Music professionals DJ Paul-E and DJ CKTo make it big in the music industry used to take more than just a talent for hitting the right notes.It meant masses of expensive equipment, booking time in a recording studio, the backing of a label and plenty of determination to push your foot through dozens of doors - not to mention a thick skin for all that rejection.
But today’s digital world now offers aspiring artists and musicians the chance to get their work out to the masses with very little hassle or financial outlay.
And as the cream of the British music industry descends on The O2 for The Brit Awards 2012, they'll be able to celebrate the fact that digital music – through downloads, subscriptions, ad-supported services and mobile - now represents a third of record industry trade income.
According to figures from the BPI, in the past year digital music revenues have risen by nearly a quarter, to £281.6m, with the price of music itself driven down to become more affordable.
Sales of digital albums – the average price is now £7 – were up a whopping 43.2% in 2011.
Part of reason for this dramatic rise is that software such as Apple’s GarageBand lets you create tracks simply using a Mac computer or even an iPhone or iPad.
New sharing websites like Soundcloud and Turntable.fm (US-only) along with the resurgence of MySpace mean the time and technology has never been better to get yourself heard.
Creating a track in your own front room, editing it on a computer, uploading it to the internet and getting instant feedback is no longer the preserve of the geek.
A wide variety of apps give precise control over every minute of audio, the sort of technology that once was the preserve of a huge deck of complicated systems in a studio.
Instruments too can be used with microphones and even guitars able to plug straight into an iPhone to record, using a cheap off-the-shelve accessory such as Griffin’s GuitarConnect Cable.
Apps like Spotify have changed the face of the music industryA further indication of how strong the sector is comes from what is happening at streaming sites. Premium subscriptions to sites such as Spotify, which recently partnered with Facebook, and others including Napster and We7 also rose hugely, up by 47.5%.Such figures are in stark contrast to physical music products, which have seen their sales slump by two thirds.
Adam Liversage, of the BPI, said: “The record-buying public has the best of all worlds – a massive choice of CDs on the high street and online, plus the world’s biggest choice of digital music services where they can buy, rent or enjoy music for free with advertising.”
BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor added: “It is highly encouraging for the long-term prospects of the industry that the pace of digital growth continues to accelerate. British labels are supporting a wide range of innovative music services and music fans are embracing digital like never before.”
For semi-professional DJs such as Paul Fenton and friend Kevin Cecile, aka DJ Paul-E and DJ CK of Too Bad DJs, technology represents a second chance at doing something they love.
The pair recently returned to the decks at club nights in Essex after a four-year break. But its website Soundcloud that is really helping them prosper.
It enables anyone to create an account and within seconds share music and audio to the world with the duo using it to show off their own mixes.
DJ Paul-E said: “We can see so many advantages to it. It enables you to get your music and mixes out there, and in front of people that can make a difference to your career all via an email with a link to your Soundcloud account.
“Going back to early 2000, as a DJ you would have to makes hundreds of CDs and post them, drop them off at bars/clubs and that’s if you knew who to send them to in the first place.
“Now with the help of Soundcloud, Facebook and Twitter we can send a copy of our mix to hundreds of radio stations, clubs, bars, promoters and big name DJs in minutes, as well as grow our fanbase.”
And Soundcloud has led to success for Too Bad DJs. Paul added: “We recently sent an email to a large promoter in East London who listed to one of our mixes on Soundcloud and he loved it. We now have a booking for his night and all it took was two hours.”
The growth of streaming subscription “jukebox” services has also been key in this new digital music resurgence.
Putting millions of tracks at the fingertips of computer and smartphone users, without the need to pay per download, has given the record industry an extra shot in the arm as it aims to ward off pirates.
Worldwide, Spotify now has 10million active users – with three million paying per month to listen ad-free. A spokesman said: “Spotify is now the second single largest source of digital music revenue for labels in Europe (IFPI, April 2011), and has paid over €200m to rightholders since the launch in October 2008.
“Piracy currently continues to be music’s biggest problem, but given the level of freedom to choose whatever music they want, whenever and wherever they want it, obtaining music illegally is becoming a hassle compared to the legal alternatives.”
Matthew Hawn, VP of Product as Last.fm, is another who believes digital has, and will continue, to change the face of music for the consumer, the artist and the industry.
He proclaimed: “The digital evolution means that fans are now consuming more music than ever before, making music more important than ever before.
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