Trends in Online Music - Presentation

8/13/2019 Trends in Online Music - Presentation

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Illustration by Arnold Roth, for The New Yorker



Myth: Classical Music is Dying

Truth: Classical Music is Changing



Classical Music and the Internet

Thanks in large part to the Internet, there are more classicalrecordings available for sale today than at any previous time inhistory 1

Digital classical album sales surged 47.7% in 2007, accounting

for 7% of total sales for the genre (up 4.4% from 2006) 2

The biggest classical music labels, like Naxos and Decca LabelGroup of Universal, earn about 20% of their sales from digitalmusic, double or triple the average for other categories 3

1. Multiple Sources: Allan Kozinn, “Check the Numbers: Rumors of Classical Music’s Demise are Dead Wrong,”

The New York Times, 5/28/06

Naxos Music Library contains over 548,500 tracks of music, with 1000 CDs added every month (http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com, accessed

11/21/09)

ArkivMusic offers over 91,000 classical albums and media, with more being added all the time

(http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Page?pageName=pages/press111908.jsp, 11/19/08)

2. Davis Hanzel, “Global: Digital Symphonies,” Billboard , 2/16/083. Seno, Alexandra, “Beethoven Goes Digital,” Newsweek , 9/5/07

http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Page?pageName=pages/press111908.jsp

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Page?pageName=pages/press111908.jsp

http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/



A Persistent Myth

Rumors of classical music’s imminent demise havebeen around a very long time

Carnegie Hall ―narrowly escaped the wrecker’s ball‖

when Lincoln Center was planned in the late1950s, because there was a concern that New Yorkcouldn’t sustain two large halls

In the 40s and 50s, empty seats were plentiful atCarnegie Hall. Today, Carnegie Hall offers moreconcerts – about 200 a year – than it did then.

Source: Allan Kozinn, “Check the Numbers: Rumors of Classical Music’s Demise are Dead Wrong,”

The New York Times, 5/28/06



Economics in Two Words:

Supply and Demand



The Long Tail Theory

The “long tail” is the almost limitless inventory of

CDs, books, movies, and other products that pours

forth on sites such as Amazon.com. Some may sell or

rent only once a year. Yet, Anderson says, “about a

quarter of Amazon’s book sales come from outside its

top 100,000 titles.” Classical music, with its thousand-

year back catalogue, has the longest tail of all.

— Alex Ross of The New Yorker* , referring to the book The Long

Tail by business author Chris Anderson

* Alex Ross, “The Well-Tempered Web,” The New Yorker , 10/22/07



Naxos

Subscription sales for Naxos Music Library increased by35% in 2008

Naxos had its best year ever in 2007, and was ―on trackto top those results in 2008 until the bottom fell out of

the economy.‖ Even this year, sales are still good. ―Every member of its 12-person marketing staff is

blogging about releases and performances,commenting on other blogs and Twittering‖ *

―A lot of the things the pop guys are doing, these guysare doing as well.‖ **

Source: Jon Healey, “Who says subscription music services are dead?” Los Angeles Times,16 June 2009

* Jon Healey

** Naxos CEO Jim Selby



Film Scoring Around the Globe Example: Music composed in London, orchestrated

in New York, recorded in Prague, and edited andmixed in LA.

In the US, LA and New York becoming increasinglyinterconnected; orchestration, editing, and mixingare particularly non-dependant on geographicallocation

Top Hollywood distributors are increasingly pickingup local independent films from around the world *

* Mark Northam, President of Global Media Online, which publishes online trade magazines such as Film MusicMagazine. http://marknortham.com/?p=37, 10/21/09

http://marknortham.com/?p=37

http://marknortham.com/?p=37



The Composer Collectivewww.TheComposerCollective.com



How it Works

Filmmakers upload scenes from their films forcomposers to score

By paying for a membership, composers gain theopportunity to upload demos for any of the films in the

database

The new ―Teamscoring‖ project allows multiplecomposers to work on the same film, purportedlygiving filmmakers a better end product and giving

composers more opportunities The Composers Collective claims publisher’s rights, but

the composers get all other typical royalties, includingwriter’s share and mechanical synch



The A Team and the B Team

The A Team is the team of chosen composers

The rest of the composers are eligible to join the B Team forthat project

B Team members can: Download and watch the film

Read the director’s notes and feedback on particular cues

Listen to other composers’ cues

Upload their own demos for consideration by the director

If a cue by a B Team member is accepted, he/she is upgraded to A Team

Status

All composers can discuss ideas with other composers for anyproject, in the online forum





The Good:"... hands down, the most supportive, productive,and helpful group of people that I’ve been exposedto…‖ (Wes Costello)

"I wanted to let you know how much The ComposerCollective has helped me in getting my foot throughthe door. Because of my [TeamScore] credits and[what] I learned from you and Matt Gates, I just

scored…my first full length feature film." (StephenTammearu)

Source: http://www.thecomposercollective.com/tcc/composersignup.asp. Accessed 11/22/09

http://www.thecomposercollective.com/tcc/composersignup.asp

http://www.thecomposercollective.com/tcc/composersignup.asp



The Bad: ―All in all, I would say that the people running thesite probably have good intentions. However, theorganization is poor and frustrating, the projects arefew and far between, the payments are small withrelatively no chance at any royalties, and apparentlyI’m not the only one who thinks so.

―This business model needs a serious retooling.‖

— Anonymous

Source: http://musiclibraryreport.com/music-services/composer-collective/. Accessed 11/20/09

http://musiclibraryreport.com/music-services/composer-collective/









And the Ugly:

―This site is a major scam!‖ (James Hughes)

―I’ve worked for them. Submitted cues that got used forno money. Was promised credit – and didn’t even getthat...All this organization does is make it worse for poor

guys like me trying to get a gig for themselves.‖(Anonymous)

―TCC is a sweatshop. Evan is often rude in his commentsabout revisions, and who knows when they pay you. Ihad music placed in a project that’s almost a year old andI still haven’t gotten a dime. Also, don’t be surprised ifthey try to take your publishing without asking.‖ (―Tim‖)











To Be Fair…

―Matt and Evan have HUGE plans for the future of TCC, but they havereally started something from the ground level here. They work anincredible number of hours and are 110% committed to the successof TCC –this means keeping both clients and composers happy.‖ —―Shaun‖

―1) The Composer Collective is a novel, fledgling endeavor with nobleintentions, audacious goals, and daunting obstacles in a highlycompetitive industry…

―2) TCC is a good deal for some people and not others…

―3) Film composers need to get used to the idea that they will be paidmuch later, regardless who they are working with...‖

—―PerspectiveGiver‖











Yurina Shin ―Most of works were rushed and they made the composersvery competitive. Even after they chose the track for the cue,they changed it to another if the one was better (this is a verysubjective judge).‖

―Everyone has their own job beside this but the workschedule there didn't allow them to be flexible.‖

―There was so much of a process in between which we don'tusually have when we work for film. We just simply talk to thedirector and discuss and come to a a conclusion to make themusic better...‖

―Everyone says the same thing. meeting people and trying toget a connection. That will give us better chances than beingvery competitive and stressful working on a website.‖



Classical Music Online

Trendsetters Tasmin Little and the ―Naked Violin‖

Deutch Grammophon’s Web Shop generated over

50,000 music downloads in its first week. LSO Livenow sells more downloads than CDs in the US

At eMusic, half the customers who downloadedone of two recent free classical samples went on topurchase additional classical music. Nearly onethird of those customers had never downloaded aclassical track from eMusic before.

Source: “Global: Digital Symphonies,” Billboard , 2/16/08



Getting Started in the Online

Music Marketplace First Step: Your Own Website

Blogging and/or social networks; give something tothe community and form new relationships

Other considerations…

For Composers: Self-Publishing

For Performers: Consider running your ownindependent label (like Canadian violinist Lara St.John)



Promoting Your Music Online:What Works

From Bas Grasmayer, ―Best Practices of the Online Promotion of New Musical Content‖

Giving fans a reason to buy (like Nine Inch Nails)

Freemium (like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails)

Understanding that the package IS the product (like

Mos Def and Radiohead)

Buzz (like Nine Inch Nails, Tasmin Little, Naxos)

Co-branding (like Groove Armada and Barcadi)



The Future

Online music is still in its infancy; huge growth is ahead

Enormous democratization of music anddecentralization of control

Greater interconnectedness; huge music databases andsearch capability light years ahead of what exists today(and we already have ―query by humming‖)

Music will increasingly become available for free, atleast for listening if not downloading. This is actually a

positive trend for those who understand ―freemium‖ Listeners will have new ways to engage with musicians

and the music itself, either directly or through videogames, remixing, and social networks. These will bemajor areas of growth in the industry.



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Trends in Online Music - Presentation