Musicians in the Marketplace Flashcards
Music is …
- an untouchable experience, intangible, immaterial
- a cultural good (valued ethically + aesthetically) + cultural goods, a commodity (exists in a ‘market’)
What is music when not a commodity?
A ‘perishable service’ (Adam Smith) - perishable as it only lasts as long as it is played. To make money it is made into a commodity
Commodity?
something produced for sale, an object of trade
goods, merchandise, wares, produce
Commodification?
action of turning something into/treating something as a commodity, commercialisation of an activity (that is not by nature commercial)
Examples of commodification in music
- Printed music/sheet music - standardisation of notation
- Mass production of instruments - standardisation of tuning systems
- Tuition (music lessons)
- Tickets/subscriptions to live performances/operas/concerts
- Recordings (LPs(vinyl)/EPs/CDs/download… but streaming? - music a utility not a commodity?)
- Royalties
- Programmes, merch
- Music Degree
The charge of ‘economic reductionism’
David Hesmondhalgh - ‘economic reductionism’ - ‘supposed reduction of social and cultural events and processes to ultimately economic forces’ - limited resources/money to support cultural and social events
‘economic reductionism’ however… but….
-cultural value transcends economic value with artistic products - the price tag can change!
-industry demographs suggest musicians aren’t in it for the money! - supply of musicians exceeds demand
BUT
-society puts a price tag on music - value of labour + commodities - music goes through commodification
-artistic activity isn’t immune to ‘economic’ interests - musicians engage in activities for a ‘profit’
What increases a commodity’s value?
Scarcity/rarity + desirability
e.g. scarcity reinvented - resurgence of vinyl - limited edition vinyl records sell for high prices to collectors
“cultural capital”
- Pierre Bourdieu
- taking money and turning it into a status e.g. music degree (economic capital - cultural capital)
The market of ‘symbolic goods’
- Pierre Bourdieu - ‘field of cultural production’ - creating a market of ‘symbolic goods’
- ‘symbolic’ as value ‘fluctuates’ according to changing tastes, also high production rates + low reproduction rates
- Producers in mass market ‘bet on the short-term’ (produce material in line with current tastes), Producers in ‘restricted’ market ‘bet on the long-term’ (produce material valued symbolically
- symbolic/cultural ‘capital’ to ‘economic capital’ - award winning to bestseller
- individuals settle for adifferent balance of symbolic + economic capital (dependent on inclination + opportunity) - some music for mass market for economic capital in short term or symbolic capital in long term
Raymond Williams, Culture
- Institutionalistation + patronage - artists with an official role in community or in service of Church/patronage, full-time work/irregular payment - Haydn + Esterhazys
- Market professional - artistic work ‘sold to public through intermediaries, artistis ‘autonomous’ but ‘dependent’ on a market - composers through publishers, performers through concert agents
- Corporate or complex professional - artistic work involving ‘complex’ ‘division of labour’ between creators + producers
Complex professional tasks
- Creation - conception (idea), execution (orchestrating score, recording artists), transcription (editing, mixing), reproduction (print run, CD, digital files)
- Circulation - marketing (research, advertising, packaging), distribution + wholesaling, retailing exhabition/performance
Mozart in Vienna 1781-1791
William + Hilda Baumol (On Mozart):
- Mozart took ‘control of his own professional life’ - Mozart among the first in Vienna to turn his talents as a composer and virtuoso pianist into a commodity
- Earnt his living through patronage, commissions, performance, publication and music lessons - 2 sources of his work from 2nd half of 18th century were through ‘patronage’ and emergence of ‘free market’
