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Local Record Labels article in DTH & Neuman



All,

I skimmed this article during lunch and some of it was pretty
interesting---considering our recent discussion of MP3s and also the
whole "who owns" an "artist's" songs, etc.

http://www.unc.edu/dth/archives/2000/04/040500/ane.html

Another interesting thing is that these record labels, which deal in
highly specialized markets, or niches, is another example of
fragmentation. In the beginning of chapter 4 of Neuman, he writes:

"We turn at this point to the horizontal variable: the diversity of
audience interests. If the number of available channels expands 10-fold,
should we expect new topics of public discussion and new formats of
presentation to evolve? Or, on the other hand, should we expect to see
simply more of the same, mass-audience, common-denominator fare
multiplied by 10?" (pg.115)

Are all these niches that have evolved in the music industry, just
creating smaller pools of mass audiences or has the music industry had
to become specialized in order to compete? I am drawing from pg 117, the
2nd paragraph, where he writes about the 3 stage model of a "general
theory of media evolution that predicts a pattern of specialization."

I'm asking b/c I'm not sure. Any thoughts?

Robyn