The Firm Foundation of Organizational Flexibility: The 360 Contract in the Digitalizing Music Industry

Stahl, Matt; Meier, Leslie M.

doi:10.22230/cjc.2012v37n3a2544

Cited by 45 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These contracts are preferred because they allow companies to extract profits from various aspects of the signees' revenue stream to account for the downturn in record sales in the digital era, which was generally not part of traditional recording deals. These aspects can include any aspect of their career and hence the term 360 degrees, such as merchandising, touring, and commercial endorsements (Marshall 2013;Stahl and Meier 2012). More recently, Lupe departed from Atlantic and signed with Nashville-based entertainment company Thirty Tigers.…”

Section: Mixed Space Between the Majors And Indiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In response to the rise of a revitalized indie movement in the early 2000s, major labels attempted to remain relevant by creating 360-degree contracts. These contracts extract profits from various aspects of the signee's revenue stream such as merchandising, touring, and commercial endorsements (Marshall 2013;Stahl and Meier 2012), and utilize the new modes of musical production to offset declining record sales (Leyshon et al 2005) (see Chapter 3). Fox (2004) also argues that large companies attempted to control online music through the creation of copyright-protected files and lawsuits against the providers of free music.…”

Section: The Changing Nature Of Hip-hop's Indie Movementmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Death of Indie Hip-Hop?: The Blurry Lines Between the Majors and Independent Hip-Hop

Vito

2019

The Values of Independent Hip-Hop in the Post-Golden Era

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This chapter utilizes forty-six interviews with self-identified independent hip-hop listeners to navigate the changing meanings of indie hip-hop in the post-golden era. The author elaborates on listener's definitions of independent and mainstream hip-hop and analyzes their interpretations of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and oppositional consciousness. Listeners suggest that indie hip-hop often focuses on race and class but often ignores issues of gender and sexuality. Female and queer listeners are more conscious of this omission than male and straight listeners, despite a current push toward female and LGBTQ representation in hip-hop's mainstream. Also, there remains a blurry line between independents and majors that many artists navigate as they attempt to retain economic and creative freedom while still attempting to become financially successful. Technological shifts and advances, such as marketing and distribution channels, have further exacerbated the blurry lines of hip-hop. Keywords Authenticity • Race and class • Gender and sexuality • Technological advancements in hip-hop • Independent hip-hop movement A-Trak, a renowned DJ, producer, artist, and founder of the record label Fool's Gold, stated on Medium's Cuepoint that hip-hop's "left field seeped out of the margins and into the mainstream" (A-Trak 2014).

show abstract

Section: Mixed Space Between the Majors And Indiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Changing Nature Of Hip-hop's Indie Movementmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Death of Indie Hip-Hop?: The Blurry Lines Between the Majors and Independent Hip-Hop

Vito

2019

The Values of Independent Hip-Hop in the Post-Golden Era

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In a contemporary musical marketplace characterized by declining record sales and a smaller cross-section of "blockbuster" artists, the major record companies have come to increasingly rely on strategies that include: Licensing songs to other media and entertainment companies; cultivating international record sales and audiences; and creating 360-degree contracts (Stahl and Meier, 2012;Sutherland, 2015). This section will examine Kelp's negotiation and incorporation of these contemporary strategies, number of international contacts and connections -ranging from press to record labels to music publishers -are flown into the city to watch a week-long concert comprised primarily of Ottawa-based musicians.…”

Section: From Kelp Records To Kelp Management: Digital Stabilizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both of these tendencies depart from the sorts of totalizing contracting practices that are currently characterizing the recording industry's move towards 360 degree contracts, which work to both monetize and manage areas of non-recording activity, such as publishing, licensing, and live performances, in addition to traditional means of artist development (Stahl and Meier, 2012). Lastly, while it threatens to capture the experiential and social potentiality of independent music into click-based transactions of attention and money, it also provides a platform for both music producers and listeners to connect to the myriad sounds and bands constituting the current field of independent music.…”

Section: Labour Incorporatedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This sort of expansion into different revenue streams and areas of musical activity is commensurate with the increasing use of 360 degree contracts in the recording industry. Such contracts are applied to both new and blockbuster artists, and monetize a wider assortment of musical practices, including: merchandise sales, live shows, and music publishing and licensing(Stahl & Meier, 2012;Stahl, 2013). These contracts are different from previous iterations of contracting, which primarily focused on (and contracted for) recorded outputs.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Shine a Light: Surveying Locality, Independence, and Digitization in Ottawa’s Independent Rock Scene

Audette-Longo¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This dissertation examines the articulation and reconfiguration of locality inOttawa's independent (indie) rock scene. It argues that styles of producing and relating to indie music that have been traditionally embedded in local scenic activity and practices of "do it yourself" (DIY) have been translated into more ubiquitous, quotidian, and valuable metadata and labour that organizes and powers the operations of disparate digital media sites, including digital music services like Bandcamp, CBC Radio 3, and Wyrd Distro.This argument is developed through closer analyses of the following case studies: the entrepreneurial strategies and musical focuses of Ottawa-based independent record labels Kelp and Bruised Tongue Records; scene-bound media like zines, blogs, music video and campus/community radio; the re-articulation of local regions as metadata that organize the search and retrieval functionalities of the digital music streaming services CBC Radio 3 and Bandcamp (a particular iteration of local regions I dub the "indexi-local"); and the concurrent incorporation of DIY labour and reconfiguration of the business of independent music evident in the digital music retailers Bandcamp and Wyrd Distro.This project contends that in the midst of digitization, the media sites, entrepreneurial strategies, and subcultural practices traditionally folded into the production of independence in local indie music scenes persist. This not only nuances narratives of upheaval advanced about digital media technologies, but also challenges narratives of decline and compromise recurrently articulated to the field of independent music. Contra academic and popular discourse that valorizes independent music for its ability to circulate outside of the "mainstream" musical, media, and cultural industries, this dissertation contends that independent music is entangled within these industries.iii Moreover, the persistence of local music scenes across the sites examined in this dissertation signals the continued value, power, and allure of independent music's activities, subcultural commodities, and grassroots media sites to both scene participants and digital music services alike.

show abstract

Just Say No to 360s: Hip-Hop’s Claim of Economic Exploitation

Vito

2019

The Values of Independent Hip-Hop in the Post-Golden Era

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This chapter focuses on how independent hip-hop artists in the post-golden era resist economic exploitation from mainstream culture and major corporations. Indie musicians make the grievance that major labels benefit at the expense of performers and hence are highly exploitative. Their unfair treatment is predominantly reflected in the contracts acts sign with major labels. This has repercussions for artists in numerous facets of the music industry: (1) advances/forwards, (2) control of copyrights, (3) artistic direction and relations with A&R, (4) touring, merchandising, and advertising deals, and (5) radio stations, media, and press. Finally, some hip-hop artists make the claim that creating and maintaining independent record labels helps mitigate economic exploitation, controls record label oversight, and serves for the betterment of the hip-hop community. Keywords Economic exploitation • Corporatization • 360 degree contracts • Advances and forwards • Artist and relations (A&R) Forbes magazine reported that Strange Music's Tech N9ne made an estimated 7.5 million dollars in 2012, which was more than mainstream artists 50 Cent, Mac Miller, and Rick Ross (Greenburg 2013). They wrote that Tech N9ne attributes a large part of his success to building a strong fan base without the help of a major record label. His business model, CHAPTER 3

show abstract

The Firm Foundation of Organizational Flexibility: The 360 Contract in the Digitalizing Music Industry

Cited by 45 publications

References 13 publications

The Death of Indie Hip-Hop?: The Blurry Lines Between the Majors and Independent Hip-Hop

The Death of Indie Hip-Hop?: The Blurry Lines Between the Majors and Independent Hip-Hop

Shine a Light: Surveying Locality, Independence, and Digitization in Ottawa’s Independent Rock Scene

Just Say No to 360s: Hip-Hop’s Claim of Economic Exploitation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About