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Music in the Digital Age

Music and Me
At the age of five my mom finally decided to do it. With intense apprehension I
followed her outside and into the car and she buckled me in. Little did I know what I was
getting into at the time. We pulled up to our destination and she got out and walked me
to the door of this unknown and foreign house. She handed me my bag and smiled at
me as she knocked on the door. We waited. It seemed like a lifetime in front of that
small house in the suburbs of Walnut Creek. A woman came to the door and greeted me
saying, You must be. I nodded and she welcomed my mother
and me inside. Welcome to your first piano lesson, she said.
From my first lesson, piano was a constant battle of wills between my parents
and me. I was deathly shy and hated piano. The thought of being in a room for half an
hour with a woman I barely knew seemed awful. To make it worse, I was embarrassed
by my lack of knowledge. Piano terrified me. Yet my mother was relentless and
encouraged me to go. Slowly, I found myself beginning to like it more and more. I
discovered that the music I was playing was beautiful and had so much meaning. I
began to love music.
Today music is a huge part of my life, despite the challenging start. I love it with
every fiber of my being. Along with playing piano, I learned to beatbox, sing, and act.
When high school came along, I joined choir.
Northgate High Schools annual Musical America changed me. When I was a
sophomore, I was chosen as a solo filler act. At first I could feel the trepidation. I was
terrified about being out there all alone. I tentatively walked out to the middle of the

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stage where the piano awaited me and I sat down. I heard a few of my friends call my
name and then it started. My fingers started moving to the song which I had practiced
countless hours to perfect. I felt the energy of the audience around me as I finished and
they erupted into a cheer. I exited the stage, deciding then that I wanted to be a
musician. I wanted to perform.
In high school, I have also had other opportunities to expand my abilities
as a musician. I teach piano, which is a highly rewarding position. I love passing my art
to another generation. I am the choir pianist for our church where I accompany weekly
practices to help members learn their parts for songs we perform for holidays. Finally, I
joined Northgate High Schools Award Winning Jazz Band as a jazz pianist, expanding
my abilities beyond classical and pop music. I now appreciate almost all kinds of music
from classical and jazz to hip-hop, R&B, and EDM (Electronic Dance Music)
My passion for music led me to consider it as a career. Unfortunately, when I tell
people this I constantly receive negative responses. Instead of a warm, I believe in
you, people usually respond with a cold, What is your back up plan? Clearly no one
thinks it is easy to have a career as a musician.
I had to find out for myself whether a music career made sense. Why are people
so hesitant about music as a career choice? Are artists making money through iTunes?
What isthe biggest source of income for artists? All of these questions are what led me
to my final and broad question:
How do artists make money in the digital age?
The Musicians Struggle

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In a February 2016 CNN story entitled, Musicians Struggling through the
Streaming Age, Mike Eniro noted that musicians are now in a state of struggle for how
they are making money. In the story Professor Mike Eniro discussed how people are
pushing for more touring to make money. Eniro believes that touring is simply not the
answer. Eniro explained that as time progresses, artists will have to evolve their
methods in how music will be distributed and accessed. Adapting and evolving is the
only solution.
Eniro continues with his point that artists should evolve, There is an
oversupplying of music, he says, because Spotify is paying for merely 30 second of a
song and people are still writing three minute songs. He suggests as one solution that
perhaps artists should write shorter songs. But the overall message of his story is that
as artists struggle through the current digital age they are going to need to find new and
improved ways to make money. Eniro's comments get at the heart of the struggle for
musicians today in making careers. Enrios ideas and the larger CNN story touch on the
topic of my research. This paper explores the development of commercial music, how
the music industry has reached the current struggle in the digital age, and how it can
proceed.
The Growth of the Music Industry
In 1877, Thomas Edison invented something that would help to commercialize
the music industrythe phonograph. The phonograph made it possible to listen to
music without hearing it live. It made it possible for people across the nation to hear
music and essentially commercialize who ever was trending or popular at the time.

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Although it was not the same as a radio and did not reach an exponentially big scale, it
was a start. This start was all the industry needed to take off.
In 1922, AT&T developed long distance phone lines and radio. It began with the
WEAF station a once local New York radio station that had begun broadcasting to the
entire nation. WEAF had scheduled programs such as sports scores or news. It became
one of the first radio programs to incorporate commercial endorsements or
sponsorships. This was the beginning of the commercial endorsement era. An era that
would define audio entertainment. (The Long Tail CD 2)
After World War II, the music industry was focused on making big hits and top
artists. From the 1950s through the 2000s, the entertainment industry put their money
into creating box office breakers, gold records, and the next big show. For example,
artists hitting it big during this time included The Beatles and Michael Jackson. Making it
on Casey Kasems Top 40 radio show every week was the measure of success for the
biggest artists. Hits have become the sense through which we observe our own
culture, said Chris Anderson in The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling
Less of More . By the early 2000s, the culture of big hits reached its climax when N
Sync released their album, No Strings Attached. In the first week of their release it sold
2.4 million copies to become the fastest selling album of all time.
Things changed in the digital age. iTunes killed the radio star, Anderson
continued (Anderson, Disc 1). Digital downloads on iTunes gave birth to a variety of
artists not just one or two stars that you hear on the radio. One main difference between
then and now is the endless access to unlimited sources of music coming from
hundreds or thousands of artists in the current digital age.

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Between 2001 and 2005 the music industry crashed and fell to an all time low. In
the late 1990s, Britney Spears and Eminem combined sold over 38 million copies of
their biggest hits. In contrast, between 2001 and 2005 the industry as a whole sold only
seven million copies, signifying the end of the hits age (Anderson Disc 1).
There was some hope for big hit artists, however, when compact discs (CDs)
were introduced and rose in popularity to drive music sales. After the early 2000s drop
in sales of records, CDs became a major source of music and people relied on them
heavily. They were popular but did not sell as much as they should have. Slowly, as the
industry became more digital fewer people wanted to go to the store and buy a CD.
Eventually, people turned to Napster, and other forms of digital piracy, instead of
shopping at stores for CDs. Professor White concurred in a conversation we had on the
topic of piracy. In other words, people began ripping or copying CDs and making the
music available online for free. Piracy was the key change of the century. It represented
a major change in the industry.

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CHART A. How It Was In 1999 (https://20yearsofmusic.wordpress.com)
Chart A. shows us how the music industry was in the 1990s. With the introduction
of Napster music was being pirated at an incredible level. All of this in turn angered the
artists and the greedy record labels who would turn against Napster.
In addition to digital downloads of music, streaming services have become
another source of music for the average consumer that negatively affects artists
revenues. Streaming services range from Apple Music, Spotify and Rhapsody. Such
companies further contribute to the struggle by artists to make money. Streaming
companies charge consumers and then keep a majority of these profits while returning
very little money back to the actual artist

Chart B. The Great Divide

(https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100712/23482610186.shtml)

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Chart B. dissects the flow of money and shows how little artists are really paid. It
shows that artists are getting ripped off because out of the whole flow of money they
only get about 18% of the 13%. Producers make even smaller amounts, as little as 3%
of the 13%. As someone who understands how hard artists work this amount seems
disproportionately small.
Making Money in the Music Industry Today
To make money given such challenges, artists today have to find creative ways
to make money than the artists of the past. Diablo Valley College (DVC) Professor
Timothy White explained this idea. Professor White is the Director of the DVCs Music
Industry Studies Program. I met with him on a cloudy quiet day. Rain rushed over my
windshield as I drove to the college in Pleasant Hill and found a spot in a nearby parking
lot. I got out of my car feeling out of place and uncomfortable because I had no idea
where to go. Walking down the muddy hill, I could smell the wet cut grass. I saw many
buildings, peering into each one that I passed on the off chance that it was the Music
Building. After 15 minutes of wandering, I decided to check out one last rotunda-like
structure near a huge reflecting pool. I smelled an overwhelming amount of body odor
and saw dull brass instruments strewn all over the building and knew I had reached my
destination. I made my way into the appropriate classroom number and found Professor
White in a room was filled with computers and MIDI controllers. Professor White was tall
with long gray hair.
Professor White explained that the music industry is becoming more and more
competitive. He has worked in many capacities with anything involving sound. He had

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his own thoughts about the struggle musicians face in the digital age. He gave me a
scenario to help me understand, saying,
Lets say that people could only hear music live or over the radio, and lets say
there are fewer radio songs that people are listening to. In that situation those
artists on the radio are making all of the money and those underground are not.
But as more music becomes accessible to everyone, and it becomes digitalized,
not only are you competing with people alivebut people behind you. You are
now competing with every artist before you that was popular. Everyday it
becomes harder and harder for artists to become famous.
He also detailed the new way many musicians are finding a great realm for money. This
realm is sync licensing. This is where artists take music they have made and license it
out to movies or video games for there use. Every time they make a sale or a movie
ticket is bought this artist makes money.
For another perspective, I also met with a well-known artist in the music industry,
Kelen Capener, the bass player for The Story So Far. I asked him about the cost of
being a musician, the expenses his band faced and the expenses he faced as an
individual in the band. Capener talked about the process his band goes through before
they go on tour. He calculates whether a tour would be profitable including costs for
hotel and transportation arrangements. After hearing all of this, I was a little shocked
with the entire process. I asked him if the tours were, in fact, actually profitable. He
laughed to himself while reminiscing and said:
You basically have to tour to make money because your guarantees, or the
pre-arranged payment that the promoter of the show gives you to come perform

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that night, in addition to the items you sell at your merch table, are where you
make money. You sell music, you sell physical copies of your music at your
merch table but those are counted, theyre counted differently than digital or
album sales that happen outside of a tour because we already own the records
that were selling at our merch table, so we take all the profit.
Kelen helped me understand the challenge recording artists have making money. I was
surprised that merchandise, rather than the actual music, was such a source of
revenue.
During my research, I also learned of a variety of careers and jobs people have
in the music industry in addition to being a recording artist like Kelen Capener. Kelen
described a lot of different people that he works with in music from his tour manager to
his sound guy and everyone involved in tours. Professor White exemplifies another
aspect of music as a teacher specializing in recording and producing at Diablo Valley
College. The salaries for careers and jobs in music vary from a music shop manager
making $27,000 a year to a sound engineer who might be making over $65,000 dollars
a year (Careers Opportunities in the Music Industry, 74, 80). Not all jobs in the music
industry are high-profile but most are an integral and necessary part of the music
industry. They keep the industry going by managing new talent, producing, educating
audiences and keeping music flowing to the public.

My Reflections
In reflection, I have learned several things about the music industry. The first is
that it takes persistence to survive. There is not a single artist I have learned about that

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has not talked about a period of scraping to meet ends meet. Music is an industry of
countless late nights and endless creativity. In a recent podcast interview of Timbaland
by the New York Public Library, the well-known producer described his journey to
success. What he stressed most was the cut throat nature of the business, Everyone
wants to be the best everyone wants to succeed, he said. He did say though that is
was possible for anyone to make it as long as you were persistent. For example, he
explained that it took him four years before he had a steady income that was
comfortable.
The second thing I have learned was that you have to be ready to take any
opportunity that is presented to you and plan out your profits. If someone has a gig that
they asked you to be in, do it. As I learned from Kelen Capener, you just have to put
yourself out there. You cant be afraid to do anything or try anything because you never
know who is listening or who will offer you a chance at success. Capener also explained
that his band would never tour unless they were sure it would be profitable. Planning out
how you can make money beforehand will insure that you do not waste efforts and
resources in activities without a return on your investment.
In conclusion I have discovered a lot about music and the industry behind it.
While only a slim number of artists actually are making huge sums of money, others
have found ways to support themselves. Artists will frequently not only make there own
music but take many other jobs, for big artists this may include producing and appearing
in commercials or tv shows. But for smaller artists this includes jobs such as waiting
tables or editing other artists music. I also learned about different careers in the music
industry for those who were not recording artists. What I found was the main source of

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income for artists in the increasingly digital age and this was sales. Sales of
merchandise and CDs and anything that they took with them on tour or online. That was
the main source of income along with the actual tour guarantees. This was shocking but
it is what the music industry has become.
Finally, I have learned that while music is one of the hardest businesses to be in,
it can be the most rewarding. Everyone I spoke with on the topic have been the
happiest people I have met. With music people are given a chance to express
themselves in a way no one else can. With music people are free, and that is what
makes it so special and thats why even though I have seen first hand the struggle that
artists go through in the digital age I still want to pursue music.

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