by Ming Leung, May 2011
02/ Pop Music Distribution
For the distribution of the pop music, we are not hard to think the situation in the old days. As Frith mentioned, if people need to listen music, they need to go to auditorium and listen lively in front of the performers or orchestra. Otherwise, the song can just only distribute in the way human by human. Hence, for the distribution in this way, it is very difficult to distribute compare with the technologies at this moment and then popular music is just only serving for a very less amount of people within the group.
Storage Media
Song recording devices is start from musical box, which can reproduce the songs that pre‐setup in the pins in the revolving cylinder, but the musical box can just only the sound only, it will not provide the whole songs including the human voices. Later on, phonograph disc recording has been invented and the songs with voices can be recorded, the disc which can just only record about 3‐4 minutes at the beginning. Since this 78 rpm disc is just too limited for recording and then longer recording time is need, hence LP have invented which have increased the recording time to 15 minutes each size and run in 33½ rpm.
Later on, the appearance of cassette tape have become one of the main device for the pop music carrier, then CD have appeared and each can carry about one hour long and now we can have other different storage media in digital format, mostly MP3, and the size of the player can from the desktop size to walkman to iPod now we have.
Selling Songs
In Hong Kong, the distribution of the pop songs in the pre‐Internet age is mostly through radio. Pay cable radio have fully covered most of the urban area in Hong Kong and then most of Hongkonger can have this broadcasting to receive the music. At that time these are nearly the only entertainment for them to receive new things from other world. The radio will broadcast the songs from western and even the Hongkonger cannot afford the services from the cable radio, they will go to some herbal tea shop to buy a cup of tea and listen to them, since these shops have the cable radio service subscription for them.
And so these shops can group the people together and hence the radio is the main media at that time. Later, in 1967, TVB have open. They are the first color television broadcast and free of charge to get their service. Hence, TV dramas are the main programme that the people will receive at that time. Pop music then naturally go into the most popular media and adjusted it’s a role in this period. They are not only just the songs themselves but work with the TV drama, when the drama become popular, the songs can popular also. In 70s‐80s, Hong Kong movies become famous and can sell to overseas, similar situation of TV and the movie also need to consume the songs also. Singer not just only singing, they also need to be a movie actor, when they become popular, their songs will also popular, until 1997.
In Internet age, Hong Kong popular songs basically working in the pre‐Internet period, even there are some online portal which is selling pop songs like moov.hk or kkbox.com, but they are actually not selling songs in the concept of selling a product to their customer. Yes, they claimed they are “selling” the songs to customer which from the concept of iTunes, but basically they are just rent the songs to the customer, which the rent period claimed is forever until they have closed. For the customers who buy the songs in old media age, they are bought the songs which offline from the controller/producer company, which they actually do what they want. When a person has brought the things, actually they want to own the things itself. So this type of online “buying” (or cloud buying) cannot let the user own the things, not like iTunes, even the have the encryption which control the files that copy to other locations, but they can provide the “owning” concept to the customer and they are really buy the songs actually, all stored in iTunes, which have not change much on the concept of buying.
Distribution in Mass Media
In the history of the pop music development, we can see that the music is selling itself only at the age before TV, and then in TV age, the songs cooperate with the TV drama together. The music itself has changed the position, or added one more position with the new media has appeared.
So in the current Mobile‐Interneted age, pop songs should have to be modernized with the new media. For the music itself, it still mostly development about 3‐4 minutes for each, which is the length in 78 rpm era. For the media we have now, for instance, YouTube, which can let the most normal user to upload a video up to 10 minutes7. So as the example from Kara Uemura, her songs God of Toilet have total length in 9 minutes, which is totally fit with the YouTube as a distribution media. This is a very nice try of the length for this media, and since the length have widen, the whole feeling have changed and not just limited to the length before, and can fit in other environment which is not just for karaoke.
Besides, in the Mobile‐Interneted age, most of the devices actually have a screen, which can provide individual content with each individual screen. This is not like in the TV dominant era, each home basically have just only one screen, all the family members need to follow the same content in the same time. The programme is chosen by the person who has the most power in that family. But if this situation has collapsed, each person can choose their favorite programme themselves and so music can have a wide range of media for distribution. For instance, we can see there is some professional recording of music, which for the user who buy to challenge their audio equipment at home. But they still need to have really have songs, the karaoke songs may not suit for these purpose and so this have come out and the songs is actually re‐produced from the old stuff but have high‐up version actually.
So with similar concept of development, pop music can also develop in different scenarios, or more personalize environment, like have Jazz mixing which already been done by William So, or design for have a Sunday drive with a family, or even one song about 10‐30 minutes which for the travel to work, or go to gym. Selling old songs with specific context is really, but why not selling the brand new song in this way. There is just a case from William So in the past, but the society have not such culture at that moment and so this try is not very successful, but if an advertising become better, then I think this will a new way for the pop music.
In the entertainment perspective, like in the past songs work with TV, we are now can work with video game at this moment like the Taiko no Tatsujin and Guitar Hero, these video game is also need to consume pop songs in their game also, not just only karaoke. These things have already been done long time ago but this still a huge opportunities which have not done for the Hong Kong pop music.
The Music Video
Music video are basically help to advertiser the pop music. In the karaoke age, this is a major material for the songs, since the people actually cannot accept a blank screen with nothing inside but lyrics when they focus on the karaoke screen. This is only the text machine but not karaoke. But in this mobile age, music video can be another presentation of the songs visually, the songs can be upgraded to let the audience to watch the songs. This can be another presentation, or see as a very short movie which a songs.
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