Within this essay I will be explaining how the development of digital media technology has effected a conglomerate company i.e. Sony compared to an independent record company i.e. XL recordings.
New technologies are being introduced all the time and have a large impact on industries as big as the music industry. iTunes for an example are able to directly impact a company like Sony as it means when it comes to reaching the audience it means they can have more control over choosing what music they want to listen to. Sony are able to upload new albums onto iTunes quickly and effectively for the audience to then be able to consume the music. This can be seen when Beyonce released her self-titled album which was exclusive to iTunes; which had 80,000 sales within the first 3 hours and 430,000 in first 3 days. This was because it meant that due to convergence the audience could buy it and receive it instantly which then could be listened to via iPods, Laptops, games consoles etc. Therefore for a conglomerate company new technologies are useful for Distribution as means its an easy way to get music out to their audiences.
New technologies have a much bigger impact on independent companies as it means for the independent bands its a cheap and effective way to get their new music out into the world ready for consumption, where as years ago they would have to spend money they didn't have on making physical copies of CD's; iTunes means they can do it cheaply and so in the long run it means they can get a lot of recognition for their music. This differs to before hand as by them not having the money to make physical copies of CD's they may not have been able to get as many copies distributed where as now with the likes of iTunes or Sound Cloud the bands can distribute as many of their songs as they wish. Therefore the new technologies have a much bigger impact on the independent companies as opposed to a conglomerate company as they have the opportunity for a wider range of audiences to listen to their music to before where it was more of a niche market.
Even though new media technologies like iTunes are helping the industry, companies still have to face the problem of illegal downloading which is damaging sales. It has been said that £250million pounds worth of illegal downloads take place each year, this is a large amount however it will effect the independent companies more so than the bigger companies. If the audiences are illegally downloading the independent bands songs then they aren't getting as much money back to be able to produce more songs as they wont be able to afford the costs of recordings studios etc. A conglomerate company like Sony has vertical integration and owns its own recording studio, stores, manufacturing plants therefore it won't cost them as much money - this means that it won't be as largely effected because as they own the facilities it doesn't cost them as much money therefore aren't losing out as much as the independent companies are. Also Sony makes up 30% of the music industry alone as they have branches of horizontal integration like owning EMI and SyCo. If they're going to be losing out of money due to illegal downloads they won't be able to fund all of their companies - meaning that music won't be able to be produced and distributed as often as it is.
In terms of using media technologies to reach specific target audiences independent companies often use social networking sites as a marketing technique to get the audience to buy their songs. For example Adele (who was signed to XL Records) got discovered by her label by posting a demo on her MySpace page, this was then picked up on and she was then signed. Similarly when you go on Facebook on the side of the page it has links for suggestions to which you might be interested in, for example if you buy a pop album online from the cookies it could suggest other similar pop albums you may like - this is similar on YouTube as it suggests the videos which might be appealing to you from ones you have previously watched. For an independent band who aren't as well known this is useful as its a way of marketing, if their advert is placed on social networking sites they can receive a lot more recognition compared to years ago and a band had to do free concerts or busking to try raise awareness its a more efficient way to get seen. This is similar for an artist on a conglomerate label - they will still use social networking and the web 2.0 to promote their new album. Artists can go onto sites such as twitter to tweet to their fans, facebook to set up a page; this gets the album promoted out there. Therefore the use of technology to reach accurate specific audiences is very important as instead of reaching everyone it can be deterred to reach only the people who may like it therefore it has more of a chance, this will then lead to an increase of sales.
Audiences embrace the use of new media technologies by having the control to search and listen to the kind of music that they wish. On Spotify the audience can listen to as much music as they want for free, on iTunes they can buy the songs or albums which they like, similarly on Twitter/Facebook the band pages can be liked. The internet as a media technology enabled bands on both an independent label like XL recordings and a conglomerate label like Sony to get the promotion and sales that they need - though this is limited by illegal downloads. It means that the audience are able to be interactive with the bands to which it may get some independent bands more recognised for example with Adele with her first demo on MySpace getting so popular that she got signed which led to the release of her first album. With the audience it means that they have a lot more control over the success of the artist/band - therefore is very important.
In conclusion, the continuing development of media technology is an advantage as it means albums can be distributed cheaper and easily, audiences are able to consume it better from sites like iTunes, Spotify and YouTube. However it can be a disadvantage from illegal downloads damaging the sales and could lead to the decline of the industry.
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