Easter Practice Question.

6. "Media Production is dominated by global institutions which sell their products and services to national audiences." To what extent do you agree with this statement within the media area you have studied?

Music production in the music industry is one of the largest forms of media produced, in a month around 1000 new songs are made, not only from the music company such as Sony Music and Warner but from hopefuls trying to make music by themselves and distributing it on a global site like iTunes or Beatport.

In the music Industry there are 3 companies that control a large majority of the music produced around the world, these 3 companies are Universal, Sony and Warner. Each of these companies have many different “sub-Companies” that they own e.g. Sony owns Syco, Warner owns Metal and Dust and Universal owns Intercsope Records. Looking at the top 10 songs (in sales) for 2013, 80% of the top 10 where produced and sold by one of these 3 companies. This proves that media production is dominated by these 3 companies. Using a focus group, I said the name of an artist that is owned by each of these 3 record labels. 100% of the people I asked knew the 3 artists I named.

Not all the music in the top 10 is produced by 1 of the big 3. For example “Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ Thrift Shop” was 4^th is song sales in 201. This song was created by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis without help from another music record label. Instead Macklemore created “Macklemore LLC” an independent record label that currently only Ryan Lewis and Macklemore use to make their music. This proves that not all music is owned by the big 3 but a large majority of it.

Synergy is used in the music industry to help promote music buy giving them a second pourpous like a song being used in an advert or a song being used in a film. An example of this is the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. This song was originally made for the film “Despicable Me 2” but thanks to the success of the film this song is currently the most bought song of 2014 but to remind listeners that this is still part of the film characters and actors from the film are in the music video. Because of the songs success it was nominated for a Oscar for “Best Song”. Using a focus group I discovered that 70% of people bought the song because they saw the film. Another example of synergy is the song “Best Day of My Life” this song was released before it was used in a TV ad for centre parks. The advert allowed to song to climb back into the top 100 chart and this song also gained a place on the track list for “NOW That’s What I Call Music 87” along with Pharrell’s “Happy”

Convergent technology like laptops and mobile phones are now being used to create songs instead of having to use a full production studio, for example Fruitloops and Adobe Sound Creator are 2 types of software that can be downloaded onto laptops, these software provide a simplified studio on a portable device so dj’s and EDM artists like Martin Garrix and Avicii can create remixes and whole new song on their way to festivals and gigs. These software can also be downloaded from the internet so new hopefuls can create songs to distribute and share online. Another example of convergent technology being used in the music industry is to create record labels. Spinnin’ Records is a large record label that recruits EDM and Club Music hopefuls. The whole company was created by one man on his computer. The Spinnin’ records website has a “Talent Pool” where people put their songs on to be assessed by fans of Spinnin’ Records, like sound cloud only with 2-3 genres of music. Spinnin’ Records’ A&R department search through the “Talent Pool” to see if anyone is up to the standard the company is looking for, these people are then put on trial to see if they can get a record contract. Spinnin’ Records every 3-4 months releases a album called “The Talent Pool” where the top 10-20 songs voted by the fans are put online to be bought. Spinnin’ Records also buts songs from the “Talent Pool” on to their soundcloud to advertise the album.  (1hr 8mins)