive more attention than a song that must be paid for and only offers a small snippet as a preview. The talk surrounding the song and artist after a free release may convince those not involved with blogs to purchase it.  After the song has spent time circulating and building anticipation, the release of the full album will be much more notable and have a much larger number of potential consumers. 

An example is the rapper T.I., who over the course of two months leading up the release of his recent album “No Mercy,” leaked a total of five tracks from it and built a massive amount of anticipation.  A similar example is the artist Kanye West, who leaked numerous songs off his recent album “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.”  The tracks that were given to the public were mainly unfinished, yet still legitimate in quality.  When the album finally came out, though the rough copies had spent a lot of time being discussed and shared over the Internet, the finished versions kept the album fresh and were mixed in with songs not yet heard. This method of providing free music to build excitement has become an extraordinary tool for artists and labels to not only increase popularity, but also increase sales and profits that had formerly been lost to peer-to-peer networks.

The recovery from the financial damage brought on by those networks seemed impossible for the music industry.  Labels and artists alike were losing massive amounts of profit as the music they spent so much effort and money producing was being consumed for free.  After the government finally stepped in and stopped the peer-to-peer networks, the music industry and its consumers experienced a period of awkward uncertainty as to how to provide and consume music in the future.  Music blogs and discovery websites were able to act as a compromise between the profit-seeking record labels and the penny-pinching consumers, simultaneously providing the same community for listeners and a marketing utopia for the big businesses.  These numerous websites’ ability to produce an ever-growing audience with an evolving taste in music, provide an unprecedented global stage for aspiring artists, and create the ultimate marketing and publicity situation for established artists and their labels, has made them vital and a staple to the music industry.

The Effect of Music Discovery Websites on the Music Industry - Part 2

This increase of output showed up mostly in the growing creation of mixtapes, or collections of songs that are given out for free to promote an artist or to simply satisfy a desire for music from the artist’s fans.  Since these tapes are free, artists are able to legally use instrumentals from other artists to make their own version of the song, or a remix; another form of hip-hop music that flourished with the growth of these blogs.  These methods of music creation were essential to artists of all levels, both to gain new fans and to stay relevant to fans already acquired.

In addition to the growing desire for music consumption, and the expansion of tastes of an ever-increasing audience, these blogs also were helpful to the music industry because of the loyalty they created between fan and artist.  Previously, artists were hardly more than an idol who every few years put a new album on shelves, came to nearby cities to do a concert, or made talk show appearances.  As blogs became popular and their usefulness realized, the gap between superstar musician and civilian music consumer was narrowed, creating a relationship beyond an admiration for music.  As more and more music gets shared, a deeper understanding and familiarity for the artist’s style and talent leads to a certain loyalty to the artist, and “a base of loyal fans means having a core group of customers who are nearly guaranteed to buy your new CD or show up for your live performance” (Lathrop 1999).  In some cases, following an artist as they increase in fame to superstardom can bring on a sense of almost parental pride, stemming from seeing their success and being a fan since the beginning.  As artists released more music to more people visiting these blog and discovery websites, more loyalty was formed and thus more money was put back into the music industry.

Quite possibly the biggest benefactors of these sites were undiscovered aspiring artists who now had a massive audience to release their music to.  Formerly confined to playing small, local shows and building an audience incredibly slowly, one very popular track shared on a blog could quadruple a band’s or artist’s fan base in a week.  This sudden popularity and exposure is vital to getting the attention of record labels, which are “less likely to audition unsolicited tapes or to take a chance on an untested artist.  Established companies are looking for artists who have already proven themselves in the marketplace” (Lathrop 1999).  

The Effect of Music Discovery Websites on the Music Industry - Part 1

The Effect of Music Discovery


Websites on the Music Industry



In 1999, a company called Napster was formed that would forever alter not only the



consumption and spread of music, but the future and practices of the entire industry itself



(Coleman 2003).  Known as a peer-to-peer network, Napster functioned as a marketplace where



users’ computer music libraries were available for download to other users at no cost.



Ultimately Napster grew to unbelievable popularity and cost the music industry incredible



amounts of money.  As protests from record labels and artists got louder, Congress eventually



enacted a law ruling that peer-to-peer networks are, in fact, copyright infringement and thus



illegal.  As Napster and other similar sites were forced to choose between shutting down or



charging money for the music being provided, many of them disappeared and left music



consumers’ appetites unsatisfied and starving.  Used to possessing the capabilities of searching



mass amounts of music otherwise not available to them, consumers and music lovers craved to



have it back.  Though nowhere near comparable to Napster in terms of numbers of available



songs, music blogs and discovery websites stepped in and eased listeners’ cravings for new



music exposure.  These sites have an overall positive effect on the industry because of their



ability to create and expand both the industry’s audience and their musical taste, discover



unsigned artists who have built a following, and increase publicity and marketing potential for



releases from established artists.



The latter two functions, though important in their ability to produce revenue and



create new music, are not possible without the former.  This expansion of both audience and



taste began with Napster when the sharing of music gradually evolved into the sharing of ideas



and recommendations that created a more communal feel.  At its peak in 2001, Napster had 13.6



million users in the United States alone, most of who were constantly discussing and exchanging



preferences and new sounds (Coleman 2003).  Music consumption was no longer simply going



to a record store and searching for an album, but rather “about being part of a community of



users who share knowledge and kinship with others on the cutting edge…” (Revised & Updated



2003).  When Napster and other peer-to-peer networks finally closed down, these large



communities needed the method of discovery and consumption they had grown accustomed to.



As blogs and discovery websites began popping up to fill these needs in a more legal way than



Napster and its counterparts had, the practice of communal consumption of music became even



more popular and the audience only grew larger.  A popular music discovery website called



mp3.com played a major role in the growth in popularity of the band Beyond Blue, who claim



the site has been “a great help in exposing our music to a worldwide audience which we would



not have reached otherwise” (Underhill 2000).  The website, which features a “Song of the Day”



selection, chose a song from aspiring country singer Mickey Dean a few years ago, who within



days of his selection had signed a record deal (Underhill 2000).



As this community grew, more and more ideas and tastes were exchanged and so the



collective hunger and preference of music only grew larger.  As this continued, labels and



artists, both established and aspiring, realized the massive advantage these blogs gave them in



networking and publicity.  This led to more music being given to the owners of the blogs to give



to their participants, and which increased music production, especially in the hip-hop genre.