We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 December 2023
Sound recording functions
Unlike music publishing, the recording industry was severely hit by digitization. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the global sound recording market decreased by 46.6 per cent from 1998 to 2014, but since recovered due to the music streaming boom in the following years. The record companies, however, had to adjust their business model to the emerging digital music environment and redefined the functions of the sound recording business: artist and repertoire (A&R), production, and marketing.
The A&R function
Talent scouting and the acquisition of repertoire is the main function of a recording company. No record company can afford to rely solely on a back catalogue of master recordings, and must invest in new talent and new repertoire. The A&R person embodies this function in a record company. The traditional role and romantic image of a person scouting for talent in small music venues has changed in the course of digitization. Social media such as Facebook and YouTube have become important means to discover new talent, such that desktop research and data mining have supplemented and even substituted to some extent the daily visit to clubs, concerts and festivals.
New actors have also appeared on the A&R scene. Instead of sourcing and developing acts over several years, record companies, especially the record majors, have started to outsource the A&R function by contracting freelance A&Rs or purchasing master recordings from music producers and A&R teams. Another possibility to avoid the risk of A&R failures is to acquire successful indie record labels and their artists’ rosters (see Klembas 2013: 256– 7). Non-traditional A&R platforms have also emerged in the past few years, such as television casting shows – X Factor and Pop Idol – which outsource the process of finding new talent to the audience. Whereas casting shows have a long tradition in the music business, the concept of crowdsourced A&R has become a new practice in the digital age.
Crowdsourced A&R usually includes a crowdfunding campaign on special platforms that enable the collection of money for any music projects, but also fulfil traditional A&R functions. ArtistShare, since 2001, has been a pioneer of music crowdfunding.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
