CD sales are on a continuous decline. With the boom in download sites such as itunes and online streaming sites such as Youtube, it is far more economical to download the one song you want for 0.79p than buy the whole album. As a consequence bands/artists are finding new ways to market themselves, whether it be embracing the download market or offering free 'added value' packages to woo fans. CD album sales in dropped by 3.5% in 2009 to 128.9 million, the fifth year in a row they have fallen. But the fall was eased by a 56.1% rise in album downloads to 16.1 million, now accounting for one in eight sold. Such statistics are hard to avoid, bands can no longer rely on traditional methods of marketing, they have to reach the masses, most of whom are armed with computers and Internet access. This is particularly important given that my music video is for an Arctic Monkeys song, and the band first achieved success through social networking sites such as Myspace before they scored their record deal with Domino. However where Arctic Monkeys method varied from others is that their Internet effort was created by fans, who in 2004 created a profile for the band to get their music out there. By the end of 2004 Arctic Monkeys had become the first of the Myspace Phenomenons and had a huge following not on the internet. As a consequence of online effort Arctic Monkeys were able to self market and manage their growing fan base, so that by the time it came to accepting record deals they had their own pull as the label was guaranteed an already strong fan base, thus producing revenue. Due to artists taking the hands on approach to marketing, when they do sign deals the marketing department is usually unneeded, as they have a strong group of fans who, by word of mouth, can promote for them.
Arctic Monkeys' Myspace as it is today with its 185,000 friends
Lady Gaga, 'queen of the provocateurs' was recently offering fans the chance to own some of her very own DNA, by giving away a lock of her hair if they bought her GaGa Super-Deluxe Fame Monster Bundle. With services such as Twitter and MySpace giving music lovers an ever more intimate glimpse into their favourite stars' lives, fans want more than membership to a fan club and some novelty badges. "Artists are engaging more than ever with fans. This is an extreme extension of the meet and greet." - Stuart Dredge editor of Music Ally industry Bulletin. Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills said the marketing ploys were a necessary evil that work if done well. "You expect something like this from Lady Gaga, it's funny. But it is one thing selling a limited edition box set and another selling your life. Selling everything takes away the magic of pop and rock stars." With the ever growing proximity to the lives of the rich and famous via the internet, bands and artists have to work harder to either market themselves as within reach and attainable or in the opposite direction. Arctic Monkeys, with the exception of Myspace tend to remain private, as they are notoriously avert from interviews, and instead market themselves as enigmas, with their music the only outlet and link between them and fans. Therefore, though my music video would be distributed via the internet and social networking sites, it would be the sole representation of the song.
Convergence is the process by which a range of media platforms are interrogated within a single piece of media technology. A good example of this is Apple's IPhone. The Iphone's primary purpose is to be a phone, but also includes an MP3 player, FM radio, and a web browser. When music videos first took off, it brought together the two largest industries - film and music, this convergence was due to the need for professional editing, which was very much only applied to feature length films at the time. The production of a music video is horizontally converged by the film/music industry, but when it comes to distribution it reaches vertically down almost all media platforms. When the music industry promotes it's products it has many choices, popular choices include convergence with radio, television and online sharing, engaging in a poly-platform infrastructure. As technology advances there becomes more and more available platforms for convergence, music can now be distributed via the internet, music TV channels, download sites, the radio, as film soundtracks, live performances and through social networking sites. This is far from the limited reach in the 50s, where music was primarily promoted through live performances, and occasionally radio broadcasts (although most radio stations adhered to more classical music, and pop/rock received little air time.)
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