“Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their products and services to

national audiences.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Holly Taylor

In response to this question I will be focusing on the music industry as my chosen media area.

In August 2010, the IFPI reported that major label artists sales accounted for 70% of retail music

sales, suggesting they do still hold dominance. However with the increase in technology and

development of web 2.0, independent and unsigned artists are more able to produce and

distribute their music to national audiences. Threatening the once unmovable dominance of

traditional major labels. I will be illustrating this argument with two main case studies: Ed

Sheeran and Dr Rubberfunk. Ed Sheeran is signed to asylum/elektra, which are subsidiary

labels of the major conglomerate Warner Music Group. Dr Rubberfunk is signed to the niche

genre of funk label Jalapeno Records.

Prior to media in the online age, the only way to create high quality music which could be sold

successfully to audiences, was to make it in professional studios. With Jalapeno records unable

to fund regular use of recording studios and Dr RF not having a large return in revenue to justify

the high cost, he has resulted to other ways. The increase of technology and corresponding

decline in price, meant computers became cheaper and more readily available to funk artists

such as Dr RF. Dr RF was then able to purchase a mac computer and the software G-Base in

the 90’s to produce his first album. And now in the present he uses even more advanced

softwares such as logic pro. With technology becoming more sophisticated, this has led to his

music becoming of a higher standard, great for his audience. Whereas Ed Sheeran, who has

the backing of major label and ability to sell music at a level that justifies the expense, he uses

recording studios. When recording his album “X” he mostly used the studio “Sticky Studios”,

filled with hi-tech equipment and experts (e.g. sound engineers). Furthermore, since signing

with a major label, Sheeran has also had the opportunity to work with more notable and

acclaimed producers such as Rick Rubin and Pharrell Williams. Something in which would not

have occurred if it was not for the connections a major label has to offer. Sheeran’s song with

Williams “Sing” was very successful reaching #1 in the UK and selling over a million singles in

the US. Implying great production values are vital to being able to sell your product to a huge

national audience.

However, Major labels have become renown for their criticisms, such as their artist's lack of

creative control and 360 deals. Amanda Palmer, who was previously signed to Roadrunners

Records, a subsidiary of WMG, left her label due to creative control issues. Despite, being an

unsigned artist she still managed to produce and distribute her album “Theatre is Evil”. Palmer

used the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to fund her album, raising almost $1.2 million by fans

contributing donations. Palmer then used Bandcamp as a form of her distribution. Bandcamp

allows artists to broadcast self created and home made music across the web for free. By 2015,

bandcamp had enabled artists collectively to earn $100 million. With technology enabling artists

to be self funded and distribute freely of labels, those who wish to remain outside of majors can

easily do this.

Yet it is rare for artists to achieve truly global success and attendant revenues at tours without a

major deal. Once Sheeran found some success as an independent artist he then chose to move

to Asylum, which led to a massive increase in his mainstream media profile. Due to major labels

being better equipped in utilising online websites with merchandising ties in and other synergetic

marketing. One of Sheeran’s most notable examples of this is his song ‘I See Fire’ which

featured as part of the soundtrack for The Hobbit movie. The film was a box office success

making over a billion pounds worldwide. The cross media convergence created greater

opportunity for Sheeran to reach audiences watching the film and subsequently generated a

higher revenue for his song. This is all a part of Sheeran’s 360 deal with his label, although they

take a share of all the different revenue streams. The label also funds the streams such as

touring, merchandise etc. Sheeran recently sold out three nights at Wembley Stadium, with an

average seat capacity of 80,000 and ticket price of £60. Allowing Sheeran to reach huge

audience live, and exposure of his tour online (Twitter) generated even more publicity.

For independent artists such as Dr RF, he relies mostly on social media to promote his music to

audiences. This method is great for independent artists who lack huge budgets for marketing.

An example of this is DR RF tweeting links to his new singles on YouTube, making it easily

accessible for his audiences. Although Dr RF does not have access to huge funding promoting

him to national audiences, it is not as important for him due to him having a niche audience.

Using distribution sites such as YouTube are more beneficial as his fans can easily search for

him or the genre of funk. By using digital distribution which is on virtually free. Independent

labels no longer require investment in the manufacturing of CD’s and transportation to retail

outlets (e.g. HMV). Additionally for smaller artists such as Dr RF, his first album only had a

physical distribution of 1000 copies, in case the CD failed to sell. With digital distribution now

being on demand, if his album was more successful it now has the potential to reach bigger

audiences. Sheeran’s label, WMG, is vertically integrated meaning they have a stake and

control in production, distribution and exhibition. Reducing costs for the company but more

importantly giving the audience complete access to their products (e.g.

http://store.warnermusic.com), without the need to go elsewhere.

To conclude, the more active role of the audience and web 2.0 have been gradually breaking

the dominant hold of the major institutions. According to Nielsen/Billboard, the independents

took 35.4% of the US market by ownership in the first half of 2015, comfortably ahead of

Universal (27.6%), Sony (20.9%) and Warner (15.2%). A statistic that would not have occurred

prior to this online age. However the independent labels are still well behind the major labels in

overall dominance, and would need more money in able to compete. Evident within horizontal

integration (e.g.), supplying independents needed funding and removing competition for the

majors, ultimately retaining their dominance.