Beatrix // Illustration & Design

Entertainment Design: Assignment 1

entertainment design March 01, 2020

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Entertainment Design: Assignment 2A and 2B

entertainment design March 01, 2020

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entertainment design February 04, 2020

Research Question

How did the music industry start and what is the impact of digital technology to the music industry?

The music industry started off as traditional studios where bands would record and the studios tended to be large and only large bands or artists could afford those fees. However, these music studios suffered in recent ages. The infamous Abbey Road studio was to be sold off at one point, but eventually they survived. However, other studios were not so lucky. In 2009, a large number of studios closed.

Abbey Road Studio

There are many reasons for this. Recording has changed a lot in the last ten to fifteen years. As technology improved, costs went down and people were able to do home recordings from their own bedroom, especially in the current Youtube generation-- nowadays, every musician has their own recording studio. Music piracy also reduced sales drastically. It is safe to say digital technology has revolutionised home studios and replaced traditional ones.

Home recording studios

The traditional music industry, in addition, is not kind to artists which has lead artists to break away from traditional recording procedures. The music industry often takes advantage of artists, for example taking away 85 percent of their total sales. In addition, they also cut away recording costs, promotion costs and touring costs (just some of the hidden costs). Thus, the artists often do not even make a profit and end up in debt to the label. One of the most ridiculous ways they charge is for "digital packaging", which if you think about, doesn't actually exist.

Two of the pioneers of the digital technology movement in the music industry are Apple Music and Spotify. They have similar features, such as having bluetooth connection, similar pricing, options to "follow" artists to keep updated, and customised playlists. However, Apple has 45 million songs compared to Spotify's 35 million. Apple Music has the functions of Siri, Apple Watch and I cloud. However, Spotify has a Running feature which matches music to your running speed, streams in higher resolution, and is more adapt at finding obscure music.

Spotify

Apple Music

In conclusion, digital technology has definitely revived and revolutionised the music industry by making it more accessible to all artists and to the audience. It has given chances to artists that would not have been able to succeed otherwise and bringing their music to our ears.

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