Music and market

MvO - In the 18th century in particular, music developed into a real growth market. In London, so-called music gardens (such as the one in Vauxhall, which was accessible to a broad section of the population) were established, which engaged individual musicians or entire orchestras. Guests could promenade while they played. Concert series, such as those organized by Johann Christian Bach or Carl Friedrich Abel in London from the 1760s onwards, were particularly important and, above all, very lucrative. At the same time, various concert entrepreneurs competed for the favor of artists and audiences, a well-known example being the music publisher and impresario Johann Peter Salomon, who brought Joseph Haydn and his music to London from the 1790s onwards. Compared to England, the commercialization of music in Germany took place at a lower level. The most important market there was printed music and other music-related publications. In addition, profitable concert companies were established, such as the Gewandhaus concerts in Leipzig, which began in November 1781. This conquest of the market was accompanied by an increased discourse on music. Reviews became increasingly important, whether in academic journals or in specialized music magazines.

The Paris World Exhibition of 1889 can be seen as the beginning of the music industry, as a result of which the first industrial gramophones were produced and the first industrial music recordings were made at the same time, which could be played in the newly invented jukeboxes. The founding of the Deutsche Grammophon company in 1898 is of particular importance in this respect, as it marks the beginning of the mass production of sound carriers. With the first vinyl recording by Enrico Caruso in 1902, the new technology began its worldwide triumphal march, and in the years that followed it was continuously improved and perfected. This development led to CD technology, which brought the music industry golden times in the 1980s and 1990s - the CD reached its peak sales in 1997.

This music market, which flourished for decades, is now facing completely different conditions. This is exemplified by the numerous closures of traditional music stores in Switzerland. The music industry is feeling the effects of the almost complete disappearance of the stationary recorded music business as well as the drastic decline in demand for physical sheet music and musical instruments. In the meantime, the CD business has been completely overtaken by music streaming. Surveys from Germany show that the market share of streaming services was around 48% in the first half of 2018, while the CD business still accounts for just 34%. These findings also make another problem relevant: How can the industry even survive in this environment, how will royalty payments to individual artists still be secured in the future if the revenue per streamed track is less than 0.01 centimes? So how will artists be able to hold their own in the market in the future?

PR, marketing and audience development have now also become important tools in the classical music industry (numerous publications on this interaction prove this), talent alone is no longer enough, the market needs to be cultivated. Established artists, and the talents of tomorrow even more so, must realize that it is almost impossible to earn money by selling recordings. This is no different in the pop sector, where profit can primarily be made from concerts. For young, still unknown artists in particular, the question arises as to whether the debut CD should not be given away straight away given the minimal income. Income is hardly to be expected, but the attention generated by a professional recording is still eminent, as is the fact that a recording provides sound material that can be presented to concert promoters or agents.

Advantages for consumers

Unsurprisingly, promoters also have to be inventive when it comes to paying artists a low fixed fee in return for a share of the concert income. In this way, the organizer transfers the risk to the artists - they then have to decide for themselves up to what point it is still worthwhile and pays off for them. The musician's profession is grueling, and the beginning of a career is particularly demanding. Whether it is more difficult today than it was a few decades ago can certainly not be answered conclusively, because most musicians have chosen this path out of conviction. You can mourn the golden age of the CD market, but at the same time digitalization also holds huge potential for the music industry, which needs to be exploited and can have a positive impact on the music market.

Michael Kaufmann - Craftspeople such as carpenters, watchmakers, locksmiths or bricklayers learn a trade. They rightly see their work as an art. They create something new and pass on the precision of tradition with a passion for quality. Nevertheless, they have to survive on the markets and "sell" their work. They have to survive in everyday life. It is the same for musicians. Even though the majority of their training and professional life is devoted to craftsmanship, artistry, interpretation, harmony, rhythm, musicological issues, composition and stage presence, there are also markets in the music business that you simply have to serve in order to survive.

Universities are about learning to play musical instruments at the highest level, about training to become an artistic personality. Discourses on interpretation, musical material, historical references and the question of what music is actually supposed to do are important.

The result should be creative people who have mastered their craft and who make contemporary statements about our times. At the same time, they should be able to pass on their knowledge and skills to young people, who fortunately still learn about the essence of music and its eminent importance in the education of viable human beings at school.

Link to the market

In this noble task, music academies must not remain in an ivory tower and focus only on purely musical issues. It is a central - and increasingly important - task of universities to establish a link to the market and to everyday practice early on in the course of study. Not least because only a small proportion of professional musicians pursue a musical career "just like that". In real life, most music professionals move multidimensionally in different worlds: in concert, as musicians in theater or film, in everyday school life, at a music school, in cultural management, etc. Practice-oriented teaching modules on everyday life, stage practice, the music market, the digital world, pedagogical practice, multimedia, communication, music education, etc. are a "must" at a modern university of music. Likewise, further education courses for all those who want to acquire such skills in the professional world. You can't learn everything during your studies and, depending on how the markets develop, you have to remain flexible throughout your life.

The professional profile of music professionals is constantly changing and awareness is hopefully also increasing thanks to the universities, which are adapting to market developments at an early stage. Future musicians should also be increasingly aware that music has its price because its social value is enormous. Just as the traditional craftspeople mentioned at the beginning of this article certainly do.

Michael Kaufmann
... is Director of the Lucerne School of Music