Sophie Main Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric Dr.

Erin Dietel-McLaughlin 11/10/13 Social Medias Effect on Music There isnt a day that goes by where we dont use technology. Whether it be a phone, computer, television, or even a toaster, we depend on technology and its ever-evolving nature. Hordes of people lined the streets waiting in line for the new iPhone 5, yet no one gives a second thought about an equally good Samsung. Success is determined by advertising and the way in which people react to the media. As humans, we are intrinsically social creatures, and would therefore do anything and everything to put ourselves ahead of others. We always want the newest and most raved about products to propel ourselves one level higher up the social ladder. As society revolves more and more around technology, people base their lives off of social media sites. It is a place to find anyone, be anyone, and know whats going on in the world. About half of the U.S population has a Facebook, a high number considering the elderly who came before the media generation and the children who are not yet old enough to take part in the craze. Other sites such as Twitter, Reddit, Pintrest, YouTube, and Instagram have become extremely popular worldwide. This increase in media usage has a direct effect on the music industry. Social media dictates what songs will be popular at what time, either by a funny video or an extreme reaction to a song. Musicians get credit for their appearance and charisma rather than for their natural talent. This increases their already prevalent fame, and pushes less known artists further and further down. In todays society people no longer have to travel to the music store to buy a CD. Everything is online and purchased with the click of a button. Although it

may be easier to buy the new album of your favorite artist, it is just as easy to download it from a pirating site for free. This creates problems in the music industry as artists and producers make less and less money for their work. The government has tried and succeeded in eliminating a few of the most popular pirating sites like Megaupload and Napster, but new sites are created at such an increasing rate that there is little anyone can do to stop them. Todays drastic increase in technology and social media usage has had a large impact on the music industry, not only by influencing which musicians will be popular, but by negatively effecting musicians incomes with the widespread use of file sharing sites. Social media has increased the ease of purchasing music. Before music became available online, consumers would have to go to a music store to buy their CDs or records. Since music was not a convenient thing to buy, people only bought the music of their favorite bands. Now that everything is digitalized, it is readily available anywhere and everywhere. Music is constantly around us whether we realize it or not, in movies, advertisements, and on the radio. Applications such as Shazam allow people to learn a songs name when they hear it in a public place and buy it instantly. Other radio-based apps like Pandora and 8-Tracks allow people to listen to music based off a genre they choose. They can skip a certain number of songs per hour and can purchase the music directly from the site. YouTube allows people to look up a song anytime and anywhere; they can even find similar music to their previous searches from the recommendations bar on the side of the page. Technology increases the amount of music available, and the ease of music exposure for consumers. As Tim Wall says in his book Studying Popular Music Culture, technology also made it possible to communicate to an audience many million times larger than the audience for live music, and so in turn changed the economies of music production making it financially worthwhile to invest massive amounts of capital in

making and distributing music (40-41). Before music became digitalized, fans had to either go to live concerts or buy records to listen to the bands of their choice. Therefore, when technology became a part of music, producing companies put a great deal of money and effort into expanding their industry and advertising various artists. This point brings up an important question: if producing companies put so much into advertising, and advertising creates awareness, then why dont the effects of consumer buzz bring about a positive change in music sales? To answer this question, both the positive and negative sides of the argument must be addressed. Social media has a potentially positive effect on music. Simply by spreading the word about a new song, social media users have the power to influence whether it becomes a hit or not. Since popularity of a song is based on both its rating and the number of reviews it receives, interaction between social media users has an affect on consumer choice. This immediately translates into more sales as bloggers and other social media users sample and buy the music they hear about. One example of how consumers are swayed by popular demand is seen in a more traditional form of media, the radio. In his article The Relation Between Radio Plugs and Sheet Sales of Popular Music, Michael Erdlyi examines and tests the relationship between the number of times a song is played on air, and how well that song sells. He provides an example with the song Indian Summer and uses a formula he created that relates several intertwined variables such as the number of weeks the song was plugged, its ranking, and the lag between when the song was aired and its sales curve. It was no surprise to find that the more frequently a song was played on the radio, the more it was purchased. In his essay Erdlyi suggests, It may be that people like those songs better the more often they hear them, and it is for this reason that they buy; or possibly the plugging of songs over the radio creates a certain

social pressure which compels people to buy these songs in order to live up to the fashion requirements of their group (700). Plugging refers to the song being preformed over the air. When people frequently hear songs on the radio that everyone knows, they feel drawn to them. They believe everyone else likes those songs, so they listen to be a part of the social norm. However, despite the increase in awareness different forms of media bring about music, the buzz and popularity about certain songs does not necessarily make them more profitable to the music industry. In fact, the more popular a song is, the more its artist suffers from online sharing in the long run. The negative effect of social media on music becomes apparent with the introduction of file sharing opportunities. Just as consumers opinions and discussions of certain songs are widely seen on the Internet, the actual songs themselves are copied and spread through the media like wildfire. If a blogger finds a new song they enjoy, they will pass it on for others to share and re-link. As Jui Ramaprasad states in his article Social Media, Traditional Media, and Music Sales: a Panel VAR Approach, a spike in the buzz also results in a jump in the supply of free music that is easily accessible to interested consumers (9). There is a never-ending cycle of music popularity and sales; the more popular a song becomes, the more shared it is online, and therefore consumers will buy it less from iTunes or other similar sites. Therefore, an increase in popularity in no way translates to an increase in revenue. In fact, the more popular a song is, the greater the percentage of sales the music industry loses per download. Over the past decade, a general trend has been observed with sales in the music industry. Ramprasad discusses the music industry as a whole saying, peer-to-peer sharing of music online has cost the record industry $55 billion in revenue over the last decade. In 2010 alone, revenues from global recorded music fell by over 8%, amounting to almost $1.5 billion (3). This proves that although

consumers are acquiring more and more music every year, producers are experiencing exponential losses. Social media harms lesser-known bands as well. The popularity of a music group depends on its image, and a more attractive singer tends to sell more records. A music group may be talented but still unable to gain exposure because it lacks the necessary funding to appear in the media. This is a vicious cycle; the winners remain on top while the losers struggle for exposure at the bottom of the charts. One example of this is Beyoncs Pepsi commercial. From the years 2000-2011, Beyonc made the Top Ten list on Billboards Hot 100 for 40 of her songs, and was therefore already very famous and successful when she was asked to star in Pepsis commercial in April of 2013. The commercial was similar in style to a music video, with Beyonc debuting her new song Grown Woman and ending by drinking from a Pepsi can. Pepsi chose her for their commercial because they knew that she was an iconic figure who would increase their sales. This commercial received a great deal of feedback both from news articles and social media sites such as Twitter, which bolstered her popularity even further. Lesserknown musicians lack the fame, funding, and established musical careers of famous musicians like Beyonc and therefore have very little chance of being recognized in a national ad campaign. Beyonc made even more money and increased her music sales from this commercial, pushing other musicians farther down the ranks in the process. Some may argue that social media helps unknown bands reach fame, as in the case of Yael Naims song New Soul. Naims song was featured in an Apple commercial in March of 2008, and became an immediate hit, boosting her to #11 on the French music charts of that year. Cases like Naims, however, are few and far between. Large companies tend to choose stars for their

advertisements who already have a face, making people want to buy their product because of the stars supposed endorsement of that product. The government is unsure as to what actions to take to put an end to illegal sharing. The Internet has seen an increase in the usage and number of file sharing sites over the past decades and it seems as if they are unstoppable. As Chun-Yao Huang states in his article File Sharing as a Form of Music Consumption, Today, more than 60 different file-sharing programs are available on the Internet. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic industry, there were 900 million unauthorized music files on the Internet available for downloading as of January 2004 (38). Huang published this article in 2003, and if there were over 60 file sharing sites then, who knows how many there are now with the leaps our country has made in technology and social media in the past decade. The government has made a few attempts to shut down some of these sites, but to little avail. One of the worlds largest sites of this type was Megaupload, which was recently shut down in January of 2012. Like most file sharing sites, Megaupload works by allowing customers to access most of its materials for free, only making them pay for faster downloads. They make most of their profits through advertisements and endorsements of various companies. In his article Popular File Sharing Website Megaupload Shut Down published in USA Today, author Nick Perry states that Megaupload was estimated to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the internet (1). This shows the sheer volume of consumers in this illegal industry. Napster, another similar site, was recently shut down by federal law after being sued by the heavy metal band Metallica. Metallica accused Napsters creators of illegal sharing even though they claimed their site was for personal use. Napster was one of the first music sharing sites and it planted the seed for growth in the industry worldwide. With its demise, around 70 million users lost their source of

music and had to look to other places, in many cases forming new sites of their own for copying files. As Nick Perry says in his article from USA Today, The industry has resorted to legal enforcement attempts aimed at both on-line filesharing services in the public domain (e.g., the Napster lawsuits) and end users (e.g., the large-scale Recording Industry Association of America anti-piracy lawsuits in the United States, 2003), but neither approach has fundamentally inhibited music file sharing. Legal remedies to prevent infringement seem destined to be ineffective, and technological solutions appear shortsighted at best (1). Perry argues that even though we are able to shut down these sites, we should not put our recourses and efforts into something as volatile and unpredictable as media. Although media is constantly evolving, it can be controlled. Perry was wrong to say that nothing could be done, because changes have already been made and noted. These changes just need to happen at a more rapid rate to have an impact. As stated in ABC Newss article Napster Shut Down, The RIAA estimates that song-swapping via Napster by an estimated 20 million people worldwide has cost the music industry more than $300 million in lost sales (1). This shows that eliminating sites is not entirely hopeless, and the government should do as much as they can to restrict it. Music evolved from a once respected and sought after business into a series of scams and illegal franchises. Before technologys influence on music, the industry was defined by record shops, rock concerts, and die-hard fans. Now, music has become accessible to all, anytime and anywhere. It is available to people all around the world with all different kinds of incomes. Technologys involvement with music has benefitted the people, but not the industry. In a way, this is a good thing. People are exposed to more culture and variety, and can define themselves

by their unique music choices. However, on a more practical level, an increase in technology has been destructive to artists and their incomes, giving them less profit than they deserve. People assume all artists are extremely rich, and therefore do not feel bad downloading a few, or a few hundred, songs from their favorite online pirating sites. It is easy, fast, and usually fairly reliable. In reality, only a small percentage of stars actually make it big. It is so hard for them to get people even familiar with their work, and they do not have the funding to star in commercials or make extravagant music videos. Because of this, music has transformed from a form of art, to more of an elaborate show. Stars feel the need to dress in provocative costumes to get attention, or get themselves into bad situations to get on the media. One example of this is Miley Cyruss new song Wrecking Ball. The song is obviously auto tuned, and is only popular because of the music video in which Miley is wearing next to nothing. Artists who respect themselves rely on the little forms of media they can get, usually only social media. Unfortunately, there is little that can be done to resolve this issue. The government has succeeded in shutting down a few of the major sites, but more are opening every day. Still, we should strive to shut down as many as possible to help the music industry. Every small action helps and could lead to awareness of the issue which, in the long run, would help striving musicians get what they deserve.

Works Cited Erdlyi, M. (1940). The relation between "radio plugs" and sheet sales of popular music. Journal of Applied Psychology, 24(6), 696-702. Huang, C. (2005). File sharing as a form of music consumption. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 9(4), 37-55.

"Napster Shut Down." ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=119627> Popular File Sharing Website Megaupload Shut Down." USATODAY.COM. USA Today, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-0119/megaupload-feds-shutdown/52678528/1> Ramaprasad, J. (2010). Online social influence and consumer choice : Evidence from the music industry. Dissertation Abstracts International, 70(7-A) Wall, Tim. Studying Popular Music Culture. London: Hodder & Stoughton Educational, 2003. Print.