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Äänilevyn anatomia : Katsaus kehitykseen, vahalieriöstä bittivirtaan

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Äänilevyn anatomia : Katsaus kehitykseen, vahalieriöstä bittivirtaan

The digital music sales is rapidly rising its share in overall music market. Music is no longer engraved or burnt to disc or packaged in box. Instead it is streamed or downloaded along the optical fiber or over a 4G network. As a piece of art, is the Music Album the same in this new era of digital distribution than it used to be when it was wrapped in plastic and cardboard and shipped to recordstores to be bought and carried home by a consumer? Does a music lover caress his or her files or subscriptions the way they do their CDs or twelve inches and what do we get when we pay one euro for a mp3-file, or when we pay 10 euros per month to get access to a library of millions and millions of songs? Does the art transfer from an artist(s) to a fan the way he or she or they planned? The last question is the one I’m most interested in in this work. Music album is a piece of art. Not only the music but the whole entirety. At first I define the concept: Music Album, put the developement of that concept on timeline and point out a couple of most important turning points. Then I take a closer look at the current situation of the market. The on-demand models of digital music distribution are explained and compared to the ”traditional” physical form of distributing music from a viewpoint of art. Examples are focused on the biggest streaming services such as Spotify, Rhapsody and Deezer and on most popular download service, iTunes. I am aware and point out in this study that the industry is developing fast and that the technical specifications or conclusions may be out of date in couple of months after this work is done.

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