Taylor Swift and Apple - BFFs after all

Way back at the dawn of time, Apple Music time that is, Taylor Swift had a beef with Apple Music.   This wasn't her first run in with a big corporation.  She had previously taken on Spotify and withdrawn her music from their service because she felt what they paid the artists for the music devalued it.  Her battle with Apple was a similar one and eventually forced them to change their policy.  They now pay artists for tracks played during a user's three month free trial period of using Apple Music.   Now that Apple have bowed to her demands, Taylor Swift's music is streamed exclusively on Apple Music - forcing fans to sign up to the service if they want to stream her music. On top of this, if fans want to watch video of her most recent tour, they will also have to sign up to Apple Music.  Her 'DVD' of her 1989 tour is being exclusively streamed on the service.

What does all this show? The power of the artist?  The power of the institution?  A reduction in consumer choice?

A Great EMI Artist Case Study

Gabrielle Alpin's story has virtually everything you need to know about the contemporary music industry all wrapped up in one "20-year-old unknown from rural Wiltshire".  We will, of course, discuss this in class but you can get ahead of the game by reading about her in last week's Evening Standard.

Where's All The New Music?

The BBC News site recently reported on a statement by the UK head of Universal Music regarding the difficulty in breaking new music acts.  In particular he complained about the fact that commercial radio (radio stations that aim to make a profit, mainly through advertising) are reluctant to play tracks by new artists and instead rely on established artists that are proven to be popular to fill their playlists and maintain their audience numbers.  There are lots of interesting statistics in the article that you could quote in an exam answer.  His statement poses an interesting question around choice and ownership.  We often think of the concentrated ownership and the profit motives of record companies as limiting the choice of music available to consumers.  However, taking on board what is said here, we may need to think about the ownership and profit motives of those who exhibit music - e.g radio stations and TV channels.  When was the last time that you saw a new artist on 4Music or Viva?