MEDIALITERACYCase StudyThe Rise of Digital Music

By John Dougan

It is a success story that could have only happened in the hyperspeed of the digital age. Since its debut in April 2003, iTunes has gone from an intriguing concept to the number-one music retailer (surpassing retail giant Walmart) in the United States. Boasting a customer base of fifty million, a library of six million songs, and sales in excess of ten billion dollars, iTunes has conclusively proven that consumers, irrespective of age, have readily and happily adapted to downloading, preferring it to purchasing CDs. Frustrated by escalating CD prices and convinced that most releases contained only a few good songs and too much filler—not to mention the physical clutter created by CDs—many consumers have begun to shop on digital music sites, which offer them an à la carte menu with which they can cherry-pick their favorite tracks and build a music library that is easily stored on a hard drive, transferable to an MP3 player, and, increasingly, accessible from other computers or devices via a cloud drive: a third-party server that stores files externally from personal devices.

The move toward digital music has also forever altered the way music fans locate and access nonmainstream music and recordings by unsigned bands. If iTunes resembles a traditional retailer with a deep catalogue, then a competitor such as eMusic is the online equivalent of a specialty record store, designed for connoisseurs who are uninterested in mass-marketed pop. The success of social networking sites and music blogs has made them important gathering places for virtual communities of fans for thousands of bands in dozens of genres. The Internet is changing not only how consumers are exposed to music but how record label A&R (artist and repertoire) departments scout talent. A&R reps, who no longer travel as much to locate talent, are searching for acts that do their own marketing and come with a built-in fan following.

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The digital age has also made the album-length CD increasingly obsolete. And though digital downloading allows consumers greater and more immediate access to music, aesthetically it harks back to the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the 45-rpm single was dominant and the most reliable indicator of whether a song was a hit. Downloading a variety of tracks means that consumers build their own collection of virtual 45s that, when taken as a whole, becomes a personalized greatest-hits collection. Some artists imagine a future where they no longer release full albums but a series of individual tracks that consumers can piece together however they please.

But if the death knell has been sounded for the compact disc, what of the digital download? In 2010, there were those who claimed that after only seven years, iTunes was showing its age and would at some point face a stiff challenge from Google’s Android mobile operating system. With Android, users are able to purchase music from any computer and have the files appear instantly on their phones. Users are able to send the music on their hard drive to the Internet, so they can access it on their phone as long as they have an Internet connection—a cloud drive that detaches music from a personal, physical device. However, in 2011 Apple developed a Web-based iTunes (iTunes in the Cloud) and went further with iTunes Match, which allows users to upload all their music (even if not purchased through iTunes) to the cloud and play it on all their devices. Perhaps, then, the future means accessing music from anywhere at any time.

APPLYING THE CRITICAL PROCESS

DESCRIPTION Arrange to interview four to eight friends or relatives about how they purchase music today. Where do they buy most of their music—online through sites like iTunes, or in a retail store? When is the last time they bought a CD from a retail store? Devise questions about what makes them decide where to purchase music.

ANALYSIS Chart and organize your results. Do you recognize any patterns emerging from the data? What influences your friends’ purchasing behaviors? Have their actions changed over time?

INTERPRETATION Based on the patterns you have charted, determine what they mean. Over time, have the changes in buying been significant? Why or why not? Why do you think people’s buying preferences developed as they did?

EVALUATION Do you think the influence of MP3 and other new digital technology forms helps or hurts musical artists? Why do so many contemporary musical performers differ in their opinions about the Internet?

ENGAGEMENT To expand on your findings and see how they match up with industry findings, go to your local retail store and speak with a customer service representative about the buying patterns in the store. Has he or she noticed a shift in retail buying in the last five years? Share your findings with the representative and discuss whether your data match. Speculate about ways retail stores can survive alongside the digital community.

John Dougan is a professor in the Department of Recording Industry at Middle Tennessee State University.