The Music Industry's Balancing Act of Supply and Demand

Is commerce the death of quality art? Why doesn’t supply and demand work effectively in the music industry, and how can it be fixed? These questions should be kept in mind, especially as new technology begins to grow in the music industry. Over a billion digital music tracks are sold annually in the United States, so naturally, streaming services will take interest in this. The pros far outweigh the cons of streaming music from the consumer’s point of view. Huge companies like Spotify and Pandora allow easy access to music with relatively low cost, free even, if you don’t sign up for premium. This makes sharing music easier, artists build up a larger following, and the consumer’s appetite for immediate gratification is satiated. How is this a bad thing for artists and record labels? The per stream rate paid to the musicians is very low. Well, wouldn’t supply and demand work in the music industry’s advantage in this situation to cancel out the low rate? Not necessarily. The demand for new music will always be high, but now that we have media available for mass consumption, the demand for content is even higher. It becomes a race for labels to pump out more music to keep the consumers satisfied, while also keeping the price up, so they are able to make money to keep producing new material. It’s a vicious cycle, but society today is slave to immediate gratification. You can have anything with the click of a button, so why shouldn’t we? Some might argue that this frantic demand has pushed the merchants of the music industry to put out lower quality product on the radio. Merchants want to fit the mainstream sales taste, so they can continue to make money. It’s more convenient to create simple songs with little thought, than to make every song the best song ever written. It’s easier, and it’s faster. Is commerce the death of quality art? No. Because of the growth of technology in the industry, several other avenues to finding quality music have been opened. You don’t hear avid music listeners say quite often that their favorite genre of music is what’s played on the radio, yet record labels still make money because they know what sells to the average radio listener. It’s not always the art you like. It’s the art that sells. The music industry and media will continue to thrive and eventually find a way to work together effectively. In the meantime, it’s all about balance.