Post 3: Regulation in the music industry

In the UK, music is subject to copyright laws which protect the property of artists and songwriters. This is under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988, which results in you owning your own rights to your work up to 70 years after death. This is achieved through the artist creating their song in a tangible format, e.g. writing down the song lyrics, recording a demo/music video, and is automatically copyrighted. However, royalties cannot be earnt without joining a collection society. The PRS (Performing Rights Society) is one of these, and are responsible for collecting royalties from copyrighted music. Once signed, they pay the owner of the song with the royalties from radio stations, shows etc. People who are not the owner of the song are not allowed to use even 1 second of the music without a license, resulting in an infringement. YouTube has different rules, however. If a song is used not owned by the channel, the ads will appear on the video, with revenues going to the rightful owner. The song may be used however if it falls under fair use, which consists of the music being used for parody, teaching, review and formats of this nature. This results in music circulation for UK audiences being primarily from the main owner, with extra content around the song being created by 3rd parties.

No Hook - 1011

YouTube also enforces regulation on video content uploaded, one rule being no 'violent or graphic content'. A current social context is UK drill videos, which YouTube has taken down for breaking these rules. Many of these videos portrayed the glorification of violence through the positive portrayal of illegal firearms and knives, examples being No Hook by 1011 and Where Are They by 30. I learnt from this by choosing not to incorporate violent imagery into my music video so it would be suitable for broadcast on YouTube. Sexualisation in music videos is also a current issue, with many music videos objectifying women. This is due to the well known 'sex sells' ideology, however, can have a very

Protests in Chicago

negative impact on impressionistic young girls, resulting in them placing attractiveness central to a woman's value. Examples of this include the music video 'Booty' by Jennifer Lopez and Iggy Azalea, featuring a prominence of suggestive dancing. YouTube has begun age restricting certain videos if they are deemed harmful, examples being the unrated version of 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke, featuring vast amounts of nudity and sexualisation. Labelled 'The most controversial song of the decade' by The Guardian, it has been banned by over 20 UK student unions and causing protests in Chicago. The BBFC has begun age rating certain music videos if deemed unsuitable for a mass audience. The 2018 single 'Nothing Breaks Like A Heart' by Mark Ronson has been given an age 15 rating due to 'sexualised images'. I took this into account during my initial ideas and chose not to include any sexual images to stay suitable for broadcast on streaming sites, such as YouTube.

Napster(1999)

Illegal streaming has negatively impacted the music industry for decades, starting off in 1999, when  Sean Fanning and Shaun Parker developed Napster, which was a peer-to-peer file sharing application, which allowed people to easily pirate music. This reduced the sales for all artists at the time as people could just download their songs for free, which at its peak registered over 80 million users. However, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), filed a lawsuit on Napster, resulting in its shutdown in 2001. Many clone services were developed, most notably The Pirate Bay, a torrent service still in use today, which still has a negative impact on the music industry. However, in 2010, the Parliament of the UK created the Digital Economy Act, which aimed to combat piracy by tightening copyright-infringing content regulations online. Artists also tried to regain their lost revenue from piracy by increasing the prices

of the tour tickets, which have doubled since the 1990s. Streaming services, for example, Spotify, have also been developed which allow for the streaming over 30 million songs for a cheap price, going as low as 3 months for £1. This influenced my initial ideas as I chose to link Spotify to my website flat plan in order to receive extra revenue which may be lost due to online piracy.