Research - Roles of Social Media

A few weeks ago I talked about the current climate of the music industry and touched on the positives of social media for the marketing of music (also see my viral campaign post). However, I neglected the fact that, like most things, there are negatives too. I'm mostly referring to illegal file sharing which, since the rise and fall of Napster (the first peer-to-peer file sharing platform that was introduced in 1999), has increased dramatically. Yet it is no new discovery that illegal downloading of music has meant a serious decline for the music industry.

Nonetheless, the industry is divided when it comes to file sharing. Artists like Ed O'Brien and Dave Rowntree, from well-established bands Radiohead and Blur respectively, argue that file sharing is a positive thing - it allows a new generation to access music that they otherwise may not have been able to. In turn, this encourages a new revenue stream from the purchase of merchandise and concert tickets. These musicians, who are part of the Featured Artists Coalition ("a not-for-profit organisation set up to protect the rights of featured musical artists, particularly in the new digital age"), say the government should be focusing on developing new business models to encourage legal obtaining of music.

However, on the other side of the spectrum is Lily Allen, who disagrees and says that file sharing "is having a dangerous effect on British music". She argues that music piracy may have its positives for successful artists that are already established, but there's a negative effect on new artists trying to breakthrough, as labels cannot take risks anymore and thus will only sign acts they are sure to earn money back from. Yet singer-songwriter Kate Nash explains her experience with file sharing and social networking site MySpace which helped kick-start her music career: "My career started through file sharing [because] I put my songs up on MySpace; somehow a buzz was created just through the internet and file sharing [so] people would come to my gigs and it was the labels then that came to me to sign me".

Whilst Kate Nash is a positive example of the effect of social networking, big name musicians (and even lesser known acts) are troubled with the prospect of their music "leaking" onto the internet. This is when certain songs or whole albums from artists are made available to the public before their official release date, which understandably has a detrimental effect on sales. For example, take the artist of the song we've chosen for our music video - Florence and the Machine. Their latest album, Ceremonials, scheduled for release on the 31st October, made its way onto the internet yesterday. Leaks like these are worryingly becoming common, and once they hit file-sharing sites they spread like wildfire.

 A simple Google search of "florence and the machine ceremonials download" now yields a result to download the said leak within the top results, in addition to countless others as you scroll through the rest. Of course, that would only affect those actively scouring the internet for these downloads, right? Wrong. News of the album leaking spread through social networking sites like Tumblr and Twitter in no time, with direct download links inviting fans that otherwise might have purchased the album (either digitally or physically) on release day to opt for an illegal download instead.

Because of this, it is no surprise that many releases end up underperforming in sales (we'll have to wait to see how Florence's second record fairs in light of its leak). In other cases, labels are forced to push releases forward, for example, the Lady Gaga single Judas was released four days earlier than planned back in April. This is all just one of many different contributors that are having a negative impact on the music industry. It is no wonder that the industry is in crisis concerning how to adapt to the ever-changing digital climate.