What can the music industry learn from the advertising industry? Ownership. In the same way the brands controlled the product of conversation, music has been controlled by large labels who dominate global consumption. Consumers have been empowered through emerging technology and increased global social conversation to give individuals a cultural currency that was previously only held by the labels/brands. What we have seen so far is the ownership of music changing from owning the end product or the merchandise divulge into the ownership of the music itself.
An example of this is how Ash are deciding to release singles every two weeks and made available to those fans who buy a long term subscription. The initial investment made by fans is not only bypassing labels hold over artistic development and cutting out the middle man, but it is bringing fans a step closer and changing the dynamic of relationship. Another such example of is Pledge Music which aims to create new musical experiences far beyond previous fan funded models such as Sellaband and Bandstock. There are four corners to the Pledge concept: music, fans, recording studios and charities. The Irish Artist Duke Special is availing of this new service and has already received 99% of funding from his fans.
When Rupert Murdoch was asked what will be the biggest story of the 21st Century he responded – ‘The Great story of the next century will be the empowerment of the individual, all individuals!’. Empowerment must be defined from the user’s viewpoint as it is context specific, but if we relate it to a music fan, their new found ability to both source and control of information flow was critical aspects of empowerment. Consumer empowerment is attracting new phrases such as the “Democratisation of technology” or “Knowledge Transparency” as a result of the shift of market control. The question is how have brands/bands and labels lost the ability to control decision making?
So the artist may be liberated from the label, but indebted to another form of Label, their fans.
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