JP: Institutional Context - Music Industry

HOW HAVE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES AIDED PROMOTION FOR MUSIC ARTISTS?

Musicians are promoted in many various ways. The first and foremost is through record labels such as EMI or SYCO. When a musician signs a contract with a record label they join the label for a certain amount of years, promising the label a certain amount in return for promotion, advertising and financial help from the company. However there are different marketing strategies and tools – not solely the label. Musicians in the 21st Century often use self-promotion with new technology aiding this (explained below).

From the invention of new media technologies it is now even easier for artists to self-promote their music. Off-the-shelf products such as digital cameras allow musicians to record videos of their own music or covers and off-the-shelf editing software like Adobe CS5 enable them to edit the videos. Furthermore, ‘We Media’ sites like YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion use pull technology to enable users to upload footage of their music. This shows how Web 2.0 and NMTs have created avenues for self-promotion for many artists in the music industry.

            Another important role in promoting artists is the music press. In the digital media age of the 21st Century it is arguable as to whether the press are still relevant anymore. I believe that the press still have a vital part to play in creating, sustaining and developing an artist’s career. Newspapers and magazines are subsidiary texts which reinforce a band’s meta-narrative that is created from their music and music video.