Monday, April 26, 2021 - 12:40 p.m. to 2 p.m.
https://unh.zoom.us/j/93379597302
Assistant Professor of Political Science Elizabeth Carter will deliver her lecture entitled Video Killed the Radio Star, Revisited: The Impact of the Digital Revolution on the Power Structures of the American Recording Industry on Zoom.
Few industries have undergone such rapid and radical transformation as the music industry over the past two decades. Digitization fundamentally altered how music is commoditized and consumed, turning the market upside down with peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing sites (i.e. Napster), social sites (i.e., MySpace, TikTok) and, eventually, streaming platforms (i.e., Spotify, Apple Music). At first glance, the musical digital revolution would be expected to benefit musicians. The costs to record and distribute music dropped precipitously, causing the costs of market entry for emerging artists to plummet. These technological innovations caused music’s historically most reviled industry actors—record labels —to become essentially functionally obsolete. But while more recorded music is being consumed than in any other time in human history, the average earnings for 98.6% of Spotify’s recording artists is $12 per month on music streams. Meanwhile, Spotify has a market valuation of $67 billion (2020 data), and the three major labels (Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music) are valued together at over $130 billion (2020 data). The music market is lucrative—but most artists are excluded from its spoils. This article considers the structure of the music market today and asks: why do we see the continued market expansion of record label power and the increasing marginalization of working musicians, despite the technological changes that would have predicted the opposite outcome?
On Zoom https://unh.zoom.us/j/93379597302
The Center for the Humanities annually hosts a series of informal lectures featuring the recipients of the previous year’s faculty fellowships. The talks focus on the fellows’ research. They provide an opportunity for faculty members to learn more about each other’s work and allow the Center to show off some of the intellectual riches it has helped foster. The goal of the series is to create a collegial environment that encourages discussion.
