patiencecworld

[patiencecworld]

The Attention Merchants: Instagram

Tim Wu captures the total history, and essence of this crazed phenonmenon we call Instagram. The level of intricate successes instagram has following its introduction to society, is impeccably shocking due to the fact that it was created from such an extremely low level of simplicity. Tim explains that the creators Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, were just two young ambitious people looking for a solid idea. Instagram, in all its simplicity, was the idea that would make them super successful. This groundbreaking, undemanding, idea consisted of a few main parts. Tim explains that, first, instagram amplified the users camera on their devices that could be applied to photos. Second, instagram was a photo-centered network, the photo was a requirement, and you could also send messages if needed. Picture plus amplification equals instagram. A foolproof plan that made them insanely rich. The concept was so easy to understand everyone started to use it so fast. Tim explains that instagram had a few important characteristics that differentiated it from Facebook. The first being that it had a self-portrait, otherwise known as the infamous ‘Selfie’ emphasis, as opposed to a more inclusive photo vibe. For example, Tim paints the picture this way, on Facebook pictures with your family and the dog sort of match the overall tone of the site, but instagram is a more self-celebrity vibe, each ‘selfie’ photo is meant to amplify the self to a more glamorized state. Which leads to the second point he made about instagram revolutionizing the ‘like’ system. 

At a point you could like photos on Facebook (but you couldn’t show emotion to it back then), it used a thumbs up emoji, but for instagram they utilize the heart symbol for their like feature. The heart is already heavily connotated with love, so even if someone just likes a picture, the user feels some hightened or exaggerated sense of satisfaction, which is by all means arbitrary. In fact, Tim goes as far as saying users became addicted to the likes (and can’t forget the comments, and followers) on instagram, it became a way for ‘self-affirmation.’ And third, instagram attracted a younger crowd. He painted the picture this way, young people were all flocking to instagram while their grandparents were just discovering Facebook. Mass attention was shifting towards instagram, and away from any other social media platforms. 

Instagram captivated the human gaze, and like Tim said business would soon follow. Not just for the creators, however, each individual user had the ability to capitalize off of their number of followers, and engagement. If a person has a large following, like Kim Kardashian for instance, a vast number of sponsorship, partnership, and job opportunities will follow. Instagram gave each person, each user a power, a power to gain attention. If you use Instagram correctly you could become a internet sensation overnight! In some way that in itself is extremely revolutionary, but it helped users, and business people understand that there is a value in being able to find large groups of concentrated attention. Which brings me to my next talking point about the resale of attention. When people get big sponsorships by companies, and various brand usually has little to do with the person themselves, but the audience that engages with them. They have a huge amount of eyes on them, and that’s what business heads are looking for. The future of instagram is bright, the only competition it really has right now is Snapchat, but they are two totally different experiences, and I don’t think users have figured out ways to resale the attention of Snapchat, like they have done with Instagram. Both platforms exist without interfering with the other, and will continue to thrive…until the NEXT BIG THING blows them out the water. History always repeats itself.

#PatienceCarter TimWu

[patiencecworld]

What’s the recent news this week?

The only thing any of these music blogs, and websites could talk about related to music industry business is how streaming services, like, you guessed it, SPOTIFY saved the music industry. This isn’t a new topic of discussion, but why is everyone talking about it this week? Well, as I mentioned in a previous post Spotify and Universal came to an agreement about their music regulation.

The question is now profitability?

Well, according to some reports Streaming is making money. In fact,  Nielsen said earlier this year that on-demand streaming had generated more revenue than digital album and track sales for the first time in 2016. So there’s really no question that streaming is making money. So then what is the real question here?

Is streaming here to stay? Or will there be a next BIG THING?

I think the Music industry already has it’s hands full trying to figure out how to regulate streaming services. Universal and Spotify’s recent agreement is proof of that. But I honestly don’t think the music industry is going to find another platform that benefits them as much as streaming. This is a digital age we're in, yes, technology is always advancing, of course, but as far as music listening goes, I think we may have reaching the ceiling. The music industry should focus on making streaming even more profitable, because I highly doubt there’s anything topping streaming anytime soon. Streaming is already making up more than half of the revenue of the music industry. As of right now, I can’t envision some other service coming along and stealing their thunder. But as streaming services continue to gain in popularity, and profitability, I would caution the major record labels to look out for more independent endeavours from artists. Apple Music is already successfully getting major artists, like Drake and Taylor Swift to enter into exclusive deals! The moment these services figure out a way to intercept these labels with new talent, a new conglomerate may be on the rise.  

[patiencecworld]

What’s the recent news this week?

Recent news reported that Spotify and one of the top three record labels in the world- Universal Music, has entered into a deal to regulate the relationship between music listeners on their platform, and some of Universal’s top artists. Instead of granting users of Spotify’s ad-supported free tier access to the full catalogue of music on the streaming service, they will have to choose between paying up – the paid-for tier begins at £9.99 a month – or waiting another two weeks.

What’s been Spotify’s strategy?

Luring more and more users in, hoping that they will eventually want to gain more access by upgrading to a paid subscription. But for the most part, they’re business hasn’t been very profitable, but popular -yes. I guess Spotify, and Universal alike understand that the artist’s music should be valued more than it has on their platform.

What does this news mean for the overall music industry?

Going from Spotify, limiting access of free-users, to the overall music industry is a big jump. But let’s break it down in steps. When free users learn that they will not have access to their favorite artist’s music album until two weeks after it has been released they might just go ahead and pay for the upgrade. I doubt that anyone will want to wait to whole weeks to join the conversation on their favorite songs. However, it may prompt the free user to go to illegal lengths to obtain the music catalogue, and free services like Spotify created a system where people no longer have to download from illegal sites. But some people are not going to be willing, or may not be able to afford that extra $9.99 a month on top of their other responsibilities. Another option that may happen is users could actually go to Youtube more, and find the album there if it’s available. But all in all, I feel like this change to Spotify will have over 40 million free users searching for a new way to listen to their music free faster. The options they have are slim, but illegal downloading my go up, which for the music industry is bad, because that means NO money, not even miniscule streaming payouts for artists. This deal may spark that trend, and now that technology has gotten even more advanced, illegal downloading will be made easier. I would caution Spotify, and Universal to think about how they go about this change. I think they should prompt people first, letting them know the change is coming. If they are suddenly sprung with these new limitations they may feel a distrust to the brand, and in order for them to want to stick around and pay for an upgrade the brand loyalty with consumer has to be strong.

#spotify #technology #digital music and audio #music #music industry

[patiencecworld]

“Now, we can combine the best of three worlds: Google Music, YouTube Music, and Spotify.” What does the combination of Google, Spotify, and Youtube look like for us, the consumers that benefit from having mutiple different places to listen to music? Well, for sure, were going to have to start paying for a lot of music! No youtube?! I don’t know about you guys but I didn’t mind waiting 30 seconds to listen to a song. But now, with Google’s plan to acquire Spotify for 41.1 Billion in a equity deal, the way we get our music may rapidly change.  Google is extremely excited to make Spotify apart of their “family,” and I’m really not surprised. Spotify has dramatically transformed the way the music industry distributes content, unlike Google music, which is really non- existent in comparison.

 Google knows that it needs a massive power like Spotify to help redefine their music streaming service, and overall their music program image, because no one, at least not me, prefers Google music over Spotify. Now, this multi-billion dollar plan also includes Youtube music, which the article describes as a more unorganized platform with a ton of content. It will be extremely interesting to see how these huge conglomerates come together. Perhaps this will be a good thing for music consumers. Maybe combining these serivces could create a better music listening experience.

#spotify

[patiencecworld]

Spotify Records

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/03/21/fix-spotify-save-music-industry/ Is this not the best article in the world or what? Is this not what our second part of the project is on? New emerging technologies shaking up traditional systems, complicating the old-school business models while offering a fresh optimistic look on the entire industry as a whole! I'm focused on music for my project, and this article is the bread and butter of what I'll be talking about! Ok, let me catch you up to speed. Writer, Paul Resnikoff decided to create an article detailing how the music industry would change if Spotify opted to make their own music label. And needless to say it was brilliant! He strongly suggests that Spotify has the star power to become the world's fourth major record label. How does it work? Well, he believes Spotify could become profitable by attracting talent, giving them amazing deals, in exchange for free licensing rights. But the talent would have 100% of their copyrights! As far as Apple Music royalties goes, he suggest Spotify help negotiate deals with Apple, similar to the other major record labels. Leaving Apple in responsibility to pay talent royalties as opposed to Spotify themselves. Since Spotify already had over 400 million paid subscribers getting the buzz going about a new artist would be easy considering they can just include it in people's playlists. This world Paul is describing seems like an oasis for artists new and old! Spotify, still may be hit with Royalty rates from the other major labels, but just like Netflix, at some point they'll cross that mark of profitability! Netflix create their own content and put it out for the world to see, it would be no different if Spotify did a similar thing by releasing their own new artists! This could severely change the Music industry as we know it! What artists wouldn't want complete copyrights over there own music? Major labels take huge cuts of everything an artist makes, even Spotify Records is just an idea at the moment, it should be taken into serious consideration! Shoot, i'd sign with them.

[patiencecworld]

Streaming is definitely the new wave of the music business. But gosh Spotify! 50 million paid subscribers is just ridiculous. They were already at a whooping 30 million subscribers less than a year ago, leaving Apple Inc in the dust at a measly 20 million paid subscribers. However, they also have millions, and millions of people subscribed for free! I’ll let you do the math on that one. This company has just reached a new all time high, and this says alot about the direction of the music industry. It’s helped record sales a ton, and help offset that pesky piracy problem that damaged the industry over 20 years ago. All record sales have been up, and growing at a faster pace then ever before. 

This is all great, but the three major record labels, Sony, Universal, and Warner aren’t jumping right away to make any long-term deals with Spotify, despite their exponential growth over the last few years. What is it going to take for one of the conglomerates to realize that this trend of streaming music is going to be around for a long time, and getting the upper hand would be the smartest move for them. Spotify is also pressured for these negotiations with the labels to turn into a solid deal as well. They have investors that are looking to see these partnerships happens. The longer the labels wait to make a permanent move with Spotify, the more leverage spotify will have with its consistently audience growth each year. 

[patiencecworld]

Apple over the past decade has been making huge investments in music streaming services, like Spotify, and now it seems as if it’s all paying off. The article states that Apple, a definite monopoly, has around 246 billion dollars in a bank account somewhere that’s returning 2% interest per annum. Compared to Spotify, the losses they took in revenue for 2015 amount to two weeks of revenue for Apple. The fact is that Apple just keeps on growing, but as the article explains the big three major record labels, and independent producers of content are all apart of a ecosystem. Apple now apart of this system is going to suck all the resources completely dry, leaving it at the center for all others to draw unto it for it’s services solely. 

At this point the big three labels are enjoying Apple for their large buyout deals and lumps of cash in exchange for content, but they need to start thinking about the big picture. Here’s the deal, Apple can effortless afford to lose money and still continue to rise to the top as the only streaming service. Well, is that really so bad? The answer is yes, because artists are already fighting for better compensation with music streaming services, and with Apple having monopolized power this could lead the abuse of music rights. Independent companies are not going to be able to survive with a giant like Apple at the center taking control of all the major moves.

#spotify

[patiencecworld]

This week’s article I chose to write about really strikes a chord, because the main concept our professor has been emphasizing throughout this entire course is the understanding power of attention. The person or company that can gather the most attention and keep it, wins. When applying this ideology to the music business I learned that there are some very strong parallels between how an artists generates buzz about a tour or album, and the way top media companies remain relevant. Surely, the music business has it own formula of generating revenue through various streaming services like YouTube and Spotify, but the article reveals how TV still plays a major part in the success of an artist. 

When were talking about attention and gathering more eyeballs, as a company or as a artist, what better time to try to get them then when there’s millions of people watching a screen all at once. Despite huge changes in technology, and an influx of this On-Demand lifestyle, some of the largest live televised events are still The Grammy’s and The Super Bowl. The Grammy’s had over 26 million eyeballs glued to the screen watching Adele and Beyonce battle it out. Lady Gaga’s half-time performance garnished a whooping 117.5 million viewers! What does this tell us? People are still watching TV for major live events, and the music business surely has taken advantage of this realization. 

The music industry can be dramatically influenced by these moments of attention influx. The article explains that just about every performer at The Grammy’s saw a bump in their downloads, and streams. But the person that benefited the most from both of these major live events was Lady Gaga. The article claims that her album was stagnant since last year, with singles failing short of even the top 30 songs. But after her performances her even her modest seller ‘Joanne’ jumped to No. 2 on the charts from No. 66! And it gets even better the song ‘A Millon Reasons’ that charted nowhere, leaped to No. 4! This just goes to say that TV still has some room in altering the order of the music in industry. The more attention an artist gets, the more downloads, and streams they get. There major live events are extremely helpful for artists who may not have it within their budget to promote their new music, tour, or album releases on a mass scale. 

#joanne (album) #PatienceCarter

[patiencecworld]

Prince & Universal, New Music Deals, Even Now?

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38927235

Even after his death, Prince, Music legend and icon is in the midst of a music streaming deal, well of course not prince himself, but his music. Leading this deal is the biggest music company in the world, Universal. Prince has sold over 100 million albums worldwide, who can forget his number one hits Purple Rain, Let's go Crazy and Kiss. But apparently, Prince’s estate owes over $100 million dollars in taxes! So one way to cover the cost is by selling his music from his private, and some would say sacred, archive. An official value of the deal hasn’t emerged yet, but there were some reports last october claiming an approximate number of $35 million. 

Universal said the deal gave it exclusive licensing rights to Prince's "highly anticipated trove of unreleased works". It has also acquired the rights to 25 albums that Prince released through NPG Records, the label that he founded.

[patiencecworld]

Google to Buy SoundCloud

Google is planning on buying SoundCloud for a whooping $500 million dollars! That's right $500 million big bucks. Originally SoundCloud was negotiating a deal with Spotify, but they recently backed out of the deal, because SoundCloud wanted $1 billion dollars and nothing less! But settling for $500 million isn't too bad either. "The report also includes information on the stake each of the three major record labels hold in SoundCloud, apparently culled from annual financial filings. According to the report's "rough approximation," Universal, Sony, and Warner Music cumulatively own somewhere in the neighborhood of 8% to 9% of the company, and could cash in to the tune of $45 million on a $500 million sale." I couldn't believe my eyes! I wonder how Spotify feels now knowing that Google is preparing to take over SoundCloud.

[patiencecworld]

#Selfie for tonight!! 💋💋💋🙊🙊👌👌 #Makeup #OnFleek

#onfleek #selfie #makeup

[patiencecworld]

Omw outttttt!! #NYC #LastWeek #Turnup

#turnup #nyc #lastweek

[patiencecworld]

All my exes live in Texas! #MissMe Playing around & having a little fun walking down the stairs (trying not to fall on my face! Lol) #singing but not really

#singing #missme

[patiencecworld]

Watch this!!! PHILLY COMEDIAN!! @chillrell !!!!!!!!!!!! REPOST THIS GUYS!! @Regrann from @magor15 - 😂😂My boy @chillrell is the Future of comedy #hilarious #comedian #comedy #funny @kevinhart4real #kattwilliams #Regrann 👑👌 #phillysupportsphilly #Philly #funny #comedian #New #Legend (at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

#funny #kattwilliams #regrann #philly #comedian #hilarious #new #comedy #phillysupportsphilly #legend

[patiencecworld]

Guess where I am for like 2 Seconds? #Hmmm??

#hmmm

[patiencecworld]

#Goodmorning busy morning! :) 👏👏👏

#goodmorning

[patiencecworld]

Lol this selfie looks weird but I'm Omw to go Party with my #OBW squad :) #Turnup #NYC #YellowBabe

#turnup #obw #yellowbabe #nyc