CASE STUDY 1 – SOUL JAZZ RECORDS

This label has established a reputation for distributing a range of music to a wide audience, often Reggae and other styles given the label ‘underground’. It also distributes a wealth of older music that was not given due recognition at the time of its original release.

Develop a case study on the label, using the questions as starting point.
· First go to the website souljazzrecords.co.uk and familiarise yourself with it.
· Look at the range of music they distribute, the way in which you can purchase - make notes.
· Research the label and some of its key signings – make notes.
· Answer these questions:
o What kinds of music do Soul Jazz Records produce?
o What strategies do they use to promote and distribute their music?
o Who is the audience?
o What is the relationship between SJR and the mainstream music industry?

Try and keep your work organised and split into relevant sections.
DUE MONDAY ALONG WITH GLOSSARY.

KEY TERMS

You have a lot of foundation and starting info. We now need to tighten everything up into ideas and points you can learn which in turn will help you write your essays.

Complete a glossary for all of these key terms (a line or 2 will suffice).
Some ask for an example - simply cite it.

NOTE: in langauge you understand and can learn.
We will go over these in class.

• PRODUCTION



• DISTRIBUTION



• MARKETING



• CONSUMPTION



• THE MUSIC INDUSTRY (lovely def. in handout)



• FILE SHARING



• VERTICAL INTEGRATION + example



• SYNERGY



• CONVERGENCE



• COPYRIGHT



• CONVENTIONS



• DEMOGRAPHIC



• DOWNLOAD



• HARDWARE



• INDEPENDENT



• SUBSIDIARY



• HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION + EXAMPLE



• THE BIG 3

FEEDBACK ON DISTRIBUTION AND PRODUCTION ESSAYS

Everyone has individual feedback on both these essays on their blogs, however here are few general points:

• many seem to have a genuine engagement with the tasks and personal views are apparent.
• some great research and inclusion on statistics/examples.
• a few brilliant weblinks to interesting articles.
• Understanding of the different areas is becoming more evident - keep it up.

• Quite a few have been asked to re do 1 of the tasks. While the info provided is not inaccurate, it is not about the set task eg several 'production' essays don't mention production at all. All must be aware of sticking to the task set as soon of you have made massive amounts of extra work for yourself. Because this is such a massive industry and there is so much info, it's easy to drift but if this happens in the exam you will gain little marks.
• Looking at each other's blogs for help occasionally is fine, however I think this might have caused so many to go off task in the production task - keep referring to the wording of the task on the class blog to keep you on track.
• Pick out key info both in these tasks and once we look at our specific case studies - copying and pasting massive pieces of info won't really aid your understanding and will certainly be very hard to learn for the exam.

MORE CONSUMPTION - USBs JUST GOT PROMOTED!

Here's an example of what we were talking about in class - buying a USB directly after a concert with all the footage on it. Look at some of their clients! An idea which is definitely on the up.

Click here for weblink

IS THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION WINNING THE BATTLE?

An interesting piece here from The Guardian. Some helpful statistics also included.

The digital revolution has been and continues to be massive and is constantly evolving, but is there still room for the more traditional methods of consumption? This article discusses the issue and even manages to incorporate Take That : )

DIGITAL CONSUMPTION LINK

Click here for a relatively straightforward research piece on digital consumption

CONSUMPTION TASK

Due Monday

• Clarify definition - what do we mean by music consumption?



• Before the technological revolution so to speak, how was music consumed?
  


• What is the digital revolution?



• How has this transformed the ways in which audiences consume music? Consider both legal and non legal methods ie file sharing; streaming of live concerts (U2 on youtube example, buying concerts on Sky etc); putting live concert on USBs after the show etc. NOTE: This should be a big research section!



• Along with digital consumption, what other ways do people still consume music and it's related products today? CD sales? Concert tickets?
  
  

*Ensure you use technical terminology where possible.

**Address all areas.