TOEFL Listening Practice: Lecture15

First we had the phonograph. When this came out, people saw this as a threat to live music: Why would you ever go out to hear live music if you had a phonograph at home? Later on in the 80s, people were worried about people taping music from the radio and never buy albums again. And now, with the Internet around, people are listening to more music than ever before.

One of the things that the music industry has had to get around is that the Internet makes it quite easy to download music free. Traditionally, the economic model of supply and demand is all about scarcity of a resource. But on the Internet, we get abundance. So the music industry can actually capitalize on that abundance, after all, it costs very little to store a music file online, so why not make every single title that you have in your inventory available to the masses? And that’s led to sites like ITunes and Spotify which seem to have an endless list of music available to listen to.

That’s had a remarkable effect on our listening habits. There are suddenly all sorts of niche markets growing up. If you want to listen to Estonian hip-hop or Azerbaijani reggae, you can probably find it. In the past, the music industry was controlled by four multinational corporations that dominated the revenue stream of 70% of the music coming in, and four or five radio conglomerates that controlled what music was going out. Musicians, if they wanted to be big, had to adapt to the style that the industries dictated. But now, music of any kind can reach an audience, which means that musicians can stay true to themselves, art thrives best when it’s created without regard to making any kind of compromise to get in front of a bigger audience.

But for a musician or music group to get famous, they have to be heard. In the past, musicians had a romantic image of being discovered by a talent scout while playing in some dingy bar and being signed up for a huge record deal. That isn’t really happening any more. But with the Internet, there are plenty of other ways for musicians to get their music heard. Obviously having a website, a Twitter account, a social networking page and so on can help fans get to know you.

But there are examples of musicians who have become successful even though they haven’t got their own website. One example is a group called Death Cab for Cutie, which you might have heard of. For two years, they were just an obscure indie-rock band playing to empty clubs. Then suddenly people started going. They’d found the group’s songs on the Internet. The band didn’t even have a website, but because it was heard, and doubtlessly downloaded illegally several thousands of times, they became popular. Not long after, they were invited to play for a TV series, and they had a gold album. So, that shows that just because an album is downloaded illegally, it doesn’t mean that the musicians and industry workers are losing out.

There are also other, interesting ways that the music industry has adapted to get new music heard. The latest innovation is something that I dare say you’ve never heard of. The company leading the way is called Music Dealers, LLC, and it’s based in Chicago. What they do is they connect corporate brands to independent music artists. Corporate brand pay for promising artists to produce music and go on tour to promote their products. Coca-Cola uses it, as do McDonalds and Chevrolet. Their brand gets exposure particularly over social media like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The company has a website that allows clients to search for music that fits with their marketing campaigns. It’s quick and easy for the client, and for the musician, it gives them a chance to break into stardom, or at the very least, earn a living.