Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Music Industry Test
Music Industry Test
12 mins
Definitions for
1.Majors
2.Independents
3. synergy
4.back catalogue
5.conglomerate
6.Oligopoly
7.Synchronization
8.Long tail
Give an example of
9. take-overs
10. joint ventures
11. sell-offs
12. spin-offs
Synergy
19. Example?
Music Companies
23. What are the 3 types of music
companies?
Independents - independent from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may
include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording and publishing (music).
synergy - a strategy of synchronising and actively forging connections between directly related areas of
entertainment. To make maximum impact, a film release can be synchronised with other media activities
(releases of games, soundtracks etc). Obviously this sort of synchronicity is easier within a large media
conglomerate which has interests in a range of different media.
back catalogue - All the works previously produced by a recording artist or record company:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/aug/11/paul-mccartney-beatles-back-catalogue/print
take-overs - mid November 2011 (the only British music company of this size) was sold by its owners to
Universal Music Group - A deal like this is an example of consolidation of media ownership.
joint ventures - For a few years, Sony Music worked in partnership with BMG music.
BMG music was part of the giant German global media corporation Bertelsmann Group.
In 2006 the European regulators withdrew approval for the partnership.
sell-offs - Bertelsmann later decided to drop its music interests and sold them to Sony Music
Entertainment
spin-offs - Warner Music Group was spun off from the giant global media group Time Warner in 2003
Conglomerate - is a large business organisation made up of a number of different companies,
often linked by the area of interest that they work in.
Oligopoly - An oligopoly is when a few firms dominate a market.[9] When the larger scale media
companies buy out the more smaller-scaled or local companies they become more powerful within the
market. As they continue to eliminate their business competition through buyouts or forcing them out
(because they lack the resources or finances) the companies left dominate the media industry and create
a media oligopoly.The big 3 have control over approximately 75% of the global market.
synchronization Selling to other media companies your right to use music in films, TV, gaming etc.
Long tailthe concept that music in lower demand will collectively comprise a better market share than
music released by top-selling major label artists http://musicmachinery.com/2013/11/23/revisiting-thelong-tail/
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jan/08/long-tail-myth-download
Money
https://www.flickr.com/photos/floorsixtyfour/
4889667148/
Task One
1. Try to list as many styles of music as you can.
2. Look at your list. Which styles of music are most popular
today?
3. Give an example of a popular band or singer for each
style.
The music
press
Television/
radio/web
appearances
Internet:
MySpace,
official/unofficial
web pages
Music
Promotion
Tie-ins: film, TV
soundtracks,
adverts
Posters
Radio
airplay
Music
video
Television/
radio/web
appearances
The music
press
Internet:
MySpace,
official/unofficial
web pages
Posters
Radio
airplay
Tie-ins: film, TV
soundtracks,
adverts
Music
video
Live
performances
1. Which methods do you think are the most effective for
promoting an artiste?
2. Which methods do you think are the most expensive?
3. Which methods are small independent record labels
more likely to use?