Commercial Music

"The increasing availability of affordable, user-friendly digital home recording technologies, the siren of social media for self-marketing, the subsequent over-saturation of the marketplace, and the ability to raise investment capital via ‘crowd funding’ have irrevocably altered the landscape of professional Irish traditional music. This work focuses on the intersection of Irish traditional music and the marketplace as experienced by over thirty of the industry’s most prominent artists and influential personnel. It is based interviews and participant-observation conducted over the past two years and is reflected upon through my perspective as a semi-professional Irish traditional fiddle player and former industry employee.

This paper explores four critical trends emerging in the commercialization of Irish traditional music. First, many established artists, previously dependent on the resources provided by record labels, are now choosing to book their own tours, manage their own publicity, and record, market, and sell their albums independently. However, true ‘D.I.Y’ simply does not exist. Second, the over-saturation of the marketplace and the over-stimulation of consumers make catching and sustaining attention more difficult than ever, necessitating clever promotional strategies and local publicity based around an extensive touring schedule. Third, without label executives to appease, or a substantial investment to recoup, many participants feel that they can retain more creative agency and profits by being independent. Therefore, the music reaching the consumer may be more authentic to the artist’s vision (though possibly less commercially viable). Finally, crowdfunding through sites like Kickstarter allow independent artists to raise capital for recording an album directly from fans, eliminating the need for record label investment.

This research contributes essential missing voices – those of the artists and the industry personnel themselves – to current the ethnomusicological understanding of the music industry while contributing to a broader understanding of how traditional musics interact with the global commercial system.""

A summary of the implications of new music technology. Without control over their product, record companies and artists must now dance to their customers' tunes.

"Music industry pundits from around the world seem agreed that we are on the cusp of one of the great transitions of music history. ..."

MAGAZINE AND FULL TEXT ONLINE AT:
https://issuu.com/sagamoreinstitute5/docs/are_you_being_served?e=34272268/63893045

Little, Jonathan, “Celestial Jukebox” [2,500 words]. American Outlook (Jan/Feb, 2001), 42-44. [ISSN 1099-8896]

KEYWORDS: Music Industry, Music Business History, Digital Distribution, "Jonathan David Little"

On the tendency of the global music industry to work against its own interests, by encouraging the mass production of bigger - but blander - popular songs.

"In Business and the Economy, Jonathan Little argues that American popular music is blander than ever because, more than ever before, the global music industry puts a premium on profit rather than genuine creativity."

MAGAZINE AND FULL TEXT ONLINE AT:
https://issuu.com/sagamoreinstitute5/docs/fixing_the_family?e=34272268/64015287

Little, Jonathan D., “The Sound of Money” [4,000 words]. American Outlook, Vol.V, No.3 (Summer, 2002), 41-45. [ISSN 1099-8896]

KEYWORDS: Music Industry, Music Business, Popular Music, Global Music Industry, Songwriting, Commercial Music, "Jonathan David Little"

This article (in Finnish) discusses the views that Finnish makers and tradespeople of functional music had on listener-consumers, their "audience". The research material consists of texts from 1950s to 1980s and interviews from early 2000's.