A View from the Trenches of Music 2.0

Abstract

In recent history, the music industry has been built on a small number of relationships, largely driven from the top down. While the actual music forges a direct link between musicians and their fans, the reality of the industry is that a number of intermediaries interrupt that relationship, forcing musicians to communicate through their management companies and record labels. The promise of the new technologies is to reconfigure the possibilities, allowing the emergence of new relationships. The communication and distribution potential of the Internet (which can be encapsulated as Music 2.0) suggests that disintermediation and reconfigured relationships are possible. But what is the reality of this promise? In the context of a broader global experience, this paper draws on primary research consisting of interviews with a range of Australian musicians to explore how they may be forging new networks of opportunity, and how realistic the promise of Music 2.0 might be.

Aesthetic labour in creative industries: the case of independent musicians in Toronto, Canada

“…Traditionally, live performances promoted album sales. However, as the value of recorded music has declined due to oversupply, illegal downloading and the rise of entertainment alternatives (such as DVDs, video games and the internet), live performances have become the dominant revenue stream for independent musicians (Young and Collins ). MP3s and CDs are now often given away to promote shows.…”

“…Modern social media applications such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter alter the relationship between producers and consumers and allow musicians to engage directly with their audience on increasingly personal levels. These new communication channels encourage disintermediation and allow musicians to bypass traditional middlemen, such as record labels, distributors, radio networks and independent record promoters (Young and Collins ).…”

‘That boy needs therapy’: Constructions of psychotherapy in popular song lyrics

“…The supremely interactional nature of live performances, the socio-politically attuned nature of music journalism as well as the proliferation of digital social media and interactive music platforms are some of the factors mediating the discursive objects identified in this study. Young and Collins (2010) point to a marked increase in participatory culture where audiences become producers of or collaborators in popular songs. This is also evident in the commentary accommodated by online music video platforms such as 'youtube', whereby snippets of ideologically pregnant discourse (comments) recreate anew, extend or resist disciplinary control, thereby querying whether modern audiences are the inhabitants or the architects of the identified subject positions.…”

Place and culture-making: Geographic clumping in the emergence of artistic schools

“…Gardner's (2004) study of bluegrass festivals develops the idea of ''portable communities'' where gemeinschaft-like associations and creative production do not necessarily depend upon enduring co-residence at a single place. Williams (2006) suggests that musical subcultures can indeed coalesce even when participation is limited to the Internet, and Young and Collins (2010) describe how marketing of musical works may change as the result of online distribution systems. Sometimes place matters for artists only in the common location where they exhibit their work together, as shown in Braden's (2009) study of the 1913 Armory Show in New York City.…”