Why Music Market Is Going Down?

Academic

Continuing the yesterday's post about EMI cutting costs and becoming profitable again. As noted I am glad that EMI is being restructured, but I would not hail for the current success of the label becoming profitable again. Unless there is deeper reasons for this fortune turnaround....by the way, this is the reason I turned away from music into films.

Following text from my academic study in 2006:
Significance Of Album Cover Art As A Branding Tool

Musicologist and philosopher Theodor Adorno (1941), who is possibly the most significant theorist in discussions about popular music, argued that popular music is nothing but entertainment and far from music’s true aesthetics. However Longhurst (1995) analysed Adorno’s extremely critical approach to popular music as being not a criticism of musical content, but a concern between music that is market orientated and music that is not. In other words, Adorno raises the question if marketing and branding requirements limit the quality of music from musicological point of view. In relation to this, Brown & Patterson (2000) argue that marketing can be harmful for the artist. ‘Pop-culture and pop-art could be related to the ‘silent-disdain’ heritage sites, as being entertaining rather than educating; displace decontextualised art; being all the same despite minor surface variations.’ They especially point out that all art is in the hands of multi-national capital and mendacious marketers with logos, branding and promo stunts. In short, business orientation is trivialising and twisting the truth. ‘Worst of all they pursue lucre and profit maximation’. However, the Director of Barbican Art Centre in London, John Tusa (1999) says that even though art and marketing are distinct concepts, both have a similar goal of having an audience, which generates income to survive. So they have to live together in contemporary society.

In short, to turn around a music label one should not become market orientated, but combine the understanding of business orientated product/package and art orientated substance. Not just pursue the profit maximation. That is the way for a sustainable future.

Other arts pursue profits as well but still have opportunities for analytical and emotional study of the world. Therefore, and I repeat, I would like to see a report on the creative output as well.