Monday, 28 September 2009
Video reference to our own production
City and Colour – Comin’ Home is a narrative that can be referenced for our pitch. It establishes that a male and a female are apart, and uses the divide of two locations (houses) to explain their separation and create a theme of “missing one another” and also loneliness.
The video also places the mise en scene in black and white, which could be taken a step further in the music video I aim to create. This would be done by using the black and white when the video cuts to each character (male and female) on their own, yet when the characters are shown together, colour would be introduced into the narrative. This would connote a link to the pictures we will be using in the video, as when the characters are apart, the black and white would reference in with the photo that was ripped in half at the start of the video, separating the characters. However when colour is restored into the narrative, this places the characters “back together” when the lyrics will be reminisced about and the pictures that will link with the lyrics (showing the characters together) are referred to.
The shot type applied in the video “Comin’ Home” is at the beginning of the video where the male character picks up his guitar and begins to play, with the camera positioning remaining the same and eventually planning out to show a close up shot at the guitar and the hand movements showing that the guitar is being played. A later shot develops this idea and includes the male character’s face in the composition of the shot and uses the vocals of the track to synchronise with the male characters lip movements. This technique will be good to use in our own production as our male character will be “Comin’ Home” to play his guitar and sing about the female character. This idea connects well with our narrative and the close up shots of the mouth synchronisation and guitar playing I feel would be effective, and makes the narrative easier for the audience to follow. To further reference an idea used in this music video, the male character is seen writing something down on a piece of paper. In our own music video production, we will be using this idea in the sense that our character will be writing down these lyrics, using them as inspiration, and a further synchronisation between the lyrics and this time to be what is written in print for our audience to follow, and also as a way of our character to be expressing his feelings and emotions. The motivation between the characters writing things down in both our own production and “Comin’ Home” will be the identical: The female character.
The cross fading techniques used within “Comin’ Home” could be effective also in our music video production, as a way of binding together the time scale, actions and emotions both characters will both be expressing in a parallel fashion.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Chosen Track For The Music Video
A link to our chosen music track and lyrics of the track; Chris Cohen - If You Only Knew (Acoustic version)
Simply click on "play hi-fi" to preview the track and click on "view lyrics" to, well, view the lyrics!
http://www.unsignedbandweb.com/music/bands/12083/
Simply click on "play hi-fi" to preview the track and click on "view lyrics" to, well, view the lyrics!
http://www.unsignedbandweb.com/music/bands/12083/
Monday, 21 September 2009
Topic research; implications for promoting an unsigned band
My findings have mostly been influential when drawn around the idea of how to market a music video and an unsigned band. My findings have also increased my awareness of not just what implications the changing factors have and what they are in the music industry, but the possibilities of how they could evolve in the future. This is why I may be inclined to distribute my music video online, in faith along with such artists as Toni Childs, that this would be the most effective way of boosting views of my bands music video and increasing their popularity. Another reason why this could be effective is because of audience demographic. The online age has really taken off over the last 10-20 years, thus making it very popular and almost a sense of lifestyle about itself within a younger audience demographic, which will be the ideal audience demographic for my band to pitch its music too as they are a young, up and coming band with modern views and beliefs.
My research has also made the issue of DRM very much aware to me. I will therefore have to choose very wisely where I finally decide to make the music video available and to whom on what agreement. If for example I chose to upload the video onto a site such as Youtube, I will have to consider carefully who’s name the video is licensed to, the terms of using Youtube as a distribution channel, and the available software available to a potential audience in regards to piracy, which could be combated by protecting the content of the music video if I see fit, and taking copyright into account issues into account. Sticking with the theory of Youtube, through the case of using online resources and technology to distribute and promote an unsigned band, Apple have shown me that with the invention of their “Apps”, this is a good way of encouraging audience feedback. With that logic in mind, as audiences pitch their App ideas to Apple through online resources, distributing a video onto Youtube which enables comments to be made about videos, will inform me of how the video and the band appeal to the intended audience demographic, allowing advantages, disadvantages, evaluation and review to be taken from this.
My research has also made the issue of DRM very much aware to me. I will therefore have to choose very wisely where I finally decide to make the music video available and to whom on what agreement. If for example I chose to upload the video onto a site such as Youtube, I will have to consider carefully who’s name the video is licensed to, the terms of using Youtube as a distribution channel, and the available software available to a potential audience in regards to piracy, which could be combated by protecting the content of the music video if I see fit, and taking copyright into account issues into account. Sticking with the theory of Youtube, through the case of using online resources and technology to distribute and promote an unsigned band, Apple have shown me that with the invention of their “Apps”, this is a good way of encouraging audience feedback. With that logic in mind, as audiences pitch their App ideas to Apple through online resources, distributing a video onto Youtube which enables comments to be made about videos, will inform me of how the video and the band appeal to the intended audience demographic, allowing advantages, disadvantages, evaluation and review to be taken from this.
Topic research; from the music industry point of view...
Each manufacturer within the music industry that is operating within the music distribution and technology niches are attempting to compete freely with their own proprietary systems for selling, playing and protecting music. For example, this means that music that is purchased from Microsoft’s Zune store will only play on Zune players; music purchased from Sony’s Connect store will only play on Sony’s players; and music purchased from Apple’s iTunes store will only play on iPods. With the growing problem for these manufacturers is that of piracy. For example, Software piracy (the illegal copying of software programs) in time has turned into a worldwide problem – “More than $11 billion of possible revenue to be generated by these manufacturers and the music industry, is lost to piracy every year”. Under U.S. law, this infringement could result in civil damages of up to $150,000 and/or criminal penalties of up to five years imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine if anyone is deemed guilty of piracy. This is a route that manufacturers such as Apple would wish to avoid as it may cost them money and a part of their reputation by pursuing these type of cases.
Naturally, Apple's competitors are keen to move into this market and stamp their own markers and create their own variations and improvements to this revelation. Apple’s main competitors to emerge of recent times are Google Android Market, which was launched in October 2008, for the purpose of phones that run on the Android system, Nokia's Ovi store, and Blackberry App Store. Another that has taken on Apple’s App creation is Microsoft, who is planning to launch a Windows Marketplace near the end of 2009. A quote from Rowan of Nine inch Nails: "Nothing keeps still for very long in this field, and when you have a booming market dominated by one company, other people are going to look at it."
An article in the guardian on 25th November 2008 headlined “Beatles tracks not coming to iTunes any time soon; McCartney: Talks at an impasse”. This shows that with the introduction and exploitation of the digital age to the music industry, more bands are attempting to finalise deals to broaden and modify the way their music is being distributed and reach out to different audience demographics for increased recognition through an increasingly populating and ever changing music industry of recent times, through music companies such as Apple Inc, who are partnered to such record labels as EMI. These possible distribution channels could be online with profiles being made available about the artists and bands, and transforming the formats of their music to be made available to supply with view to profit online, in preference or to back up the method of a CD.
Another example of an artist who chose to explore this path is pop vocalist Toni Childs, who released her Emmy-winning song "Because You're Beautiful" as a single, yet chose not to employ a record label affiliation or an album to back it up. Instead, she made a deal to offer the single exclusively to iTunes, which now sells the single at 99 cents per download. A quote from Toni Childs: "This format is going to change the way we can do business across the board, It's not as necessary to have the same major kind of distributor and money behind you." It is apparent as to why Toni Childs takes this viewpoint as Apple has sold 4.6 million iPod digital music players in the fourth quarter is any indication (as of 2008), downloading music is rapidly becoming a key aspect of how not just audiences are purchasing music, but of what choices artists and bands are making as to whom they give the rights to their music for promotion, production, distribution, exhibition and sales in the music industry.
Naturally, Apple's competitors are keen to move into this market and stamp their own markers and create their own variations and improvements to this revelation. Apple’s main competitors to emerge of recent times are Google Android Market, which was launched in October 2008, for the purpose of phones that run on the Android system, Nokia's Ovi store, and Blackberry App Store. Another that has taken on Apple’s App creation is Microsoft, who is planning to launch a Windows Marketplace near the end of 2009. A quote from Rowan of Nine inch Nails: "Nothing keeps still for very long in this field, and when you have a booming market dominated by one company, other people are going to look at it."
An article in the guardian on 25th November 2008 headlined “Beatles tracks not coming to iTunes any time soon; McCartney: Talks at an impasse”. This shows that with the introduction and exploitation of the digital age to the music industry, more bands are attempting to finalise deals to broaden and modify the way their music is being distributed and reach out to different audience demographics for increased recognition through an increasingly populating and ever changing music industry of recent times, through music companies such as Apple Inc, who are partnered to such record labels as EMI. These possible distribution channels could be online with profiles being made available about the artists and bands, and transforming the formats of their music to be made available to supply with view to profit online, in preference or to back up the method of a CD.
Another example of an artist who chose to explore this path is pop vocalist Toni Childs, who released her Emmy-winning song "Because You're Beautiful" as a single, yet chose not to employ a record label affiliation or an album to back it up. Instead, she made a deal to offer the single exclusively to iTunes, which now sells the single at 99 cents per download. A quote from Toni Childs: "This format is going to change the way we can do business across the board, It's not as necessary to have the same major kind of distributor and money behind you." It is apparent as to why Toni Childs takes this viewpoint as Apple has sold 4.6 million iPod digital music players in the fourth quarter is any indication (as of 2008), downloading music is rapidly becoming a key aspect of how not just audiences are purchasing music, but of what choices artists and bands are making as to whom they give the rights to their music for promotion, production, distribution, exhibition and sales in the music industry.
Topic research; from an audience point of view...
Apple inc’s article “Thoughts on music” claims that by the end of 2006, customers had purchased a total of 90 million iPods and 2 billion songs from the iTunes store, meaning on average, 22 songs were purchased from the iTunes store for each iPod that’s ever been sold. This column also calculated that Today’s most popular iPod holds 1000 songs, and that research tells us therefore, that the average iPod is nearly full. This means that 22 out of 1000 songs (under 3% of the music on the average iPod), is purchased from the iTunes store and thus protected with DRM. The remaining 97% of the music however is unprotected and playable on any player that can play the open formats.
This from the audience’s point of view is ideal as this allows them to share their music files with anyone they choose, and the persons they choose to share this file with, can gain a copy of the music file and upload it into their music library on a computer and transfer it onto their music player. However from Apple’s point of view, this decreases opportunity sales of their music and could affect the success rate of their iTunes store. This also shows mistreatment of their software as ideally the average iPod would be filled 100% with iTunes and formats agreed for compatibility by Apple with their software. This kind of feedback shows Apple that their software is compromising with formats that have been manipulated and distributed in a different way (either by a rivaling company or illegally).
The iPhone took its shape from the band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor (a band member) was experimenting with his mobile phone backstage before a gig and noticed some fans queuing to get in were uploading pictures of the scene. He decided to post a message to the fans on the same network the fans were uploading pictures to and told them “We're backstage! And that freaked them out," A quote from Reznor. "But that got the wheels turning and we thought, 'How can we develop that?”
An opinion from David Rowan, editor of Wired UK magazine, of the App store: "With the amount of downloads they've had since the App Store launched last July, it must be one of the fastest rising businesses since the launch of the internet," He also spoke on to outline benefits of the application: "What's good about the App Store is that there's quite a low barrier to entry, so many of these programmers actually have day jobs and are just working on these apps in their spare time." This therefore shows how comfortably Apple App’s appears to settle into the everyday lives of their audience. This also shows an element of inspiration as their audience are developing App’s in their spare time, shaping them to how they will benefit them as the consumer of the product in their everyday lifestyle, therefore applying the software that Apple have provided to them, the consumer, and the consumers are using a way of feedback of the service in a way that it improves the service for them, and Apple will develop an understanding of their audience’s needs and desires whilst making a profit as a business from this. As individuals, users of the Apple App service can download the software, create their own application, and for a one-off fee of $99 (£68). They can go on to register as a developer with Apple, and conclusively have it stocked in the App Store. If they do decide to charge for their application, they can set the price, and keep 70% of what profit the App generates, with the remaining 30% going to Apple of course. Most of the Apps are either free to download or are a nominal price such as 49p. It has recently been reported in a newspaper article that more than 25,000 of them have been created - often by individuals working from home - and they have been downloaded more than 800 million times from the online iPhone App Store.
Before the digital age was introduced, it was complete Albums that dominated the music industry, for the 35 years prior to the introduction of the digital age. Nevertheless, from the eye of the audience is that on any album there will always be favoured tracks and less favoured tracks. Until now, consumers had to buy all of the tracks in one as a form of package deal, whether it was an LP, a cassette or a CD they were purchasing.
With the introduction of the digital age, consumers have had the option to pick and choose the songs they want as individual tracks in their own right, and current buying trends suggests that this way is genuinely preferred by the audience of today. In 2004, more than 140 million individual songs were purchased and downloaded legally, while only 5.5million albums were purchased electronically. This type of purchasing pattern has influenced Apple into distributing its music by exploiting the digital age to create iTunes. Individual tracks are made available to acquire for a set price of 99p in most cases, yet there is still the option to buy the whole CD. This exploits the digital age as iTunes are electronic formats, and once the iTunes software has been downloaded, they are made available to the audience. Another way Apple are using the digital age in this way is that they are also making use of the online age to transfer payments made to them online for iTunes.
This from the audience’s point of view is ideal as this allows them to share their music files with anyone they choose, and the persons they choose to share this file with, can gain a copy of the music file and upload it into their music library on a computer and transfer it onto their music player. However from Apple’s point of view, this decreases opportunity sales of their music and could affect the success rate of their iTunes store. This also shows mistreatment of their software as ideally the average iPod would be filled 100% with iTunes and formats agreed for compatibility by Apple with their software. This kind of feedback shows Apple that their software is compromising with formats that have been manipulated and distributed in a different way (either by a rivaling company or illegally).
The iPhone took its shape from the band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor (a band member) was experimenting with his mobile phone backstage before a gig and noticed some fans queuing to get in were uploading pictures of the scene. He decided to post a message to the fans on the same network the fans were uploading pictures to and told them “We're backstage! And that freaked them out," A quote from Reznor. "But that got the wheels turning and we thought, 'How can we develop that?”
An opinion from David Rowan, editor of Wired UK magazine, of the App store: "With the amount of downloads they've had since the App Store launched last July, it must be one of the fastest rising businesses since the launch of the internet," He also spoke on to outline benefits of the application: "What's good about the App Store is that there's quite a low barrier to entry, so many of these programmers actually have day jobs and are just working on these apps in their spare time." This therefore shows how comfortably Apple App’s appears to settle into the everyday lives of their audience. This also shows an element of inspiration as their audience are developing App’s in their spare time, shaping them to how they will benefit them as the consumer of the product in their everyday lifestyle, therefore applying the software that Apple have provided to them, the consumer, and the consumers are using a way of feedback of the service in a way that it improves the service for them, and Apple will develop an understanding of their audience’s needs and desires whilst making a profit as a business from this. As individuals, users of the Apple App service can download the software, create their own application, and for a one-off fee of $99 (£68). They can go on to register as a developer with Apple, and conclusively have it stocked in the App Store. If they do decide to charge for their application, they can set the price, and keep 70% of what profit the App generates, with the remaining 30% going to Apple of course. Most of the Apps are either free to download or are a nominal price such as 49p. It has recently been reported in a newspaper article that more than 25,000 of them have been created - often by individuals working from home - and they have been downloaded more than 800 million times from the online iPhone App Store.
Before the digital age was introduced, it was complete Albums that dominated the music industry, for the 35 years prior to the introduction of the digital age. Nevertheless, from the eye of the audience is that on any album there will always be favoured tracks and less favoured tracks. Until now, consumers had to buy all of the tracks in one as a form of package deal, whether it was an LP, a cassette or a CD they were purchasing.
With the introduction of the digital age, consumers have had the option to pick and choose the songs they want as individual tracks in their own right, and current buying trends suggests that this way is genuinely preferred by the audience of today. In 2004, more than 140 million individual songs were purchased and downloaded legally, while only 5.5million albums were purchased electronically. This type of purchasing pattern has influenced Apple into distributing its music by exploiting the digital age to create iTunes. Individual tracks are made available to acquire for a set price of 99p in most cases, yet there is still the option to buy the whole CD. This exploits the digital age as iTunes are electronic formats, and once the iTunes software has been downloaded, they are made available to the audience. Another way Apple are using the digital age in this way is that they are also making use of the online age to transfer payments made to them online for iTunes.
Topic research; from Apple's point of view...
Apple inc published an article on their website titled “Apple thoughts on music”, outlining their opinions on current audience demands and thoughts for the company’s future. Within this article, Apple inc state that they have enforced “Digital Rights Management” to protect its music against theft, which licenses the right to Apple to distribute music from such companies as Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI (who together own 70% of the worlds music). DRM therefore, only authorises specific devices to play the protected music, which Apple software such as the iPod will qualify. Their audience have since asked for this to be “opened”, so iTunes can be used on any music player or audio device, however if Apple were to breach the DRM agreement and open the DRM, the music catalogue provided to them by Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI can be retracted from iTunes, causing a huge body blow into sales of music, software and the ability to provide their service to the music industry, of which iTunes is a majorly depended on; Why provide software that the intended music to store on those devices no longer exists?
From Apple’s point of view, if DRM was abolished completely, meaning any music track purchased in any way, can play on any music player licensed by any brand, Apple would strive to embrace this. Apple would agree to let their top competitors distribute their music because, in this circumstance, DRM’s inability to combat piracy. Companies would upload their music to distribute online, but without protected content, anyone can rip the file from the site itself and in turn (illegally) upload it to a different site for file sharing or with intent to sell. Without DRM there is no proof this music file has been stolen and who from. Currently, with DRM in place, Apple’s legal policies cover; software license agreements, hardware warranties, iTunes store terms, sales policies, service products, terms of service, policies, trademark copyright and intellectual property, legal contacts, export compliance and supplier provisions.
Apple is constantly looking to embed their software and products into the outside world on a broader scale at the convenience of their audience. With this idea in mind, Apple has since made a number of partnerships to increase the recognition of the company name and software, at the aid of the audience. This has sparked a partnership with Starbucks. The idea behind the partnership is to provide WI-FI inside Starbucks stores for access to the iTunes store. A quote from Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO: "Getting free access to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store and the 'Now Playing' service at Starbucks is a great way for customers to discover new music. Imagine walking into a participating Starbucks, hearing a great song, and being able to instantly download it onto your iPod or iPhone. We think this is very cool.". A quote from Howard Schultz, chairman, Starbucks Coffee Company "With this partnership, we're bringing Apple's leadership in digital music together with not only our retail footprint, but the unique Starbucks experience, to offer customers a world-class digital music experience. Introducing this new service is a natural extension of our music strategy which only enhances the retail coffee experience for customers by helping them discover and acquire new music instantly."
As well as Apple is teaming up with GM, Ford, and Mazda to offer iPod integration in those manufacturers' vehicles for the 2007 model year, Apple have also announced its partnership with Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United to deliver the first seamless integration between iPod and in-flight entertainment systems. These six airlines will be offering passengers seats with an iPod seat connection to listen to their music, as well as the ability for video content to be viewed on seat back displays. This idea effectively breaks up the function of an iPod with an input for their iPod in their chair to listen to their music, and also with a link to a screen in front of them broadcasting any video footage on their iPod. This is at audience convenience as the experience is just like a personal experience of watching TV and listening to your stereo, whilst on a plane, which at the same time, is using the technology provided to them by Apple for current Apple customers. It is just like they are extending the liberty and benefits of being an Apple customer.
From Apple’s point of view, if DRM was abolished completely, meaning any music track purchased in any way, can play on any music player licensed by any brand, Apple would strive to embrace this. Apple would agree to let their top competitors distribute their music because, in this circumstance, DRM’s inability to combat piracy. Companies would upload their music to distribute online, but without protected content, anyone can rip the file from the site itself and in turn (illegally) upload it to a different site for file sharing or with intent to sell. Without DRM there is no proof this music file has been stolen and who from. Currently, with DRM in place, Apple’s legal policies cover; software license agreements, hardware warranties, iTunes store terms, sales policies, service products, terms of service, policies, trademark copyright and intellectual property, legal contacts, export compliance and supplier provisions.
Apple is constantly looking to embed their software and products into the outside world on a broader scale at the convenience of their audience. With this idea in mind, Apple has since made a number of partnerships to increase the recognition of the company name and software, at the aid of the audience. This has sparked a partnership with Starbucks. The idea behind the partnership is to provide WI-FI inside Starbucks stores for access to the iTunes store. A quote from Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO: "Getting free access to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store and the 'Now Playing' service at Starbucks is a great way for customers to discover new music. Imagine walking into a participating Starbucks, hearing a great song, and being able to instantly download it onto your iPod or iPhone. We think this is very cool.". A quote from Howard Schultz, chairman, Starbucks Coffee Company "With this partnership, we're bringing Apple's leadership in digital music together with not only our retail footprint, but the unique Starbucks experience, to offer customers a world-class digital music experience. Introducing this new service is a natural extension of our music strategy which only enhances the retail coffee experience for customers by helping them discover and acquire new music instantly."
As well as Apple is teaming up with GM, Ford, and Mazda to offer iPod integration in those manufacturers' vehicles for the 2007 model year, Apple have also announced its partnership with Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United to deliver the first seamless integration between iPod and in-flight entertainment systems. These six airlines will be offering passengers seats with an iPod seat connection to listen to their music, as well as the ability for video content to be viewed on seat back displays. This idea effectively breaks up the function of an iPod with an input for their iPod in their chair to listen to their music, and also with a link to a screen in front of them broadcasting any video footage on their iPod. This is at audience convenience as the experience is just like a personal experience of watching TV and listening to your stereo, whilst on a plane, which at the same time, is using the technology provided to them by Apple for current Apple customers. It is just like they are extending the liberty and benefits of being an Apple customer.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
How I investigated: How are Apple Inc evolving to meet the changing demands of the music industry
I set about obtaining my objectives using online resources. As I am investigating how a business within the music industry is evolving, I primarily set out to find a time line of how Apple Inc has evolved from when they were founded, to the present day. To find this time line, I browsed and extracted findings from Wikipedia and apple museum websites. This secondary research allowed me to extract a time line of what business decisions they have had to made, and the development and release dates of their products, and whether these were successful, and if there was any synergy in place to help produce and distribute these products to an audience.
I followed up this research by logging into the Apple Inc website to find any articles on the music industry from their point of view, which coincidently I found an article called “Thoughts on music” which outlined issues which Apple Inc saw as key selling points of the music industry and how they plan to exploit these to their benefit in the future. Also on the Apple Inc website, I looked into a section called “Legal Statements” that lists all the legal stipulations affecting Apple Inc and its audience. These included synergies with other companies for software licenses, operating system software tools & server, and terms and conditions of products such as the iPod and iPhone, and also of services such as the iShop and iTunes (software companies includes final cut studios, Mac OS X and iLife for example).
I continued my research by browsing any articles and announcements made in local papers such as The Guardian. This research covered any information made public by Apple Inc about releases of their products, reviews of Apple Inc and their products by journalists, speculations about future product releases and any circumstances that may affect Apple Inc, evaluation of any progress that is or isn’t being made by Apple Inc and how these products and business choices made by Apple is affecting the music industry and their audience.
All of my research has been done subjectively, with secondary research including using online resources and qualitative information, to investigate how Apple as a business are evolving and adapting (past, present and future) to the changing climate of the music industry.
My research method of using online resources was reliable as it has provided me with an in depth view of many different perspectives including those of Apple Inc itself, the audience and the music industry. It provided me with information that would not have been accessible in different methods such as legal implications of Apple Inc, which if it was available in a different method not using technology, would have been very difficult to break down and consider logically. With newspaper articles in such papers as the guardian, would have been available to me in hard copy. However, because some of these articles were printed not just presently but in the past, this would have made this information difficult to access. The possibility of using books based around how a business in the music industry operates, and book informing me of key dates and issues that have affected, changed, influenced and motivated the music industry could of benefited my research and understanding as it broadens the angles to which I could of tackled my topic and made more links between each of these.
I was successful in finding out what I intended of finding out key issues that Apple Inc have had to consider and improve in order to take Apple Inc forward and be competitive and affect the music industry and its audience (some of these issues including any changes that are happening in the music industry influenced by their rivals, their audience (their demands and how the music industry is affecting them) and the inspiration of Apple Inc, music, technology and its audience’s and their industry’s demands).
I followed up this research by logging into the Apple Inc website to find any articles on the music industry from their point of view, which coincidently I found an article called “Thoughts on music” which outlined issues which Apple Inc saw as key selling points of the music industry and how they plan to exploit these to their benefit in the future. Also on the Apple Inc website, I looked into a section called “Legal Statements” that lists all the legal stipulations affecting Apple Inc and its audience. These included synergies with other companies for software licenses, operating system software tools & server, and terms and conditions of products such as the iPod and iPhone, and also of services such as the iShop and iTunes (software companies includes final cut studios, Mac OS X and iLife for example).
I continued my research by browsing any articles and announcements made in local papers such as The Guardian. This research covered any information made public by Apple Inc about releases of their products, reviews of Apple Inc and their products by journalists, speculations about future product releases and any circumstances that may affect Apple Inc, evaluation of any progress that is or isn’t being made by Apple Inc and how these products and business choices made by Apple is affecting the music industry and their audience.
All of my research has been done subjectively, with secondary research including using online resources and qualitative information, to investigate how Apple as a business are evolving and adapting (past, present and future) to the changing climate of the music industry.
My research method of using online resources was reliable as it has provided me with an in depth view of many different perspectives including those of Apple Inc itself, the audience and the music industry. It provided me with information that would not have been accessible in different methods such as legal implications of Apple Inc, which if it was available in a different method not using technology, would have been very difficult to break down and consider logically. With newspaper articles in such papers as the guardian, would have been available to me in hard copy. However, because some of these articles were printed not just presently but in the past, this would have made this information difficult to access. The possibility of using books based around how a business in the music industry operates, and book informing me of key dates and issues that have affected, changed, influenced and motivated the music industry could of benefited my research and understanding as it broadens the angles to which I could of tackled my topic and made more links between each of these.
I was successful in finding out what I intended of finding out key issues that Apple Inc have had to consider and improve in order to take Apple Inc forward and be competitive and affect the music industry and its audience (some of these issues including any changes that are happening in the music industry influenced by their rivals, their audience (their demands and how the music industry is affecting them) and the inspiration of Apple Inc, music, technology and its audience’s and their industry’s demands).
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