INSTITUTIONS AND AUDIENCES

MUSIC INDUSTRY
INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING

AIMS
To understand the focus for the Audience and Institutions section of your June Exam
KEY TERMS Audience Institution Production Subsidiary Distribution Marketing

To understand the structure of a Media Triangle

To understand the different sectors of the music industry

Exhibition
Horizontal Integration Vertical Integration

THE EXAM Section B: Institutions and Audiences

Candidates should be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as the nature of audience consumption and the relationships between audiences and institutions. In addition, candidates should be familiar with: the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice; the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing; the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange; the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences; the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences; the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions; the ways in which the candidates own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour. This unit should be approached through contemporary examples in the form of case studies based upon one of the specified media areas.

MEDIA TRIANGLES
What they have produced

Media Text

Institution
Who has produced the media text

Target Audience
Who it is produced for.

Devise your own example for a Lady Gaga album.

THE Music PROCESS

There are three distinct areas of the music industry. Each one of these could be viewed as a type of media institution.

PRODUCTION

DISTRIBUTION

EXHIBITION

What would you expect to happen at each stage?

 Production involves the creation of the media product and is the responsibility of the PRODUCTION COMPANY Label at the bottom of the food chain. This includes all pre-production, production & post-production processes. Before that the writer/artist/producer must find finance for an album which may come from an parent (umbrella) corporation (a company who owns smaller labels).

Recod Labels are responsible for prints and marketing: PRINTS producing physical copies of an album for release and finding the exhibitors/retailers to sell the album MARKETING raising audience awareness and anticipation of a new release A distributor may: -Be a part of the same parent company as the production company -Have a long term arrangement with a production company and provide financial assistance for many of their productions -Provide financial assistance for a single track/album by a production company/record label -Acquire a record after it has completed production An album will likely have different distributors for: -Releases in different countries -Different forms, i.e. iTunes

 Exhibition has taken many forms: - Home the distributor is paid by the company who is selling the film for a copy, i.e. HMV - iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, YouTube, LimeWire, Torrents An album is often exhibited through non-profitable means. This is how the institutions drive audiences to buy their product Radio, television, adverts, music videos. ARE THERE ANY OTHER METHODS OF EXHIBITION NOT MENTIONED ABOVE?

HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL INTEGRATION

Often a single parent company will own multiple companies in the music industry. This is divided into two types of ownership:
PRODUCTION PRODUCTION PRODUCTION
HORIZONTAL The parent company owns multiple companies at the same stage of the music industry. A smaller company, owned by the parent is a subsidiary. VERTICAL

DISTRIBUTION For example Walt Disney also owns: For example WMG owns: EXHIBITION Miramax Films Atlantic Records, who is a parent company to: Hollywood Pictures
-Fueled by Ramen and Bad Pixar Animation Boy Records. -WMG once own by Time Warner

The parent company owns multiple companies across different stages of the music industry. What are the advantages for a parent company of each type of ownership?

RESEARCH TASK - THE LIFE OF AN ALBUM

1. YOUR ALBUM
Provide a brief description of the album. Include some of your films marketing materials (trailers, posters, cast interviews etc.) 2. PRODUCTION What was your records production budget? Is this information available? Which record label provided the finance? What other albums have the company (s) produced?

3. DISTRIBUTION
Who is distributing your album? How many countries has it been distributed in and what are they?

4. EXHIBITION

How successful was your albums release, do you have any numbers to support this?
What formats is your album available on for home exhibition? 5. HORIZONTAL & VERTICAL INTEGRATION Is your albums record label a subsidiary of a larger company (Horizontally Integrated)? Are there any signs of horizontal integration between your albums production company (s) and distributor(s)?

RECAP
What do the following terms mean in relation to the music industry?
Production Subsidiary Parent Company Distribution Marketing Exhibition Horizontal Integration Vertical Integration