How important is the concept of synergy to studying the music business?
For a recent theory module at university, 'The Music Business', one of the assignments was a written exam - with half being short-answer questions, and half being a written essay question response. As the exam was timed, this essay answer should take roughly an hour to write. We were given the 9 questions that we could choose one from 2 weeks before the exam in order to prepare an answer, although, any plan had to be learnt, as notes could not be taken into the exam with us. As we did not have any readings or notes with us, it was explained that were would not be expected to be able to remember full references for quotes/ideas from readings, so I ensured I remembered and included who a reference was from, but have not included reading names or page numbers.
The essay below is written from my memorised plan and is roughly what I submitted for my answer in the exam. I have tried to recreate what I produced in the exam in timed conditions, so acknowledge some structural or quotation mistakes, for example, which, if this was coursework and not a timed exam I would have worked on further.
The exam in general (this essay question and the 20 short answer questions) was graded as 82/100, a 1st.
Question:
How important is the concept of synergy to studying the music business?
Answer:
"Synergy is the product of the way in which different companies involved in different sorts of media activity are related within popular music culture" - Wall
Based on Wall's definition of synergy shown above, it is very important to understand and recognise the concept of synergy in the music business. With both the media and music industries being ever-evolving with technological advancement, the opportunities, reasons and effectiveness of interacting with other businesses and other media are stronger than ever. Synergy can be both a positive and negative aspect for music business, depending on their context and position in the industry, but even is synergy is not necessarily 'useful' to the business or part of the industry you are studying, I will explain how it can have such a big effect on the industry, and therefore why it is important to understand and recognise it when studying the music business.
As Williamson and Cloonan state, the music industry is actually "disparate industries with some common interests". Due to these industries in the music business, although functioning very differently, having shared interests and aims, working together with these disparate industries would increase the means and opportunities for the businesses production as well as open them up to the audience of this other business that they may not have yet reached.
To analyse when and how synergy in the music business is a positive thing, I will first consider the media conglomerates that dominate the music industry, otherwise known as 'The Big 3' - Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music. In his paper' 'Building International Empires of Sound' Bishop explains concepts that he suggests are part of 'The Big 3''s business success. By analysing their structure and how they operate as oligomonies, as well as use a mixture of horizontal, vertical and lateral integration, he shows many opportunities for these conglomerates to interact with different business and different industries, both from within their control/ownership and not. An example of one of The Big 3 using synergy in a positive way for them is from Sony Music, their record label Syco and their relationship with the mainstream TV talent show, The X Factor. In this case, both businesses involved in the partnership benefit - Syco benefitting due to the exposure coming from being involved with such a high profile, commercial TV show, and having access to the artists featured, and The X Factor benefitting due to being able to offer their artists a relationship with a real record label for the future (leading to profitability after being on the show) and also having access to the other artists on the Syco record label and their music to be able to feature on the show. This links in with Galuska's idea of music acts competing for attention, rather than money - with how the attention that the relationship between the show and the record label gives the act is what leads to them possibly making money in the future from a record deal or further partnerships.
To get a fairer judgement of whether synergy in the music business is advantageous or not, we must also consider less commercial music businesses. The opportunity for advantageous use of synergy does not only sit with major music companies like 'The Big 3' - independent releases have shown to gain success as a result of using synergy too, with an example being Alex Turner's release on independent label Domino Records. This is an advantageous relationship for both businesses, as press and reviews for each media would link and possibly create publicity for the other. As well as this, the genres of the soundtrack and the film are both similar and of the 'indie' style, bringing marketing benefits and a shared target audience. This links with Lee's idea of indies holding a "cultural status greater than the economic impact they have on the market". This shows how, for indies, the aim may not always be to make money, instead to make a difference and connect culturally - with, in this case, synergy helping to achieve this through well thought-out links with other relevant businesses and media.
A factor within the music industry that is helping synergy to have a positive impact is collection societies, such as PRS For Music, MCPS and PPL. It is said that the role of a publisher is to exploit the rights of artists/the copyright holder and to get the works played on various media, for example, through syncing deals. These societies help the artist and the publisher do this in a profitable way, by collecting fees from the media that use it, as part of events, retail, TV, film etc. As Klein has said, "advertising can be seen as a champion of otherwise unheard music" - this showing how synergy's form of advertising can help to get work heard that otherwise may not be. However, copyright, the role of the publisher and the synergistic advertising can sometimes cause issues for the industry, with some saying the restrictions that copyright causes for new music/artists are limiting creativity and the opportunity for new music.
This leads to the idea that synergy could be considered a negative concept for popular music culture. A context in which synergy maybe unnecessary/negative is in the case of netlabels - online record labels that do not operate to make a profit (instead, to spread talent) and do not spend money on their promotions. For netlabels, and some other independent/DIY labels, the idea of their music becoming a commodity, and used for business/profitable gain (which is part of what synergy helps to do) is a way they would not like to be thought of. Music being used for commerce, rather than art, for many, compromises the authenticity of the work. As Meier once said, "music is valued less for its own qualities than for its association with other phenomena". For DIY labels and their target audience, having the right attitude towards the work and the industry is very important - linking into subcultural capital and Benjamin's point that "being DIY is a lot more important than talking about being DIY".
Another negative aspect is found when considering Meier's concept of Promotional Ubiquitous Musics, with a noted consequence of these being that the relationship between an artist and a brand has become so important to the artists, that the brand is now in a position that they can set the terms (eg lower fees). This leads to the consideration that music is actually becoming the metacommodity to the brand, rather than the other way around.
To conclude, throughout this report I have analysed the different ways in which synergy is used throughout the music industries, the positive and negative effects it may have, and the changes it has made to industry practices. I have explained how it is a very important concept to understand and recognise, due to the extent to which it has influenced companies success, both profitable and non-profitable, as well as having to note and learn from instances where it may not be such a good inclusion to a marketing strategy. As synergy has existed within popular music culture, it will always be important to consider it - whether it is a concept that lasts or not - to be able to study and analyse historiography and past practices from the industry and to further develop strategies.