MUSI150 Language in Society
2019 ), Bob Dylan ( Rolling Thunder Revue , 2019 ), George Michael ( Last Christmas , 2019 ), and a host of others . This surge of musicbiographical and musical films is attributable , largely , to three causes : the decline of the sales of recorded music , record labels resultantly exploiting the chance to reach a new audience with their preexisting commodities ( i . e . musical artists ), and the precedent for successful musical films combined with the success possible on the far-reaching platform of video streaming services .
The decline of the sales of recorded music is a major factor in why musical films and music biopics have risen in prominence in the last few years ; digital and CD album sales decreased by a resounding 76 % ($ 10.6bn ) between 2000 and 2014 ( Tschmuck , 2014 ; Tessler , 2020b ). When the major record labels had confronted the fact that physical music sales had been largely replaced by multiple online means of listening to music – through streaming services such as Spotify and digital download platforms such as iTunes , they realised that because they allowed technology companies to dominate these fields , their control of the recorded music industry was more limited than ever . The remaining assets they had were musical
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artists and their material , as well as power over distribution of this material ( Tessler , 2020c ). Two outcomes came of this that led to the production of more music films : the major labels ’ control of all of their artists ’ back catalogues , and the business-to-business , or B2B ( Tessler , 2020d ), approach to selling music .
A significant way in which the major labels confronted the collapse of recorded music sales was the act of re-packaging music . This was the sale of hugely successful music , often era-defining albums by artists in the popular music canon , in new formats – commonly on the reborn format of vinyl , or in expensive special edition box sets or collections featuring remastered vinyl LPs as well as DVDs or clothing . It only made sense that music that still belonged to the record label , and had achieved great commercial success upon its release , should be re-released in a highly popular and marketable format , especially given these artists had a major worldwide following . Good examples of this can still be found on Warner ’ s online store ( Warner Music , 2020 ), where a host of vinyl LPs and box sets by artists such as Fleetwood Mac , Phil Collins and Led Zeppelin are available to purchase . I would argue that musical films featuring