Assignment: Music Business.

Music as an Industry

The Music Industry. Only since the late 1800's has music been a mass-produced commodity designed for profit. Today we look at this standardization of music, and then at whether the internet can return music to it's individual roots.

A. Music as an industry wants a simple, standard product lasting over a significant time period. From the beginning of corporate music it was sought to make music like soap or shoes: mass production of items with little variation. With this perspective we can see a number of elements still prevalent in popular music.

1. Tunes became shorter, more melodic, more precise. The standard song was 3:30 for a long period, easily fitting on one side of a 45 RPM record. Even today the average song is 3:50 even though the technology and delivery systems have no specific length limitations like the 45 RPM format. Music emphasized pleasant singing because it recorded well and precise instrument playing, whereas free-form music, like jazz, didn't fit into the nationwide popular audience focus.

2. Musical variation was limited. By using a few standard instruments playing simple tunes it was easier to produce many songs on a regular basic. What was emphasized was simple singing, easily-understood tunes and music you could dance to. What was largely ignored were folk tunes, ethnic music, such as Klezmer Music, and other types that didn't easily fit the short, simple mold.

3. A music production system was developed to aid creation of standard products. This system has had such long-lasting effects that even today much music is standardized, even accused of sounding the same. The formulaic nature of music is easy to follow and even parody. Money is spent on professionally-written songs, musicians, producers and distribution to help ensure the success of sure-thing products.

4. Expenses made it harder to enter the music production system. A single song, such as Rihanna's 'Man Down' cost more than $1 million to write, produce and distribute, and it wasn't a hit. There is an entire bureaucratic infrastructure used to manufacture songs that are predictable, but unique, entertaining, but different and current, but with traditional construction. This almost guarantees that anything too different will not get through the system, and so music diversity suffers. If you go to Last.FM and look for artists similar to a currently popular one, you will find dozens that are similar in music style, song focus or appearance. Today's Top 40 Charts will contain very few songs or artists that aren't familiar to you already, as the filters mean really different sounds and artists have a difficult time being produced or distributed widely.

Question: Watch as much of the following video as you desire, then state at least two elements of this music that seem to be standard "hit" elements: lyric design, length of song, instrumental design, etc.

Youtube Video: "Dua Lipa - New Rules (Official Music Video)"