Creativity & Cultural Production in the Hunter
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
An applied ethnographic study of Creativity & Cultural new entrepreneurial systems in the Production in the Hunter creative industries. Newcastle The University of Newcastle I April 2019, ARC Grant LP 130100348 Now AuslnilianGon ,rnment ���;�Busmess nt Ai&i1rall1.11Rtu1n:bCou11dl 6. MUSIC 6.1 Introduction This part of the report outlines the history, structure, business models, operational methods and important personnel associated with each sector. This section outlines the music industry in Australia (Cunningham & Turnbull 2014) before looking specifically at the music industry in the Hunter region. It locates the current Hunter Region music scene within Australian music history particularly in relation to the European tradition, specifically the American and British music traditions. Of note is the fact that the ongoing digital revolution continues to reshape the industry, its composition, songwriting, recording, performance and business modes. Structurally the music industry is comprised of three major and related sectors i.e. publishing, recording and live performance. There are ancillary sectors as well such as manufacturing, retail and media which are interconnected with the three major sectors. There are various business models used within these sectors. The operational methods are both formal (e.g. use of contracts, performance schedules etc.) and informal (e.g. adherence to a gift economy). Its most important personnel include songwriters, composers, musicians, managers, touring crews, venue operators, agents, promoters, producers, engineers, publishers, A&R operatives and, of course, the audience. 6.2 A Brief History of the Music Industry in Australia. The music industry in the Hunter is a local variant of a much larger national and global one (Miller & Shahriari 2012). If you choose China’s music industry as an example of a national music industry you can see that its commercial history runs for the past 900 years (Fangjun 2014). While many forms of music are embedded in the Australian musical experience, including the 65,000 year tradition seen in indigenous songlines, as well as Irish and Scottish folk songs, brass band performances, opera and musical theatre, and many other forms typical of a multicultural society, all of which are detailed at some length in The Currency Companion to Music and Dance in Australia (Whiteoak & Scott-Maxwell 2003), most histories of Western music, both classical and popular in particular, tend to emphasise the American/British nexus, to the exclusion of most others (see for example Frith in Martin 1983, pp. 18-48). This emphasis is understandable given the social, economic and political dominance of a major portion of the planet by both of these countries during the last century and a half (Macintyre 1999). If we concentrate at the national level on contemporary Australian music (see Rogers 1975, Beilby & Roberts 1981, Zion 1987, 1988, Hayward 1992, Sly 1993, St. John 1994, Jenkins 1994, Leiber 1996, Mathieson 1996, Mitchell 1996, Walker 1996, Wilmoth 1993, Creswell 1993, Freud 1997, Creswell & Fabinyi 1999, Walker 2000, Cockington 2001, Whiteoak & Scott-Maxwell 2003, Homan & Mitchell 2008) we do need to keep in mind how deeply connected Australian music has been to those British and US traditions. Taking a much broader view we can also see that there is a continuum for western music specifically that has stretched beyond the development of jazz, rock and roll and EDM in the US back to Europe and Africa. In fact if one took a highly macro view, western music itself could be traced convincingly to the murky beginnings of recorded time (Menuhin & Davis 1979). It is only now that an appreciation of the long history of Australian indigenous music is beginning to be incorporated into mainstream tastes (Ellis 1985, Breen 1989, Mitchell 1996). This broad view would also need to encompass the multiple rhythmic pulses of West Africa, string, brass and pipe bands assembled around various ethnic communities, the Celtic folk song tradition, the music hall traditions of Britain, Viennese operettas and European art music. Country and western, or the more aptly titled hillbilly music, plus big band swing, the standards produced by Tin Pan Alley and the hits from major Broadway shows have, at some stage during the twentieth century, all held a position as one of the most popular forms of music in Australia (Whiteoak & Scott- 181 Maxwell 2003). Rock, in all its various types and forms, held sway in Australia as the most popular form in the last half of the twentieth century (Masterson & Gillard 1999) moving through phases of growth, consolidation and internationalisation (McIntyre 2004). This form has been superseded, complemented and reworked by a list of popular styles that includes R&B, rap, hip-hop, house, jungle, gabba, dub and many others, all existing under the umbrella term EDM, as well as world music and the continuing traditions mentioned prior. Each of these older and more current forms exist within the Hunter region. Its specific history has been variously documented (e.g. McIntyre 1994, Stephenson 1994, Groeneveld 1998, English 2013, 2014, McIntyre & Sheather 2013, Sheather 2016). Just as the introduction of the technologies of recording, tape, LPs, 45s and cassettes and the domination of radio and Tin Pan Alley had significant impacts on the music industry after the peak of the industrial revolution and across the twentieth century (Fink 1996), the ongoing digital revolution in the twenty-first century, the corresponding forms of globalisation and the success of neoliberalism as a political ideology, continue to reshape the music industry, its composition, songwriting, recording, performance and business modes, globally, nationally and locally. 6.3 Structure of the Music Industry There are a number of structural models of the music industry available (Wikstrom 2009, pp. 47-84). While some argue that there is not one music industry per se but a set of music industries (Williamson & Cloonan 2007), in general it can be claimed that there are three major sectors within the industry, i.e. publishing, recording and live performance. There are ancillary sectors as well such as manufacture, retail and media (McIntyre 2011a) which of course overlap with other industry designations. All of these sectors and their relationships can be illustrated through a generalised structures (see Figure 10). While all of these structural components are evident globally and nationally, the Hunter region is not serviced by all of them (Groeneveld 1998). In particular, the publishing sector has had little presence in the region, with some notable exceptions, and the recording industry has never grown to the extent that it could. Inevitably the processes of digitisation and globalisation mean the region is thoroughly connected to the global musical world far more than it ever has been. 6.4 Current Business Models in the Music Sector Despite the emphasis being placed on new business models (Strasser 2010) and the likelihood that a standard set of ways to make money (Rappa 2010) continues to operate in one form or another across the music industry: 1) For the live performance sector, be that classical, jazz, EDM or other popular forms, income is derived primarily from direct ticketing and merchandising sales, now mostly online, and it is usual for the performers to take the risk of success. This risk is spread across agents and 182 Figure 12 Music Industry Generalised Structure (original from McIntyre 2011a p 86). promoters who generally operate on a percentage of the derived income from these performances. Income from concert performances has progressively diminished over the last twenty years for the bulk of regional touring musicians as costs have increased and opportunities for performance have diminished. 2) The recording sector derives income from direct sale of product such as CDs and incurs costs through recording, distribution and marketing. Composers and/or performers may be given an advance to make a recording and will repay this loan before receiving any income. Alternatively, they will incur the cost themselves, lease the recording to a record company to promote and distribute or sell direct digitally. Royalties are paid to the owners of the mechanical rights of these recordings, often record companies but increasingly musicians themselves, in addition to other rights. As a result of the success of digital distribution retail income has moved from stores to web-based outlets with retail often disappearing for the value chain being replaced by sites such as Soundcloud and Bandcamp. With digital distribution occurring in the form of streaming and subscription services, the income from the mechanicals is now superseding direct sales as the dominant form of income for this sector. Despite the success of digital downloads overall income has diminished for the recording sector as a result of these supersessions. 3) The publishing sector is concerned with the copyright of musical works and lyrics as opposed to the rights derived from the mechanical recording of the compositions and songs that form the raw material of the music industry. A songwriter or composer sells or licences a song or other composition to other parties usually through a publisher. In doing so they agree to write lyrics and/or musical works in exchange for an advance (loan) from the publisher. The publisher agrees to promote and sell the composition usually in exchange for 50% of the copyright royalty income on the song or composition.