Ever long for the good ol’ days of music? If so, Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ) can take you back to whenever those glory days might have been. Imagined and created by Scott Bradlee, a trained jazz pianist, PMJ takes popular music from today or the recent past and remakes it in all kinds of vintage genres, from 30’s jazz, to Motown, to bluegrass hoedown. The group consists of around forty artists, many of whom are classically trained, that put out weekly videos featuring any various combination of them at a time. These videos are put up on their Youtube channel and regularly gain millions of views each. Because of their internet inception, PMJ has bypassed the existing music industry almost entirely, and, in spite of that, has been able to remain profitable through producing music. This is unique indeed, as even artists that sign on with major label companies are often left in the red. This paper will analyze PMJ’s method for achieving success outside of the traditional music industry, will look at how their music fits in the broader landscape of popular music, and will show that their approach to producing music is a good, reproducible model for other artists to follow.
PMJ’s rise to popularity is extremely non-traditional in nature. Typically, an aspiring band signs a contract with a recording label and then has to create a certain number of songs for a certain number of albums and go on tour for a relatively pre-determined amount of venues. The recording label has total control
Within industry there is revolution. Innovation for development and a burning desire for further progression must be realized or risk of failure increases exponentially. Does consistent hard work not correlate with well earned success? Does perseverance parallel evolution? The music industry is not impervious to failure and its institutes must evolve to survive in an ever-changing world of technological advancements. These advancements are utilized and implemented industry wide, including via event promotion to solidify the future of music as a whole. Event marketing, albeit not a “modern term”, has proved vital to the music industry time and time again as it constantly evolves as the music industry business model is redefined. Event marketing and promotion has been defined and consistently redefined as use of technologies upturn.
The mission of “Musically Infinite” is to provide Affordable, professionally engineered, complete Audio production.” Musically Infinite’s goal is to become the industry standard for Audio production in the digital music era. From the veteran vocal artists, worldwide superstars, to new local artists seeking to make a name for him and herself with a high quality product usually only reserved for the elite and super wealthy. The later part of our company name “Infinite” is defined as “immeasurably great, indefinitely or exceedingly great; Unlimited, unbounded or unlimited; boundless or endless.” This term when joined with our focus “Music,” is what our core passion is, and conveys that our corporate objective is to allow an unlimited love for music to flow from our creative artists to the extent of their talents, gifts or supernatural abilities. The literary genius that is embodied within the walls of skin held
I propose that all unsigned rising artist should target the business side of the music industry to be successful in the entertainment business because it allows the artist to be taken seriously and make solid connections that can further his/her career. Learning the works of the music industry also enables a new artist to be further successful and profitable. Recent studies show that most new artists without professional representation and a business mindset have a slimmer chance in getting signed to major or independent labels (Lowry, 2011). Overall, the specific change needed is that unsigned artists should be concentrating on their careers as professionals and not amateurs, thus focusing on the ins and outs of the music business and
"Modern music is people who can 't think signing artists who can 't write songs to make records for people who can 't hear." Frank Zappa
The current music industry is a hard business for all musicians, whether they are a new artist or even a popular radio artist. Modern times have radically changed the way that musicians now make money. Past musicians used to be able to make a living simply by selling their music and playing a few major concerts to survive and even lives some luxurious lives and not really have to focus on anything except the art that they were creating. The music industry has transformed from being an art to becoming a challenging business job for anyone involved. Today, most musicians have to also be able to handle managerial business to get anywhere and make money or find someone to help them. Current musicians need to do more than just sell music
Questioning the correlation of commercial success and true artistry began in the light of mainstream music. Mainstream music has been given a negative connotation due to the supposed lack of originality of the artists. Repetitive chord progressions and meaningless lyrics compose the majority of “mainstream music,” making each song sound like the next . Despite these patterns in music, artists still ventured outside of what was societally normal and created music that was unheard of. Despite the potential risks in being an individual in the music industry, several groups achieved high success and maintain the popularity in the present. Creativity and commercial success can definitely exist alongside one another, and this paper will prove that through the music of the Beatles, the performance styles of David Bowie, and the grunge movement in Seattle which was fueled by Nirvana.
The popular music industry in the late 1990s was dominated by a small number of integrated corporations with headquarters in Europe, the United States and Japan. This music market starts simply with an artist and moves along through many steps to the consumer. Everything has its start when a musician presents his music to a music manager, and if he/she finds the music promising, a contract is signed between the two, recordings are made and a marketing plan is drafted for the
Music has played a vital role in human culture and evidence based on archaeological sites can date it back to prehistoric times. It can be traced through almost all civilizations in one form or another. As time has progressed so has the music and the influences it has on people. Music is an important part of popular culture throughout the world, but it is especially popular in the United States. The music industry here is, and has been, a multi-million dollar business that continues to play an important role in American popular culture. This is also a art form and business that is forever changing as the times and more importantly, technology changes. Technology has changed the way music is made as well as how it is produced,
Nothing is more enjoyable than listening to your favorite song. All over the world, people listen to music on a daily basis. Music plays a major part in a tremendous number of people’s lives. While they are enjoying the music, they do not think about how the song came about. Music is not just the sound you hear or the voices in the background. People do not think about what is behind the scenes of where music comes from. Before the song is completed, someone has to make it happen. In music, there are different careers which are the song writer, the manager, the marketing executive, and the produced. Each of these careers play a huge role in how music is brought to the public.
“Before the days of YouTube and the Internet, a band 's chances of striking it big depended on record companies. If a band was lucky enough to get a record deal, it gained access to a label 's vast resources and connections. The company paid for the band 's studio time, … and got its music played on the radio, reaching millions of record buying Americans” (Majerol, 1). Now, anyone with talent can post a video of themselves and become an internet sensation, only to then receive a deal with a label to continue growing their career. The issue is, with the Internet came digital downloading, and with the growing popularity of digital downloading came illegal downloading, known as Digital Piracy, which has affected the music industry greatly. This issue affects everyone involved in the Music Industry. From the small CD store owner to the Artist on stage, everyone has and continues to be affected by the growing popularity of digital downloading services. Artists, producers, and songwriters lose an estimated 12.5 Billion USD every year to illegal digital music services. Further, the economic impact from [digital downloading] is an estimated loss of 2+ Billion USD (Storrs, 1). This money affects the “little guys” in the industry and the average worker within the industry.
When creating music, there must be something that appeals to the audience. Music in this age must now be more original than ever. New genres of music are being born at a rapid pace, which makes being original a difficult task. “Re-Tuning the Music Industry—Can They Re-Attain Business Resonance?” by Sudip Bhattacharjee, et al, writers for Communication of the ACM, makes the following statement: “Each song is unique. Artists strive to be distinctive and constantly adapt and innovate their offering. Consequently, music consumers face non-trivial search and evaluation tasks prior to each music purchase.” (Bhattacharjee 136). The willingness for consumers to buy music, whether it is an album or just one single song, increases when the music is something they have never heard of before. A band such as Nirvana was able to do just that. In the
Today, sources of mainstream music such as radio, television and film soundtracks tend to reflect an increasingly superficial, formulaic and predictable mode of music production and distribution. The result is an increasingly homogenous mainstream market that tends to stifle creativity, experimentation and artistic vision in favor of proven commodity. This helps to account for the dominance of mechanized dance tracks aimed at younger listeners and the permeation of Middle of the Road (MOR) content aimed at Baby Boomer consumers. Especially in the face of a declining overall music buying market, the industry has become especially unwilling to take risks on artist's whose style is unfamiliar or
The creation of musical works has always been culminated by several different processes and usually involves many people. The process takes a lot of time delaying the release of music. Advancement in technology has played a significant role in the music production by lowering the length of time it takes to produce recorded material. Artists usually sign a contract with a recording company that markets their music products. The internet and low-cost recording technologies have created a “do-it-yourself” music movement. New artists have gained worldwide recognition without landing a recording contract with a major record label.
Social media is a technology that is utilized by almost every in not only America, but all over the world. It has changed the way we lead our lives, the way we communicate, and the way information is distributed. Additionally, this technology has had a prominent influence on individuals’ opinions and how they perceive the world around them. The presence and accessibility of social media has revolutionized many industries, and the music industry is no exception. Social media is reshaping the way we consume and interact with music has changed over the years as social media technologies have evolved. Furthermore, social media has gone on to changing the way music is produced and publicized. Music lovers are not the only ones to avidly depend on social media, but the dependence is present from the sides of music creators, producers, and marketers as well.
The music industry has been around for over two centuries (PBS). Its volatility can be measured by its ability to shift and change according to its time period, the technologies that arise through the ages and the public’s shift in musical taste. The music industry is comprised of many different components, organizations and individuals that operate within it. Some of these components include the artists who compose the music themselves, the producers that engineer the sounds created by the artists, the companies that handle distribution and promotion of the recorded music, the broadcasters of the music such as radio