Grace's mock

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the media are you have studied?  (To what extent does selling and sharing music digitally change the marketing of artists in the music industry?)

Digital distribution strongly affects the marketing and consumption of artists and institutions in the music industry, especially now due to the technologic advances. The use of the internet to share and get music has a large influence on this, both positively and negatively. Institutions like LAST.FM, Tumblr, Twitter and Myspace encourage this. Not only does the internet affect the marketing of institutions, it has changed the process in which it is done. Production, Distribution and Exchange have all merged in to one; mainly because of the used of distribution through the internet.

DIY artists use digital distribution to their advance. Instead of producing an album through a record label, Beck shared music using Song Reader, a website that enables the audience to contribute therefore acting as prosumers. He made sheet music which allowed fans from a niche audience to create their own interpretations of his music. This proves he focuses on the music more than the visualisation and his fans are not only dedicated but have to be able to read some form of music. The co-option brought artists together and instead of Beck loosing out on money from illegal downloading over the internet, he was able to profit through fans coming to live gigs to see if he performs their interpretations of his music. This shows a strong bond and relationship between the artist and his fans, meaning digital distribution fuels a relationship.

Digital distribution through conglomerate Major labels such as SONY allows the changes through digital distribution to affect it both positively and negatively; synergy plays a role in this. The fact that Sony are a major label allows them to use media from different areas together to exchange their music to a wider audience. For example, Syco (Sony's record label) uses one of their more popular artists; One Direction's music in video games, they have also produced a Film about the boy band themselves. This is another example of creating a relationship with their fans, it allows them to connect and relate to the artist's as it shows the real-life side of fame. The visualisation of Major record labels plays a large role in the digital distribution. It is said that because of this, music is becoming more stale and bland. The audience in which this music is targeted at are meant to find visualisation more important than sound. This brings me on to X-Factor, a show created to find upcoming talent by recycling music from previously popular artists. Digital distribution affect this is the sense that as soon as a song is recycled, it is exchanged over the internet. Youtube, spotify and Itunes are used for this. Despite making a large profit from audiences purchasing these songs, the total is restricted due to illegal downloading. This is a negative point that comes with Digital Distribution.

Digital distribution has mainly affected prosumers. The access to music over the internet means prosumers are able to make mash ups of different songs. Often, they use songs most popular in chart music, meaning it affects major labels positively as it gives them publicity. On a negative note, only small sections are taken out of the songs, backing up my point that music is now stale and bland. An example of a prosumer is Madeon. He mashed up a selection of songs from the charts and was able to get his fans to create music videos for this. This shows the relationship between artists and their fans is strongly affected through the internet. Because of this, he was able to get more views over institutions such as Youtube and more followers on Twitter, creating a larger fan base. This also proves that visualisation has a bigger importance than the original sound.

Overall, i think digital distribution affects the marketing of institutions and artist both positively and negitively. Not only does it allow artists to create a stronger bong and relationship with their fans it allows them to create an image. On the other hand, illegal downloading and access to music through spotify and Youtube means the artist profit is restricted.