Poverty Blog

Poverty has been a problem that seems to always be present in this world. There always seems like there is a need to fix it, but the majority of attempts has failed. In order to try and help this class of people to leave their impoverished state and enter into a developing, and one day hopefully developed, class, something new has to be tried.

            In the past many people will try and provide different forms of aid to these people. While I don’t want to discount the good that this can do for these people, it may not be the best option if we want to see future success rising from these societies. A problem with only providing aid is that it teaches the people nothing. It allows a certain form of dependency that they can have on those who have provided it to them. They had to do nothing to receive it and will not know how to work to receive things later. Further more, just giving aid in countries around the world can disrupt forms of economic development that could have already been occurring within those countries. While you can local businesses starting and beginning the economic flow within a certain area, to have foreign aid come in and provide free aid rather than allowing the local businesses to work and start economic development.

            While providing money and other aid does help and is needed in some places, a more beneficial form of aid could be education for the people. Training in economic skills could allow businesses within those countries to learn how to function better and begin to thrive inside of their own local communities. Simple education for kids will allow them to have more knowledge and a wider range of skills in order that they could enter the work force and begin a greater source of production and allow the economy to begin to thrive.

            Because of my love for music, I want to show a way in which we, as musicians, can help. Helping the poor doesn’t always have to be foreign. Right in your area where you live there are people in need of help. Get involved. There are organizations you can get in touch with and be a part of to help kids and adults that are homeless. These people need to learn how to work in society so that they can leave their state of poverty. An example of this can be seen in the popular band Switchfoot. The guys in Switchfoot are from San Diego, California. While looking for a way to get involved and help, they found an small, local organization in San Diego called Stand Up For Kids. This organization takes homeless kids off the streets and into their homes. They take care of them and provide a safe place for them to stay and receive nourishment. The aid doesn’t stop there though, the people then help the kids by teaching them about what it means to get a job and work. They provide them with skills and the necessary training to be able to enter the work force and not just stay poor and depend on the homes they have been brought into. The people working for Stand Up For Kids will be with the kids every step of the way and will help them get a job and get them a steady income that they can live off of and create a life for themselves rather than having to live on the streets. Switchfoot has gotten involved with this organization. As musicians, you can write music to bring hope, but that won’t do a lot as far as helping people having a better life. The guys instead directly help with kids in the area and are a part of the process of helping the kids to have a better life by showing them how to live and work. Additionally, the guys have an event called the Switchfoot Bro-Am where they provide a free concert, surf competition, and games among other things where they raise money for this organization as well as providing a day where the kids can come and just have a good time. It’s not all about just giving money, but rather getting involved in their lives and helping them to have a better life than they would’ve ever had.

Audio Engineering Degrees

There is always a debate on whether or not people should go to college and get a degree in any field related to music or the music industry. While people are very opinionated, there is no definite answer that someone can be given. In the case of an audio engineer, no degree is needed to get a job. In the present day, home studios are becoming more and more common, allowing people to become their own sound technician and record and produce their own music. The availability for a sound engineer can be very high while many of them did not study audio production in school, and some did not even go to college. This leaves us with the question of whether or not a degree is needed at all.

            People are able to enter this field without a degree because it is more focused on experience as well as connections that people have. The so called “old fashioned” way of doing things would be to bed and plead with an audio engineer or producer until they provided you with an unpaid internship that could be completely unrelated to anything involving music. The purpose of this was to form relationships with people of higher positions, you would be able to learn from watching, but also as time goes on you would be allowed to help and take part in the production. This would lead to you getting a full time job as an audio engineer even though it took long hours of grueling work. There are times when this truly pays off, but also can leave people poor and without a job because they are just getting by while trying to find a job.

            In the situation of someone with a degree, going to college provides a student with all of the experience and connections needed and desired in the music industry. This education can benefit an audio engineer because they are put in real life, professional situations and are allowed to learn how to work. Students are given resources and technology needed in order to learn how to use them for once they leave college and enter into working as a full time sound engineer. The downfall is that even with a degree, people have to many times start at the bottom. There are still unpaid internships, but the experience and connections made during time at a university can be vital in helping a career to be secured after time spent working one’s way up. Many people suggest that if you do not have money to spend on college and will come out with debt, take the route of going straight into the work force and working your way up. I personally prefer the route of going to a college to study because I see the benefits of having a college that will provide its students with sufficient, up to date education that is hard to learn on your own. Also, if someone comes to the point and is not able to get a job, they are at least educated and can still get a different job thanks to the basic education provided by the college that people without this education wouldn’t have.

            No matter which path someone takes, a person is not guaranteed a job as a full time, professional audio technician working in a studio making money. While this may be the dream and people may work hard, sometimes they are just not able to. A career is more than a degree and more than taking the steps that are considered to be correct. These people have to be creative, love music, and be determined. The industry needs people that will work and that will always be learning and be engaged with the work before them. There is a love for music and a love to interact with people that are necessary that cannot be taught or experienced over time.

            So much plays into whether or not someone will be successful. Success in this career might be considered whether you are making $50,000 and up a year, working with famous bands at the time, or even just being able to produce music that a person believes in. With music there are no boundaries and no rules that have to be followed. This creates an unsteady job market for people allowing some to become rich and have a set career and forcing some to be poor and move on from this dream in order to just make money to survive.

Prices in the Music Industry

Prices within the music industry can be seen with the sales of music created by artist. There was a period in time when sales in music were on a constant incline and artists as well as record labels were making more money than ever. Recently though, there has been a decline in sales and how much revenue is being brought in. In order to determine the reason for this, we have to look at the changes in the music industry that have occurred in the last 15 years.

1999 was the highest point in sales for the music industry in which they sold an estimate of 40 billion dollars. Since then that amount in sales has decreased. Major changes in the industry have occurred; transferring from selling physical copies of albums to people being able to purchase digital downloads of singles. With the sale of physical albums, people would by a combination of all songs created by the artists rather than just being able to buy the few songs that an individual wants. Because people can purchase just these few songs, the artist and industry is losing money from sales of people not having to buy full-length albums. A solution to this could be to lower prices for albums so that people would be more encouraged to buy the album, otherwise sales will continue on in the same way.

With an increase in technology, there are more options than just buying music directly from artists through media such as iTunes is used, rather people have options such as YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify which allow people to enjoy music from an artist without having to pay. People don’t have to own a song to listen to it anymore, but can use these websites. These sites are able to do this through legal agreements with the artists and label and money is made through advertisements on the sites as well as providing additional benefits to people that purchase a better model of free version. This brings in money that would not be made otherwise.

I believe that music will always be created and then purchased no matter what happens to the economy. While the music industry is not completely inelastic but rather is affected by changes within the economy and technology and so forth, it will still be purchased even if it is on a smaller scale than it was. This presents a new problem to artists though, not being able to make enough money. Album sales should not be looked on with as much importance today as 10 years ago, rather bands need to be looking towards selling their performance. Money is made through what truly makes an artist distinct; how they can present this music they have created on stage. Concert sales are what provide artists with enough money to survive, including independent artist not even signed to a record label. People can make a middle class living off of touring with their original music. Albums will still be bought, but they have become a means of advertisement for an artists’ concert for many people. So while prices may be in decline for the purchase of music directly, I believe that no matter what artists will still be making money as always mainly through their concerts and merchandise that can be bought by fans directly.

Free Enterprise and Government Control/Regulation in the Music Industry

     The government has a large influence one what occurs within the music industry. With musicians and record companies, there are many contracts and legal agreements which all find their way back to the government. Many record labels can sign new, upcoming artists and take advantage of them. Artist are forced to create music based on regulations set by the label that they are signed by. Record labels get their authority from the legal contracts made between them and the artist which is then held up by the government. The government is able to create a lawsuit against artists if they are not holding up their end of the contract with a label. Many record labels will choose to take advantage of inexperienced artists and force them to abide by the companies' rules. The label will choose all of the music that an artist will make and can be corrupt with how much an artist is actually paid from the sales made by the music.
     Furthermore, the government can create laws concerning the censorship of music. Whether it be on the radio, in live performances, or on recorded albums, the government can dictate what content must be censored. Censorship can be created based on content or language that is consider explicit or offensive. Artists are not at liberty to publicly display their true art anywhere they choose while under the control of the government. This can be positive or negative depending on whether the government is using this authority to benefit society or to take advantage of it. The government also has authority to provide benefits to artists such as copyright laws defending artists against piracy of their original music. With so many new advantages in technology and the internet, stolen music has majorly increased in the past decade.The government can be seen as a threat to artist to take away their rights and bring overbearing lawsuits against them, but it can also insure their security and protect certain rights. Artists want to be protected from the threat of stolen music and many will run to a label and the government in order to create laws and provide them with the security needed.
     Free enterprise can be seen in the music industry with artists becoming increasingly separated from major record labels and becoming independent artists. Bands will create their music and produce all aspects of it and then distribute it and create tours based on income from sales. All of this is done without the help of a record label and bands and artist taking this route are directly interacting with their fans to make a living. Artist will create and provide new music for fans, and with the sales of albums and purchases of tickets, the free enterprise system of the music industry continues to increase. Many new artists are unsure about the future and cannot predict whether they will be successful or not, but sometimes separating from labels and governmental control can be beneficial in the aspect of being at liberty to create the music that you want to create.

Introduction Economics Blog

My name is James Patrick Austin. I am a missionary kid living in Peru for the last 7 years. During the time I have spent living here, I have encountered a growing interest that I have for music as well as surfing. While I believe that both can go hand in hand in many situations, my love for music has always been present and will continually grow as I proceed with my life after high school. I will be studying audio production within the music industry as a major at Middle Tennessee State University. I have found a way to pursue my passion for music and because of that I choose to study the field of economics within the music industry for this blog project. I will research the management aspects as well as how economics plays out with the role of artists and their record labels.