the Changing Beat of the Music IndustryMore independent artists

are breaking out onto the music scene than ever be-

fore. In 2011, it is more about the artist than the major record labels. The music industry advances each year into a business that caters to a generation of Tweeters, Face-bookers and iPhone users with the growing amount of new media. Ac-cording to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), by 2012 the music industry will have lost $1.7 billion since 2006 with no chance of recovering the money in years to come.

BEGINNING TO COMPOSE THE MUSIC “They aren’t looking for as many artists as before,” said Elliot Mazer, a music technology profes-sor at Elon University and a music producer for artists such as Janis Jop-lin and The Who.

“CDs are becoming extinct. The computer has become more impor-tant.” Independent music, or indie music, has been a part of the music industry since the 1950s with small independent record labels trying to promote local talent. Steven Hall, a North Caro-lina native, writes and plays his mu-sic for a living. He began playing music since he was a kid. Both of his parents teach music at lo-cal schools in Randolph and Guilford County. Hall plays guitar, piano, drums and the uku-lele. “I picked up the guitar when I was 12 or 13,” said Hall. “But I’ve been around music since I can re-member, so it’s always been a part of me.” In 2006, Hall began study-ing voice at the University of North

C a r o l i n a School of the Arts. In 2009,

Hall joined friends Daniel Seriff and Na-

than Scott to form Small Town Gossip, an acoustic pop folk band.

LIVING OFF THE MUSIC “When I was a teen-

ager, I decided I wanted

to study music at a collegiate level,” said Hall. “I was studying classical, but I was writing folk and I knew that at some point this was what I wanted to do. So I took what I felt were the necessary steps to do that. I left school and started to record and play shows.” Since the popularity and growth of social media websites, such as Myspace, advertising and

building a fan base is easier. Since their found-ing, Small Town Gossip has created a

YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace accounts. Myspace, Face-book’s competition, is still one of the top websites for indie artists to use to share their music and build up their fan base. “The music industry is get-ting flipped upside down for really great reasons,” said Hall. “For an in-dependent artist, it’s great because there is so much technology and it’s so easy to get your music in people’s hands, people’s ears.” A decade ago, an artist’s dream was to see their CD on the rack in the local record store. Today, iTunes is the place to be. Hall has one album on iTunes and is current-ly working on his second. “Small Town Gossip is this idea, this name, this brand,” said Hall. “It’s the brand of my music

“The music industry is getting flipped upside down for really great

reasons,” said Hall.

By Jacki Higgins

that I write. My music, the CD, it’s on iTunes, it’s on the website, but you can also stream it on the site. You can just sit there, and potential-ly just take your computer wherever you want and listen to us for free.”

CHALLENGES TO THE MUSICIAN LIFESTYLE “It’s becoming a do-it-your-self industry,” said Neima Abdula-hi, a student and founder of Lime-light Records at Elon University. Conor Ambrose, another member of the Limelight Records team at Elon U n i v e r s i t y, agrees with Abdulahi say-ing that if you have the raw talent that fans are look-ing for, you don’t need the labels. According to the U.S. De-partment of Labor, many musi-cians find only part-time work and experience unemployment between engagements. They often find other jobs. The stress of constantly look-ing for work leads many musicians

to accept permanent full-time jobs in other occupations while working part time as musicians. “It’s hard to sustain finan-cially,” said Hall. “There’s so many ways for people to get things for free. There are so many ways for a venue to say ‘well this person will play it for free when this person is asking for x amount of dollars’ when in their eyes you’re doing the same thing.” While money problems loom dangerously in the background, art-ists need to stay true to themselves. The job they do to supplement the

lack of mon-ey may lead them away from their passion. “The hard-est obstacle is staying true to your identity, staying au-

thentic,” said Abdulahi. “If you’re wanting to reach a larger mass, there is no way to satisfy everyone.”

THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IN SCHOOLS Many universities across the United States are offering degrees

city stereo

Genre: India/Pop/RockLocation: United KingdomAlbums Out: Dance Like You Mean ItMembers:

Russell James -VocalsRyan Kowalewski- GuitarRyan Scott- GuitarAndrew Shipsey- DrumsDom Luke- Bass

Websites: http://www.facebook.com/citystereohttp://citystereo.bandcamp.com/

small town gossip

Genre: Acoustic/Pop/FolkLocation: Winston-Salem, N.C.Albums Out: Small Town GossipMembers:

Steven Hall- vocals & guitarDaniel Seriff- guitar- taking break from bandNathan Scott- bass- taking break from band

Websites: http://smalltowngossipmusic.com/ http://smalltowngossip.bandcamp.com/

“The hardest obstacle is staying true to your identity, staying authentic,”

said Abdulahi.

to students that will advance them in the music industry. Ten years ago, the only music degrees were for students studying classical music, music education or music theater. Now, universities like Belmont, Elon and Berklee offer degrees ranging from commercial music, music tech-nology and songwriting. Even though many artists traditionally drop out of school to follow their star aspirations, many more seem to be staying in school to finish a degree in some form of commercial music program. “It certainly gives you a leg up,” said Tony Sawyer, a music tech-nology professor at Elon University. Sawyer teaches the Introduction to Music Technology at Elon, which explores the effects of changing technology on music and provides an introduction to music software and hardware. Elliot Mazer agreed with Sawyer saying that it would be good to get the degree while “you wait to make it” in the business. The National Association of Schools of Music is made up of 641 accredit-ed college-level programs in music, undergraduate and graduate pro-grams. The schools are all across the

country. “There used to be no school-ing for it,” said Sawyer. “It was all about experience and meeting peo-ple. Now you see more and more higher education.”

MUSIC EXPERIENCE FOR THE AVERAGE COLLEGE STUDENT At Elon University, Lime-light Records is a student-run record label. It aims to provide students with an interest in the industry a chance to experience it on a smaller scale. “There was a need for it,” said Abdulahi, speaking about the reasons behind the launch of Lime-light Records. Limelight Records is work-ing with three artists this year: Josh Bonney, San Luis and Lizzie Bassen. Students handle the song record-ings, distribution of physical and online sales, event promotion, book-ing, and artist representation. “I hope to get a stronger sense of how a label works in the real world,” said Kristen Shea, a member of the Limelight Records team. “Limelight is only composed of a few artists, but it will give us a

destins tide

Genre: Powerpop/ PunkLocation: Seagrove, N.C.Albums Out: In progressMembers:

Rob Redding - vocalsMicheal Brantley - drumsLucas Hill - guitarBrian Fitzgerald - guitarMitch Smith - bass

Websites: http://www.purevolume.com/destinstideofficial http://www.myspace.com/breathenc

phoenix highway

Genre: Alternative/ Pop-Rock/CountryLocation: Elon, N.C.Albums Out: American BlendMembers:

Jacob Danieley- guitar, piano & vocalsFrank Hurd - guitar, piano & vocalsBen Soldate - bassMichael Lobacz - guitar, piano & vocals

Websites: www.facebook.com/Phoenix-Highway, www.reverbnation.com/phoenixhighway

better relationship with the artists and work through the business and creative aspects of our label.” “I hope to have a finished product [album] by graduation,” said senior Michael Margiotta, a strategic communications major and artist management team leader at Limelight Records. L i m e -light Records holds auditions for new artists near the be-ginning of the school year.

BEATING INTO THE FUTURE The opportunities for peo-ple interested in the music industry is off the charts. New media and software, like Facebook, Twitter and Garage Band, are helping to change the beat of the music industry. “There’s no barriers be-tween the fans and artists,” said Ambrose. “Social media has really made it easier to get a fan base,” said Margiotta. “There are going to be more smaller labels with more of a manager role.” Clay Stevenson, a music

KNOW THE PAST TO FIX THE FUTURE Since 2006, recorded mu-sic revenue dropped from $36 bil-lion to $34.6 billion. “It’s estimated that the mu-sic industry has $15 million to $16 million in losses,” said Steve Gor-don, an entertainment lawyer for Sony Music Entertainment. “Even with digital downloads, they are making less and less on each trans-action.” In 2006, Ipsos Public Af-fairs conducted research on the public opinion of the price of digital downloads. In the U.S., 52 percent of adult music listen-ers believe the price to be fair, but 19 percent says it is too expensive. Digital downloads, using legal means like iTunes, has slowly been increasing since 2006.

“There’s no barriers between the fans and

artists,” said Ambrose.

technology professor at Elon Uni-versity, composer and producer, says that the future of the music industry will be more free music for the pub-lic but there will be more ads. Web-sites such as Spotify, Pandora and Grooveshark will continue to grow and expand. According to Gartner Inc.

a technol-ogy research and advisory company, on-line music subscription

services, such as Spotify, will be the main growth sector in the mu-sic market, showing fivefold growth from 2010 to 2015. The music industry will sur-vive. It may become more decen-tralized. Digital downloads using iTunes and other legal programs will continue to increase. “There are times when things seem like they are going the exact way that I want to,” said Hall. “It’s important to never to stop, and never give up. If something not-so-great happens, it’s important to turn it into something positive. You just have to do it.”

Russell James in City Stereo opening for McFly in Wembley Arena in London

Illustrastations and infogrpahics by Jacki Higgins. Band photos courtesy of the bands.