 |
| TNW |
The economic principle I’m exploring is: Institutions are the “rules of the game” that influence choices.
My research question to help me study the economic principle is: Is YouTube a good way to make a living for musicians?
The article published in The Guardian, a British daily newspaper, titled “Is YouTube wrecking the music industry – or putting new artists in the spotlight?” demonstrates this economic principle by arguing/showing that YouTube is a great place to start in the music industry and helps a lot, but is not perfect yet with problems with copyrights and paying the artist. But in time, it will be its own competitor to major record companies.
YouTube is a great place for finding how-to guides, sitting back and enjoying funny comedy shows, or just catching up on favorite vloggers (video bloggers) or celebrities. But also a big thing to do on YouTube is listening to music which can be heard in every country in the world expect 3 (Here is why). This creates problems for those in the “old” music industry who wants copyrights to be heavily enforced in every way possible as it always were, but for those getting in the music industry, they see a “new” business. They see “YouTube as a facilitator of a creative renaissance rather than a death sentence.”
Leeds-based singer-songwriter Hannah Trigwell describes discovering YouTube’s promotional potential as “like finding treasure”. “I didn’t have a fanbase at the time and it was difficult to get gigs with promoters because no one knew who I was,” she says. She praises the immediacy of the YouTube platform, whereby she can get instant feedback on songs or works in progress, as well as its global reach. A cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car was a success on her channel and the “data tools YouTube supplies to all users revealed an unexpected detail: her fastest growing audience was in south-east Asia.” Although Trigwell knows she cannot survive on YouTube income alone, she believes it provides opportunities for profit to be made. “YouTube is definitely my main focus, but it is primarily a promotional tool,” she says. “The things that come indirectly from YouTube – the touring and selling merchandise online – would be impossible without it.” “Even the biggest YouTube stars are developing businesses outside of YouTube – doing a book or making movies,” Candice Morrissey, head of YouTube music partnerships in Europe, the Middle East and Africa says. “That makes a lot of sense. YouTube is the focus for them as that is where their engaged audience is.”
In my opinion, I think YouTube is a great place to be and should be its own place for people to run their business on. It a more direct and faster way to know how I am doing and/or what I need to improve on. I mean even big artists are using YouTube, but I wish YouTube will pay better so artist don’t have to start businesses outside of YouTube. I wish they can collaborate with other so artist don’t have to do the extra work.
But big artists such as Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Taylor Swift, who are steadfast in their belief that YouTube must be taken to task. They want better protection copyright infringement and better pay. Traditionally, it has been the label that has sat between the artist and the audience, and their business model has revolved around sound recording rights: “insisting on being paid for every use and refusing to loosen their stranglehold on copyrights.” The business model behind NCS (NoCopyrightSounds) is to use YouTube and YouTubers to build interest in music and for that to be monetized elsewhere. It regards YouTube as “the starting point to make money through other channels – primarily via links to Spotify and Apple Music.” All they had to do was list the name of the artist and song so any viewers, if they liked the music, could investigate further. “I was just promoting free music,” they said. Alan Walker, a YouTuber, and creator of the reworked song, Faded, could soon be a superstar thanks to this new ecosystem. He got his break via NCS.
The music business has never been completely united on any industry change, and YouTube is no exception. James Gaster, the founder of Mahogany Sessions, a YouTube channel designed to showcase and break new acts, is hopeful that YouTube and their opposers will reach a middle ground where artists are being [properly] remunerated and YouTube continues to grow its platform and its offerings to artists. “YouTube has given us and many independent artists an audience and an opportunity to build a brand. That’s allowed us to exercise a business that goes far beyond what’s on YouTube.”
As I have seen, the music business has never been completely united on any industry change, and YouTube is no exception. Maybe one day this will be fixed and people will be better off in the music industry.
In my next blog post, I will research the question: What are the economics of Pandora, Spotify, and other streaming services for newer vs more established artists?
YouTube is a great place for finding how-to guides, sitting back and enjoying funny comedy shows, or just catching up on favorite vloggers (video bloggers) or celebrities. But also a big thing to do on YouTube is listening to music which can be heard in every country in the world expect 3 (Here is why). This creates problems for those in the “old” music industry who wants copyrights to be heavily enforced in every way possible as it always were, but for those getting in the music industry, they see a “new” business. They see “YouTube as a facilitator of a creative renaissance rather than a death sentence.”
Leeds-based singer-songwriter Hannah Trigwell describes discovering YouTube’s promotional potential as “like finding treasure”. “I didn’t have a fanbase at the time and it was difficult to get gigs with promoters because no one knew who I was,” she says. She praises the immediacy of the YouTube platform, whereby she can get instant feedback on songs or works in progress, as well as its global reach. A cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car was a success on her channel and the “data tools YouTube supplies to all users revealed an unexpected detail: her fastest growing audience was in south-east Asia.” Although Trigwell knows she cannot survive on YouTube income alone, she believes it provides opportunities for profit to be made. “YouTube is definitely my main focus, but it is primarily a promotional tool,” she says. “The things that come indirectly from YouTube – the touring and selling merchandise online – would be impossible without it.” “Even the biggest YouTube stars are developing businesses outside of YouTube – doing a book or making movies,” Candice Morrissey, head of YouTube music partnerships in Europe, the Middle East and Africa says. “That makes a lot of sense. YouTube is the focus for them as that is where their engaged audience is.”
In my opinion, I think YouTube is a great place to be and should be its own place for people to run their business on. It a more direct and faster way to know how I am doing and/or what I need to improve on. I mean even big artists are using YouTube, but I wish YouTube will pay better so artist don’t have to start businesses outside of YouTube. I wish they can collaborate with other so artist don’t have to do the extra work.
But big artists such as Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Taylor Swift, who are steadfast in their belief that YouTube must be taken to task. They want better protection copyright infringement and better pay. Traditionally, it has been the label that has sat between the artist and the audience, and their business model has revolved around sound recording rights: “insisting on being paid for every use and refusing to loosen their stranglehold on copyrights.” The business model behind NCS (NoCopyrightSounds) is to use YouTube and YouTubers to build interest in music and for that to be monetized elsewhere. It regards YouTube as “the starting point to make money through other channels – primarily via links to Spotify and Apple Music.” All they had to do was list the name of the artist and song so any viewers, if they liked the music, could investigate further. “I was just promoting free music,” they said. Alan Walker, a YouTuber, and creator of the reworked song, Faded, could soon be a superstar thanks to this new ecosystem. He got his break via NCS.
The music business has never been completely united on any industry change, and YouTube is no exception. James Gaster, the founder of Mahogany Sessions, a YouTube channel designed to showcase and break new acts, is hopeful that YouTube and their opposers will reach a middle ground where artists are being [properly] remunerated and YouTube continues to grow its platform and its offerings to artists. “YouTube has given us and many independent artists an audience and an opportunity to build a brand. That’s allowed us to exercise a business that goes far beyond what’s on YouTube.”
As I have seen, the music business has never been completely united on any industry change, and YouTube is no exception. Maybe one day this will be fixed and people will be better off in the music industry.
In my next blog post, I will research the question: What are the economics of Pandora, Spotify, and other streaming services for newer vs more established artists?
No comments:
Post a Comment