By Kelins Randiek
Digital technologies and internet distribution have affected the creation, marketing and distribution of sound recordings in the global music business. These technologies have enabled, evolution of music ,distribution of sound recordings as digital files. Concepts from the clue train manifesto relate to the content creation and music distribution in the digital content creation and music distribution. Digital manifesto assumes everyone is a click away from getting and accessing information. Information in this case is the music which has tremendously undergone transformation since the inception of the digital era.
Consumer can easily change brand loyalty according to what they prefer. The market has expanded and is global so is the consumer, we have control of our suppliers, there is no brand loyalty and consumers can shift preference at what they want to watch or hear at any time. Downloading of individual songs has diminished the importance of the industry previously most lucrative product. As consumers of the digital era, means of communication is horizontal there is no hierarchy of influence to be followed. Electronic colonialism theory further states that we have been colonized by the digital era.
Supply of sound recordings has greatly expanded in the digital era, low cost audio and video production tools have lowered musician’s costs to create musical works as compared to the traditional era where one had to have enough capital and manpowerto create and produce musicin the digital era everything has been revolutionized giving all musicians a chance cutting off boundaries of age gender and sex, adding to supply and online retailers low marginal cost of digital capacity that has rendered retailors to put up for sale millions of sound recordings
Digital technologies have also changed the way that consumers discover music and this in turn has altered the industry marketing and promotional strategies, most musicians for instance, famous most paid musician Justin Bieber was discovered on the internet on YouTube. Social networks are used to create digital word-of-mouth among consumers of Facebook, twitter, YouTube and can be used with equal effectiveness by record companies that finance celebrities, musicians, amateur bands that finance there events and gigs that turn to huge sold out.
The new business models in music on the digital era include, digital music stores, I tunes for instance and amazon that sells and markets online musicians work promoting advertising to the next level. Recording companies, competing with all file sharing and other versions that are not authorized of the same music. Paid music subscription for example spotify, that do not portray all the full legal rights of music ownership and provide a greater revenue to copy right owners than advertising-supported streaming services. Music video playing on YouTube providing the copyright owner a portion of advertising revenue on each video click or view online.
Social networks enabling major label recording artist and unsigned bands to lobby fans to promote and purchase music video and downloads, constantly watch online videos and attend concerts. Distribution and marketing platforms for example most renowned Reverb nation thatprovides a platform to emerging and established in-existence bands new tools to market, promote and monetize copyrights at a grass root level.
To preserve as much as possible of the traditional industry model and revenues associated with copyright, major record companies have looked at legal enforcement and various rights management software that restricts consumers from free access to music,for example paid subscription services have tried to limit access to music and for those illegally copying music after the subscription period ends It is unclear whether traditional recorded music companies will still have a place of dominance in the industry as they have in the past, having lost much of their distribution to for instance powerful online retailers, increasingly file sharing and do-it yourself marketing platform.
Digital Age Africa 