1) The Music Industy has Four Big Record Labels which are as stated above , the four are internationally known conglomerates .Below are some digrams I've created which show the some of the smaller companies that the big 4 own
2) The music industry is in financial trouble with the increase of illegal downloads sales are down 7% from From 128.8 million to 119.9 million in the uk .Since the arrival of iTunes people seem to have opted for digital download and being able to purchase individual singles rather than purchase a whole album, which is evident as the sales of singles are the only thing that seem to be on the increase. The decrease has affected retailers like zavvi whom closed down and hmv who had to close around 60 stores .The decrease in sales has affected the music industry greatly as many small records labels have closed down and the decrease into the “Big Four” music companies is another example.
The decline in sales has lead to many artists resorting to other means to make money . The most popular method seems to be touring & concerts where fans can purchase merchandise which often makes the artist more money in a shorter period of time. Another way for artists to make money is from subscription services such as companies like spoitfy with nearly 1 million subscribers in the uk .Spotify charge a monthly fee for subscribers to listen to music and depending on how many plays a certain artists get’s a return.
Another method artists are trying to use to sell records is music videos but this only works sometimes . Music videos server the purpose of promotion which in cases encourages audiences to buy the song. This is the case with OK Go who attracted audiences with their video here it goes again they went from a fairly unknown band to being an “overnight success” when their video went viral which boosted the groups records sales for a time .
