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Research Themes
In Focus
Digital Transformations II:Toward a New Form of Musical Culture February 2007
Musical Cyber-Commerce |
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Table of Contents
Introduction A Crossroads in the History of the Recording Industry
All Resources Musical Cyber-Commerce Artists and independent record companies have also been at the forefront of innovations in music commerce on the Internet. The Internet Underground Music Archives (IUMA), established in the US in 1993, was among the first artist-run sites to create a presence for independently produced music on the Internet. It was also the first to institute a policy of sharing a portion of its advertising revenue with its artist members as a form of compensation for posting free MP3 downloads of their music (revenue-sharing is currently being considered as an alternative business model between the industry and some ISPs interested in developing music streaming services). In recent years, the most well-known independent sites have been acquired by large corporate concerns and increasingly resemble other commercial sites where mainstream artists garner most of the front-page limelight. The commercialization of formerly independent sites underlines the difficulty independent artists have in gaining sustained access to the public, even on the Internet. Online distribution has become aligned with the idea of an unlimited form of "shelf-space" and the industry has increased the licensing of its back catalogues to such an extent that there are now some four million titles available at the largest online music stores (doubling that of the previous year). Many independent artists (including many Canadians) have turned to sites such Myspace.com, a US-based personal networking site that offers bands free sign-up privileges, in an effort to demo their songs directly to consumers. For the most part, Canadian-based music services such as Puretracks.com and Archambault.ca (zik.ca) have supported Canadian independent artists, offering a significant amount of "shelf-space" to Canadian talent. However, increasing competition (there are now ten different services operating in Canada including a number of foreign-owned sites, such as iTunes and Napster, and more recently, the launch of MuchMusic's online service) and the growing predominance of foreign product has left Canadian artists with a smaller percentage of the available shelf-space. Canadian policy makers will have to develop support programs and regulatory frameworks if Canadian artists are to maintain a prominent level of exposure in the increasingly crowded digital marketplace. In particular, attention should be paid to the effects of conglomeration, such as Bell Canada's acquisition of a controlling interest in Puretracks in 2005, to ensure that Canadian artists and consumers remain well served by online music outlets. New Tools of the Trade All Resources |
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