How Has Music Marketing Changed over the Years and Where Does the Future of the Music Press Lie?

In this day and age, technology is developing so rapidly that changes are occurring all across the board. Faster internet, digital photography, and interactive programs are all making advertising and marketing much easier in the ever expanding world of consumerism. With all these new advances, there are bound to be numerous changes. The music industry is a relatively modern concept. It originated from word of mouth and paper publications back before computers were even thought of. Many people nowadays act for the music press themselves by creating their own blogs/podcasts etc from their own music knowledge they have gained from websites and magazines.

Although there are many technology based music industries there are still some simple publications that are still popular even though they have been around for the past 50 years such as NME magazine. As the music press progressed specific music genre specialisms such as Kerrang and TOTP have been introduced. Also, advertising elements such as billboards and posters still catch our attention as we are walking or driving past one. An eye catching mise en scene or new pictures of our favourite bands induce us to stop what we are doing and take notice in what they are doing or promoting.

This shows how the music press operates according to the basic principles of advertising. For example A.I.D.A. The awareness is raised through apple symbols and artists which we trust to admire, acting as form of celebrity endorsement for the reader or viewer. The press follow the interest in an artist by using aesthetically pleasing photos of them making us aspire to look or be like our idols in the music industry. We cant help to desire to follow our favourite artist on twitter to get all the up to date gossip and information on them. We then take action by buying CD's, gig tickets and merchandise in order to support our favourite bands but also as we aspire to fit in to the changing society. We do what is 'the thing' to do at the time. This relates to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as group and self identity relate to our choices in music and say a lot about us as individuals. There are still many advantages of buying a traditional magazine in today's society. You can pick it up anytime and take it anywhere with you. You know all the information will be reliable and trustworthy. Free CDs/booklets and posters are one of the biggest advantages. People are most likely to by a magazine with a freebie other than any other one.

Since technology became so popular, the most common music marketing for music was magazines. People would go out and spend their hard earned money on a magazine which would fill them in and keep them updated on everything to do with their favourite genre of music. It was for some people the only way to find out about new information on their favourite bands etc. However, over time as technology has developed, new marketing ways have been introduced which are pushing music magazines to the back of the line. These new ways are quicker, cheaper and easier for people which is why they are becoming more popular.

In the mid 1990’s things started to change. The advent of the Internet allowed music fans to change the way they consumed music. And as technology advanced, the music business began to rethink (or in some cases were forced to rethink) the tools they used to market music to consumers. For reasons both good and bad, the Internet has given nearly all consumers more information than they would get from things like magazines or the radio for free, which means that people wont bother spending their money buying a magazine.
Online music magazines/websites have the opportunity to make more money from advertising etc.

If things continue developing in this way, the future of the music press will all be technology based. Eventually music magazines wont be making enough money and will be taken off the shelves and more and more industries will be online based. What is certain is that the future of the music press will be tied to the idea of sharing ideas online and through word of mouth. Blogs like network.youthmusic.org.uk, viral marketing through facebook where artists have a bigger fan base will develop and expand.