Fascinating world of digital music market

“A group spent thousands of dollars for their Facebook marketing. I’ve heard that B spent tens of thousands of dollars,” an official at a local music company said, explaining a new marketing trend. The labor and capital, which used to go to TV, radio, and newspapers, are now being funneled into social network services. Facebook pages with catchy titles garner millions of followers, whose influence readily overwhelms some popular shows on land-based television airwaves or major newspapers with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. For music companies, it has already become both a typical and a popular marketing method to pay thousands of dollars to social platforms to ask them to mention their song.

For people like me who has passionately followed music for many years, the formula for a new hit song is still elusive. In fact, it is a struggle to adjust to the new trend. Surely enough, today’s music aficionados are much more blessed than their ancestors from the ages of CD or mini-disc players. The invention of MP3 format and digital music market is a godsend for avid listeners of music or the fire of Prometheus. You get infinite access to almost every song at a fixed monthly fee.

Goods are supposed to differ in prices, depending on their quality and image. You can get a bag for three dollars, but sometimes you have to 3,000 dollars for the same size of a bag because it happens to be a designer’s brand. The rule is different in music market. Every song is priced the same from a kitsch copy song to a historic masterpiece.

From classics to recent hits, you can infinitely enjoy high-quality music as far as you choose carefully. I feel that listening to the same songs from the same singers for the rest of your life is both disrespect towards the massive ocean of music and a serious waste of time. Then again, I’ve decided to purchase 18 hours of Radiohead for 18 pounds. Isn’t our new world simply fascinating?


imi@donga.com