Digital Music
Music in the Digital Age: from online to mobile Helen Shaw MD Athena Media, Dublin May 22 2007
Music as art & commodity
‘without music, life would be a mistake.’ Nietzsche ‘music expresses that which cannot be said and upon which it is impossible to be silent’. Victor Hugo
Music content and media
Music is both a mass and a one-to-one communicator – from live to production Ideal match for digital age Democratising creation and use Soundtrack of life Language of youth culture
Digital space – digital music
Myspace – 180 million users Bebo – over a million in Ireland YouTube – 100 mill clips a day iTunes – 40 million a day Amazon – Classical Blowout Mobiles+music – all content going wireless and mobile
Music like water
Gerd Leonhard www.musicfuturist.com Digital music utility licence Future lies in free flow of music BBC and Beethoven experience -free music can grow audiences and sales
Music & Rights
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Digital music model – music you like to share, when and where you want it Napster revolution still underway iTunes launching DRM free music (EMI) Microsoft to follow eMusic – DRM free music sales online 2006 – 2 billion DRM tracks to 20 billion DRM free
Digital & Ireland (ComReg)
Broadband – 12.2% (end Dec 06) Internet users- 49% of homes 73% of broadband are home users 111% mobile penetration 1.6 bill SMS a quarter 51% of all homes get digital TV 11% download music
Podcasting – the story so far
Feb 2004 – ‘podcasting’ – Guardian 2.5 million mob podcast users in UK 17 million US -70% growth in six months (Pew download research) 75% through iTunes Over 90,000 podcasts Over 46% used are music -US
Ireland and digital music
More downloads than CDs sold 10% of Irish Internet users use podcasts (3% every day) Average audiences in hundreds Total downloads on 02 Making Waves 40,000 (just over a year)
Classical music in a digital age
Messiah J and the Expert - Bloodrush
Sweetbox – Everything’s Gonna Be Alright Anuna:Sensation – Whispers of Paradise
02 Making Waves
Weekly online radio/podcast channel The Chakras – 10,000 downloads – embedded podcast in www.myspace.com/thechakras Used sms+bebo/myspace audience to push their latest album on radio Using online as engine to push sales and gig tickets
Irish digital music space
Cora Venus Lunny: musician www.myspace.com/coravenuslunny Her own site offers MP3 samples/photos/media and bio She uses myspace to sample her work and blog
Irish digital music examples….
RTE Lyric fm – Mozart/Lyric Commissions (2004) (Frankie Gavin) www.kilkennymusic.com (gigs/blogs/events) IMRO – online music section –blank
Digital Music – what next?
Connecting is key – being where ears are - ubiquity Value is in creating an audience Move from DRM to ‘open’ access Sales flowing from events/unique productions/live performance – unique quality