Using the music industry examples to answer industry questions

The MS4 exam appears scary, because technically any question could come up. You will need to be resourceful when applying your own knowledge of the text and media theories, as well as your own argument and point of view. While it cannot be guaranteed what will come up, it must be said that over the years the same key words crop up time and time again. Here are all the industry related key words from the last five or so years, and the kind of things you should be talking about when applying the music industry to them.

“Digital technology”

• Recording
• techniques
• Websites
• Videos
• Social networking
• Youtube
• itunes, spotify etc
• Live performances
• Production techniques.
• Distribution.
• Use of social media –twitter etc.
• Marketing – via website, youtube,
• Listening formats

“Marketing”

• Band/performer websites
• exposure – magazines, celebrity endorsement etc
• fan sites
• music press articles
• social networking sites
• viral campaigns
• iTunes etc.

“Distribution”

• Financial – ownership, budget, etc
• Industry – size, scope
• Placement, marketing strategies
• Internet.
Distribution may be interpreted widely here and discussions on performances, videos and music releases are all valid. Other factors may include star person and music genre. 

“Advantages of the internet”

• Internet develops audience engagement (e.g., through points noted below)
• Sites directly linked to the selected texts e.g. band websites, label websites,
• newspaper/magazine on-line
• Blogs
• Twitter (ultimate in uses and gratification!)
• Use of YouTube
• Social networking sites e.g. MySpace, Facebook, Bebo (lol), etc.

“Stars and celebs”

• Clearly important !
• Websites (official)
• Fan sites and fan fiction
• forums
• Videos
• Social networking
• Chat shows
• Magazines

“Regulation”

• Largely self-regulated
• Legal constraints in areas of copyright, licensing, downloading
• New threats such as peer to peer and torrent sites
• Parental advisory stickers
• Radio edits
• Censorship