The music industry's transformation and internship insights at Label USA

Communication Theories

The music industry is in a period of intense transformation that will likely challenge every traditional form of music promotion in the industry. Change has occurred rapidly with the technology boost that electronic music forms have provided for the consumer. Traditional "album" promotion is no longer the backbone of industry promotion. Revenue from singles sold electronically will likely be the future of artists' income and therefore production team income. (Fox, 2004, p. 201) it is for this reason that artist label promotion must strengthen and develop skills that support definitive budget development and streamlined communication systems especially until it is clear that how revenue will be gained in the production, distribution mix in the developing industry. Each traditional aspect of music promotion if it is going to survive must be evaluated and possibly changed to meet stricter margin requirements through efficiency and creativity. One manner in which creativity reigns is in the traditional and new forms of internship labor support. The intention of seeking a review of an internship experience is to develop an insight regarding changing needs of the industry and specifically a particular label from an outsider experienced in communication theory and modern music trends.

Through the evolution of technology, music today is both a service, provided by musicians, radios, or computers on the spot, and a hard good, shipped around the world in the form of plastic discs. In the future, wireless broadband Internet will make music into nearly a pure service industry. Hard goods will rarely be invited to the party when consumers can purchase the service of music either directly from the artist or from virtual record companies. These new business models will allow consumers to buy the experience of music wherever they are, by passing expensive middlemen, supporting creative artists, and likely increasing profitability both for the musician and their record labels. As wireless communications, recording, digital funds transfer, and other technologies progress, it will be easier and less costly for musicians to reach their audience. During the transition, this will scare record company executives and copyright lawyers, give hope to struggling musicians, and delight music lovers with more choice and lower prices. (Garland, 2003, p. 24)

In an attempt to anticipate and be less frightened by the transitions of the music industry Label USA has developed a scheme that it creative and productive by seeking to elicit outside/inside information from interns who have had communication experiences within the label over the course of the last year. The view of an intern is significantly different than that of an employee as he or she has the opportunity and ability to see within the inner workings of a company but also to see it from the perspective of an individual with limited buy in and emotional attachment to systems and programs that are traditional and/or new. As the industry is in transition doing things the way they have always been done is not necessarily the answer. That being said my internship experience at Label USA was a positive and fruitful experience and I believe if this experience was a reflection of industry adaptability and skill Label USA will likely be just fine in the future. I have been asked to provide a post intern consultation report that will develop a sense of both strengths and weaknesses for this company and help them put into perspective the needed communication changes or supports to help them transition into a more adaptive company in the future.

One aspect of Label USA that I found tremendously refreshing is the manner in which the label views the artists. Artists have traditionally been sheltered from the business side of music, a development of the early recording industry that was sadly very interested in retaining profits, even when the artists only experienced limited income potential from their work. (Garland, 2003, p.24) Label USA seems to be keenly aware that the artist is the reason for its existence and that supporting the artist is the essential goal of the company. For this reason the company pays significant attention to artist needs as well as accommodation. As an intern one of the main functions of my job was to help ensure artist support during touring dates, an essential label responsibility that should never be ignored as it is one of the ways in which the work that the label and specifically the promotions department of the label and the artist directly interact and if done correctly and in the black it can result in an offset of the losses that have been associated with the alteration in music sales over the last twenty years. The country music industry has been limitedly sheltered by the fact that the industry support is still largely made up of an older demographic, i.e. much less likely to be dependant on new formats for technology, but as ease of use of the technology increases and the demographic become more dependant on the electronic venue for other uses this will change. It has however offered the most popular music type in the world, country music a limited respite and the opportunity to watch other formats of music transition through this process.

The concert industry in North America generated $3.1 billion in ticket revenues in 2005, up from $1.3 billion in 1997 -- an increase of 138% (Pollstar 2005-Year-End Edition). In contrast, sales of pre-recorded music have suffered major setbacks. Global record sales have declined over the last four years, with 2005 sales of $21 billion, a 3% decline over 2004 (International Federation of Phonographic Industries). We have also seen a rise in music piracy, which deprives rights holders of royalties and, arguably, has contributed to a decline in the sales of pre-recorded music. The Recording Industry Association of America ("Anti-Piracy") estimated that music piracy costs the industry $4.3 billion per year.Aside from comprising a major revenue stream, the concert business is also important for artists' career development. As Hall and Blau observe, "Concerts generate and maintain the audience for popular music" (33) (Black, Fox & Kochanowski, 2007, p. 149)

Given that the Label USA is aware of the trends occurring in the music industry at this time it is also clear that streamlining communication with regard to venue production is essential to the development of a profitable concert tour dates. Tour support is in fact so essential to the end product of a happy consumer as well as happy artists and a profit margin that supports future label production and profitability that tour planning and communications of a particular tour date and venue are paramount. If a single loss is incurred due to lack of planning the tour can be sent into a tailspin of debt and therefore loss and almost as importantly the artist and vicariously the label reputation can be damaged, which defeats the purpose of touring as its essential goal is to build public awareness and support for the artist. The intern experience at Label USA was focused greatly on the venues that occurred during the length of my internship. This will therefore constitute a large portion of the work produced by this consultation process as tour revenue will likely become a transitional focus of revenue for the industry in the interim of change. (Garland, 2003, p. 24)

This work will utilize three communications theories to analyze and comment on the essential nature of Label USA company communication, as perceived by an exiting intern. As an intern I provided support for many aspects of the Label USA team, from clerical to planning. The clerical support requires limited discussion and interpersonal communication is not usually a major issue with regard to such support. I also had the responsibility of mailing out autographed promotional material as well as other promotional materials, again not something that requires an excessive amount of communication skill. The aspect of the internship that required the most communication skill and understanding was artist schedule planning and concert planning and support. Though it is difficult to develop suggestions for change within an experience that was mainly positive the essential nature of consultation is to develop perception of areas of both strengths and weaknesses so appropriate changes can be discussed and developed by the company. This is especially true of companies in industry transition, like the music label industry.

SWAT Analysis

The majority of the work I did as an intern within the Label USA company was with regard to the support of a single venue, as it required intense development over a long period of time. Though I provided support for many other venues, the time frame of my work at Label USA coincided with a highly communication intensive concert venue involving a local community, county fair board and a big name country artist. The scenario will be described below with collaborative suggestions for change and noted strengths associated with the event planning for this particular variant venue.

Strengths

Artist Communication

The weaknesses I experienced as a participant in the development of the bulk of my work as an intern, the fair concert, were limited as a result of the strength of the Label for adaptability. Any weaknesses I noticed were limited to individual communication skills and the need to constantly reiterate communication with the fair board and other concert stakeholders, including the artists, who also have individual experiences far greater than executives with different venues. In this particular situation the star sought for the venue was reluctant to commit to the tour date, as it was an additional to an already hard schedule and it was a fair venue which the artists was reluctant to play as a result of previous experiences with fair venues. Uncertainty reduction theory had to be used with regard to artists communication, when research on the actual venue was done and forwarded to the artist to ensure that she understood that the venue was very clean, high class and required only minimal adaptation for her crew. In addition the application of social penetration model theory was observed as the Label USA staff attempted to find another artist among the label that had played the venue and ask and then relate the experience to the sought artist so they might have a greater understanding of the venue and its different aspects. The further meetings should then be conducted in person to develop a better sense of the needs of the venue and the very limited alteration that would be required in the schedule of the artist, thus creating a positive social experience for the artist to associate with the venue and the schedule change. (Kalbfleisch, 1993, p. 172) a potential weakness in this situation is that not enough attention is paid to the artist with regard to schedule alterations. The stress and strain of touring is an essential challenge to any artist who chooses to do so and Labels are often integral in the development of such demands and in the later development of tour dates and meeting the artists needs while on tour. If not enough of this communication is conducted in person there is a substantial risk for the artist to feel unsupported and as if his or her time is demanded of them without concern for their needs or their potential displacement in the schedule.

Opportuniy

Emphasis on Technology

Technology is always an issue when dealing with board discussions as many meetings include relatively large groups on both sides of the conversation and limited if any face time between individuals and groups in the decision making process, for a venue such as the upcoming county fair. The Label support team, as I observed utilized adaptive structuration theory to resolve communication conflicts. Utilizing the conference call system, and specifically a newly designed online access conference system that required the county fair board only have a single laptop with a multidirectional microphone and a speaker to run the conference was utilized. The system had fully functioning support, as we learned during the first conference call when access to the system support team was necessary because the conference call was cut short. The fair board had limited opportunity to meet, as they share space in county offices that do not always have available technology or room for the board. With this new conference system and the adaptive functioning it offered the program could be used by any single member of the fair board with a laptop at their real office, rather than forcing all the volunteer members of the board to meet at the county office during business hours this venue offered them an opportunity to meet more conveniently and with less stress. The Label USA team had only used the system in two other venue planning cases but will likely continue to see it as a strength and use it frequently in just such scenarios as they are often difficult to navigate as board systems such as these are often limited in their ability to seek appropriate technology to support group communication.

Threats

The dynamic of the experience was demonstrative of challenge as the fair board is an motile group that has some limited experience with concert venues in the past and good and bad experiences but is also dealing with a significantly larger venue with the concert as just one small but integral part of it. Using the concepts of uncertainty reduction theory was most effective for me in understanding the group communication dynamic of this series of exchanges. The fair boards to some degree must micro manage the event itself as it is ultimately responsible for the outcome. Uncertainty reduction theory assumes that people seek predictability in their worlds, that uncertainty is uncomfortable, that people seek to reduce the anxiety that accompanies uncertainty, and that they will engage in specific communication behaviors to accomplish reduced uncertainty. As a result, Uncertainty Reduction Theory suggests a focus on the reduction of anxiety triggered by uncertainty.

(Sunwolf, 2006, p. 107)

Supporting this theory then the communication team supporting this venue must make certain that each of the individual board members as well as the group as a whole have their most pressing expressed concerns with past successes and failures answered with regard to the coming venue. Each individual and the group as a whole had expressed concerns (i.e. uncertainties) about the upcoming event that needed to be researched and answered by the Label USA organizers and local concert promoters. In doing so an intern or other support staff could be highly useful. Seeking out bad press on previous fair productions and then answering specific concerns could be utilized as well as each individual member being involved in an information session among Label USA employees to determine if there is previous experience regarding this or other local fair boards that could aide in the reduction of uncertainty for this particular board with regard to rights, responsibility and capacities of the venue. The worst case scenario of this event planning situation would be for Label USA employees to be unresponsive to the uncertainty needs of board members, creating further fears of event failures and problems.

Conclusion

The development of an effective team with regard to special projects communication is essential. Understanding the nature of the team in other representative collaborative camps is also essential. For a label to be successful in this period of extreme transformation of the industry it must emphasize profitability and therefore success of alternative streams of income, to the traditional physical music sales. Concerts are one area that can potentially offset the expenses of other changes by creating carefully orchestrated profitable venues. If such venues are not carefully orchestrated the potential for loss is very high, further stressing the nature of the industry. (Black, Fox & Kochanowski, 2007, p. 149) Each aspect of the company must understand the essential nature of its duties with regard to venue planning and effectively communicate with a variety of novel groups and organizations to ensure concert profitability and communication successes for future label endeavors. Strengths, such as adaptability must be furthered and supported, weaknesses such as limited face time in communications, threats such as overall industry change and particular novel venue communication and opportunities such as technology emphasis must be recognized for the manner in which they can increase or decrease productivity of planning in every aspect of the business. As my overall experience at Label USA was positive it was difficult to focus on weaknesses but easy to see strengths and threats. I hope that this work will serve as an effective guide for development in this aspect of the business in the future as it becomes more and more competitive and adaptive to future change. (Dunn, 1999, p. 12)