The internet has completely flipped the world in many ways the music industry is the greatest example of that. It has gone through a major transformation after the emergence of the internet and the digital world that spread like bushfire. Starting from how music is made, consumed, and promoted to find a creative vision for it; everything can be done with the help of the internet and its influence is massively visible. Its profound impact on the music industry has offered new opportunities to grow more businesses based on music while offering new ways to make money for music lovers.
With the help of the internet, music artists are able to reach a larger audience base and find greater visibility on the global market. Not only the artists but the internet has offered massive opportunities for music lovers and consumers who can easily stream their favorite tracks online with accessibility to a massive range of music globally. Analyzing the impact of the internet on the music industry would require focusing on the different aspects of the industry. Let’s take a better look at it.
Positive Impacts of the Internet on Music
Internet connection and broadband services have greatly improved accessibility for music for the listeners. The Internet does not limit people to their locations but allows them to be a part of the world through a digital verse that is not limited by regions. High-speed internet connection through wifi and mobile data has greatly changed the music taste and listening behavior of music lovers around the world. With faster and easier access, people nowadays are able to stream songs online where they are not even required to download songs but they simply listen to them online without requiring any additional storage. Therefore, listeners can easily access and listen to massive music libraries with billions of tracks in them. By revolutionizing music consumption, the internet has turned music into a daily element rather than a luxury entertainment.
In internet has offered plenty of opportunities to create new business models based on music. It helped to popularize with the technical advantages and the success is evident through the music streaming and audio distribution platforms like Apple Music, Tidal, Spotify, and many others. These services help music artists to monetize their content and gain streaming royalty for their musical contributions. Similarly, listeners can enjoy particular tracks from an album without requiring buying the whole music project. With the help of live-streaming services; artists are now able to connect with audiences in real time which offers additional exposure and annual revenue based on engagement.
Previously, it was very difficult for music artists to establish themselves in the competitive market simply because not enough people knew them. Those days are gone and emerging artists are now able to make a name with their talent through the internet in the music industry. Music streaming services have particularly paved a smooth way for artists to get popular, get established, and earn money with music. Independent and emerging artists with a budget can easily initiate their careers with the help of streaming platforms. The Internet has helped to shed more light on the rising music artists and offered them a chance to grow without depending on the traditional methods of scaling up in the industry. For example, the 'Discover Weekly' feature in Spotify helped to increase discoverability and visibility for numerous music artists.
Without the support of fans, no music artist can become a star or a celebrity. It is the love and support of the music lovers that make an artist successful and the Internet has helped to improve this bonding among artists and listeners very much. While fan letters and interactions during live performances are great, there was a need for immediate engagement and social media platforms helped to provide that. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, and many others allow music artists to interact with more fans and gather them through a sense of community. Such fan-based community support helps to encourage more engagement and loyalty which are catalysts for your career growth. Popular celebrity music artists like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Cardi B, and many others utilize these platforms to keep their fans engaged with their professional and personal life updates.
Selling merchandise is the source of additional revenue and the internet has helped to improve this business opportunity with better approach, representation, and convenience. Artists can now directly sell their merchandise to fans which allows them to embrace their fandom without trying too hard for it. Similarly, getting tickets for live shows and festivals was quite awful back then when fans had to stand in a long queue. Fortunately, there is internet now and music lovers can easily secure their tickets online. It has offered greater accessibility and popularity for live music gigs and festivals. It is a great way to boost your popularity and income.
Nowadays, music artists are no longer necessarily required to sign under production or a record label as the internet has offered plenty of platforms and online tools for that. It has simplified the music-making process and also significantly reduced the cost of production. The music software and production tools can be easily downloaded without spending any and these tools can help to create record-like quality without working with a record label for it. Musicians are also able to connect and collaborate with other artists through the internet and its extensive results are already witnesses during the pandemic. Not only the production tools but cloud-based platforms like Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox, etc make it easier to store and share music files online with absolutely zero hectic.
In the early days of the music industry; large-scale piracies have been made which cut off the revenue for the traditional music industry. The issue of piracy was also creating a barrier for music artists to grow and earn more even though they have created good music. With the help of the internet, it has become quite easier to fight against piracy as the music streaming platforms have taken some serious steps against them. Users can now easily listen to the music they want through the online streaming platforms and they do not even need to download anything. The Internet has also improved the sector of intellectual property (IP) which significantly reduced the cases of copyright infringement.
However, they are not only positive effects as the internet has also brought some negative effects to the music industry which needs to be considered while analyzing the impact of the internet.
Negative Impacts of the Internet on Music
While the internet has offered a handful of opportunities for rising music artists, it has also made the industry highly competitive for everyone. The modern digital landscape for music is constantly growing with more artists and musical content which is making it quite hard for emerging artists to navigate through competition and grow. In order to stand out, most music artists are dependent on music promotion agencies to promote their work which can offer them organic exposure in the market. The competition for exposure and popularity is visible in the case of all kinds of music artists regardless of the genre. More than the craft, the musicians are focusing on promotional trends to pave their careers.
Despite the efforts of the online streaming sites; the piracy of music is still ongoing and it is quite a problem for the independent music artists who might not have the funds to fight a legal case for piracy and copyright. Online users can easily find their desired music files online for download and this brings no money for the artists. If all the people start listening to pirated music through downloading options; no stream will be generated which is a significant blow to an artist’s income that comes through passion. Music artists need to be fairly compensated for their work and only then the industry can grow with more emerging talents.
Those days are gone when fans used to purchase the whole album physically to listen to the tracks featured in it. In internet has significantly reduced the number of album sales as digital music downloads are currently the most popular way of consuming music. Many of the fans and music lovers also like to download and enjoy particular tracks from an album without requiring them to buy the whole project. While it can be convenient for the listeners; it is creating a barrier in case revenue generation for the music artists. Physical album sales are greatly reduced but there is still a demand for vinyl units among the fans.
In the early 2000s, music stores have been the church for the music lovers where they would find their solace. They would flock over the physical stores in search of CD and DVD for the latest or their favorite music projects. The retro era is now gone with digital transformation of the music industry and it lead to the shutdown of many amazing music store that existed in the physical dimension. Other than the nostalgia, this has also affected the livelihoods of the people who worked in these stores.
While it has become easier to earn money against music, is it still enough? Celebrity music artists might not care because they have millions and billions of streams on their tracks which offer them a massive amount of revenue. But, what about the emerging artists? The amount of royalty that music artists gain per stream on Spotify or any other platform is very low and it is difficult for artists to survive with such low royalty as they are not getting millions of streams for each music project. Therefore, music artists can face low-revenue generation in their musical careers unless they are able to secure a massive amount of streams through their music.
Concluding Thoughts
The Internet can be a blessing or a curse based on its utilization. After a complete analysis of the positive and negative impacts of the Internet on the music industry, it is safe to say that the Internet is that force that can make an artist highly popular (viral) or struggle for long. With the proper strategies for promotion, it can be helpful to get over the struggles. The tools and technological advancement with the internet should be well-utilized by every music artist to stay ahead in the competitive music landscape.
