Saquan Owens
11/28/18
Music & Money
Economic Competition in The Music World:
In the year 2018, Music is found almost any and everywhere. Music has become, like technology, a growing project that continues to expand every day and is used (or listened) in our everyday lives. Music has been known to be the ‘general language,’ the language that everyone can understand and share. There is only one form of speech in music, and that’s through the form of sound. There is so much music surrounded by us that we sometimes take it for granted, however those tunes that put those little monsters called babies to sleep wasn’t always everywhere. About 120 years ago the only source of music that one would hear would be little sing-alongs at home, choir music at church, and some Monday nights at the pub. Thankfully it’s almost impossible to go anywhere without the sound of music following today. Speaking of today, today we’re going to discuss how economics have played a huge role in the distribution as well as consumption of music through one of the best Genres in today's generation, Hip-hop.
Hip-hop is one of today's most impacting as well as arguably most known genres in music history. Hip-hop continues to thrive and grow every day, reaching the lives of all ages, races & religions. Through hip-hop, people have started with little to nothing, to having net worths of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of dollars. Hip hop has used many things in the field of economics to achieve what it is today. One of those many achievements would be the use of economic competition and how artists used this to their advantage to reach the goals they have marked. Economic Competition is, in economic terms, is where multiple sellers compete in an effort to attract and obtain the best efforts from buyers. In order to obtain these best efforts from the buyers, sellers tend to use several elements in marketing in order to gain the buyers attention, some being price, product & place. Some pure examples of economic competition would be Mcdonalds. Mcdonalds does all it can to stay on top of the fast food industry using the mixed elements to sustain its popularity. Mcdonalds alters its prices often in order to keep the consumers satisfied as well as bring in some more consumers who love the sales. Mcdonalds also releases new products often as well in order to keep the Mcdonald's name fresh in the eyes of the customer. Another key advantage that they do often is by having special/limited time only events, where they release products or create new products for a limited time. A classic example of this would be the shamrock shake or the peppermint coffee, which only appears once a year for a limited amount of time. Doing all of these things, not only keeps satisfies its consumers as well as gaining more, but it also keeps its franchise on top of its competitors like Wendy's and Popeyes, and even its biggest competitor being Burger King.
When analyzing this definition, it’s very interesting how such an economic strategy is used to often in the music industry. Using the same definition for music, in music terms, these sellers would be the artists or brand of a music group & the buyers would be the fans, as well as other companies looking to devote and invest in these artists. Artists compete for fans every day, using different techniques in order to maintain their current ones, as well add new fans. Some of these techniques are but not limited too; dropping new singles often, making albums, as well as going on tours. With the release of new music, as well as interacting with the fans/buyers live, maintains and enlarges a fan base made for the artist/seller. Artists also use multiple mix elements from economic terms in the music world, by adjusting a price, for event or holiday purposes, or adding a very populated place to their tour grounds in order to get a huge outcome from a massive population.
Since the creation of hip-hop in the 1900’s, many lives have enhanced due to the love and passion for music. Hip-hop has also been known as an ‘eye-opener’ for some people, using their talents, as well as taking advantage of the opportunities that music presents today, and expressing themselves in a form of matter that everyone can relate to and understand. Hip-hop has changed the lives for some people we love and look up to in the music industry. These celebrities, believe it or not, use economic competition in attempts to become more successful just like their competitors. An example artist would be American rapper Jacques Webster, or better known as Travis Scott. Here is a rapper who puts his all into music, and this year it was showed more than ever, landing one of the best albums of the year in hip-hop. The album went platinum on August 26th, 2018, which was less than a month of the release of the album, which was August 3rd. Travis Scott used multiple features of economic competition within the making of this album. The product itself was deeply worked on, taking about 2 years to create his album, since his last released in 2016. Another factor in the product of his album was the artwork and title of it, ASTROWORLD. Travis Scott states that the title and artwork of his album was a pure inspiration of the theme park Six Flags: Astroworld, which was shut down in 2005. He adds on in an interview with GQ by explaining why the theme park was shut down, which led to it being torn down in order to build apartment buildings. Travis felt that tearing down the park stole the fun out of the city, and that he makes this artwork and album in order to bring fun back to the city. He uses the products artwork and songs in order to bring in new fans and expand on his fan base. Liking Astroworld or not, making this artwork was the perfect key to bring in new fans because once they saw the cover, if they had never heard of Travis before, but loved what Astroworld used to be, they would give the album a chance due to reminiscing aspects. Right after releasing the album, he sent out his tour dates and quickly started landing in major cities for concerts such as Miami to Tampa. Then heading up the east coast to NC and NY and finally visiting Toronto alongside with Aubery Graham, one of Hip-Hop’s biggest current artist, to perform Sicko Mode. This song led to end the year off being the number 1 song on Billboard. Not only that but with all the support from all the fans gained from all of this, a huge increase in consumers, led to Astroworld being Billboard’s number 1 album ending the year. Travis Scott also took his album cover and made it live, performing while on a roller coaster to bring life into his excited fans. He did this at multiple tours, as an act to show how exciting it used to be at the theme park, bringing the reminiscing excitement to all of his fans below him. These mixed elements is what led Travis Scott to come out on top in 2 great accomplishments over his competitors. With the use of Economic Competition, this shows how one can make a huge impact and shift the music industry in his favor. Now let’s have another look at a current prodigy in hip-hop, Aubery Graham, or what most people know him by, Drake.