Hi good people of Audiosex

Please help me with my study into the state of the music industry. This simple little survey is all about how people are adapting to working in the ever changing music world.

Thanks In advance.

Ps let me know if I have missed a category or they should be something else to consider.

 

In can only help you by telling that professional is written with 2 S.

 

cheers!

 

LOL

 

ok i have bin doing home studio music for a long time before computers when we used real to real tape and don't get me wrong i love my MAC PRO and how much more easy it is to make music with a computer but they also hurt the music industry and the movie industry to

#1 is that when you can burn your own CDs then people bot ones then shared it with all there friends and so on

#2 is that the music industry is so saturated with so much unprofessional crap music and artists.. every one who has a PC thinks they have a studio and they are
a producer and start making and putting out crapy MIXED TAPES

#3 is that every one and there brother and sister think they can RAP or SING.. if i had i dollar for every rapper and singer that came to me and said I CANT PAY YOU MUCH BUT WHEN I MAKE IT BIG I WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU BRO i would be making a good living

so thats what i think sorry but its the truth

 

I'll try to be gentle as I support such attempts to study change in MI

- surveying "someone" without having an idea of sampling methods? Bad idea.

- "Round The Clock! LOL" That is your idea of a proper survey question? Maybe reconsider your style there.

- what about homerecording? If your study is about change or state of the music industry you might want to consider this. There is a ton of indie artists who record at home but will get their stuff mastered somewhere else. These are not hobbyists. are musicians in your scope? seems but not really sure as to the categories.

- If the survey is about job opportunities in MI: What area do you work in? - "Studio Owner"? Maybe have a second question on this.

"This simple little survey is all about how people are adapting to working in the ever changing music world." - Where is the question that actually covers this? There is nothing about coping with change. Just some examples from the top of my head:

Example: How many years in total have you been engaged in the music industry? ____ (as a control for analysis and filter for later questions. old dogs might have different coping mechanisms compared to young guys. interesting research question in itself)
Example: Considering the timeframe from 2000 to now? How did chances to get a regular job (define if necessary) in MI develop? (5 or 7 point scale ranging from chances decreased strongly.... chances increased strongly
Example: Did you receive any professional training? (categories: private education (e.g. SAE); University degree audio engineering, No professional training.... ) => Does education "pay off" in terms of job opportunities? nice control variable
Example: What was the yearly average turnover of your company in the last 10 years? (for studio owners. rephrase for employees. filter before this)
Example: Number of employees did your company have in 2010? (either FTE or head count. for studio owners. filter before this. maybe have some question about how the situation has changed)
Example: What mechanisms do you employ to get new customers (have a list here. multiple answers possible)
Example: What mechanisms to get new customers do you plan to employ in the next six months? (have a list here. multiple answers possible)
Example: Do you have a recurring customer base, i.e. customers that have used your services more than once? Please use the number of individual service contracts as a basis or the number of requests for service for flat fees.
Example: If you sold all your studio assets today, what do you expect to receive accounting for current prices on secondary market (rephrase maybe)
Example: How much money did you invest in your company (studio) in the last year? (maybe 5 categories... to be interpreted in conjunction with total value of the studio)
Example: How did your company's turnover develop in the last 10 years (5 or 7 point scale strongly increased to strongly decreased
Example: Considering the last X years: How often did you have to switch jobs?
Example: You know what? I'm getting bored. Questions about reasons for freelancing etc...

If I were you I would consult with some people and come up with a research design that captures what you are up to. the topic as such is nice but such a type of survey will not help the cause.

opty

 

I dunno why peeps are being so hard on you asking the questions as you haven't exactly said its for in depth analysis.....
Anywayzzzz , I produce underground dance music, signed on a few labels and dj professionally at 1 off bookings. So i guess you could add djing to your list as that is part of the Audio profession but i guess everyone with a laptop and traktor will also call themselves a dj

 

Dont apologise! Thanks for the feedback..

 

Hi Opty

Thanks for the feedback.... I understand where you are coming from, I think i will, at a later date, focus this survey. I was just getting a feel for whats going on.

I may be of interest but the idea for a survey came to me yesterday after my company was invited to speak before a panel at a local sound engineering school based here in Manchester UK. I wont name the school but they are quite large and well established. We appeared on the panel with a gentleman from the BBC that recruits engineers etc, the BBC has recently moved a large amount of its production to Manchester at the new digital village at Media City. Also on the panel was a head engineer from an international touring company.

This focus group were trying to find out about the realities of finding a job in the music industry as they have realized that they may be danger of saturating the local market. Manchester has the largest established music industry outside of London in the UK and quite a rich history of successful bands and independent labels, but recent years have seen dramatic drops in the amount of studios and facilities.

The one question that brought an amused smile to everyone on the panel was "How much would we be prepared to pay a student for a placement to gain work experience?". The whole panel quickly pointed out that this should be the other way round and they should pay us to take on a student as there are plenty of people ready and willing to work full time "Round the clock" to prove themselves and hopefully gain experience to later land themselves a job. If this attitude surprises anyone this is how I came to work in the industry 20 years ago, it was also how the BBC man did it 40 years ago, in his words "You gotta sleep under that desk (console) and make it yours." The touring man also firmly agreed with this principle.

Thought I would just share my motives with you....

CMS

 

Thanks MrGold

Yep your'e right you know I should have including DJ's, the school i'm talking about above also include a pro DJ course and it is an extremely valid entry point into the biz....

cheers

CMS

 

"Therapeutic added on the next 1"

 

One thing you could also do in addition to the survey is check at your national statistical office for "start up and closure rates" in your sector. I don't know if in the UK data is collected on that level of detail for sectors (Audio recording and related activities is situated in NACE class J59). If data is collected at NUTS2 level you may be able to have measures for Greater Manchester. NUTS3 should be even more precise but might not be available. I don't know the exact regulations for the UK but that data should be available free of charge.

Some places do alumni studies. Maybe that "place in manchester" does, too. Usually such studies have some question that covers the amount of time to find the first job after graduating. Maybe you can convince them to conduct an additional survey that will address final year students on how long they expect to have to spend on searching a job after graduation. As I get from your experience at the panel it seems that there is some disconnect between expected and realized job opportunities on the student's side (assuming a student asked that)

sorry for being rude.

To all the others: I assumed that CMS is doing this survey to gather data to get some sort of degree. In this case it is definitely not fun to be told after(!) you finished your survey by your supervisor(!) that there are shortcomings in the survey. If this is some out-of-interest driven activity then such shortcomings won't matter that much. That's why "people are so critical".

 

ok... seems that the data is not available to the public below country level. Still, you cnn check the Annual Business Surveys for some interesting data: 2009 ABS for SIC J.xls

There you will find number of enterprises and other interesting stuff. might be nice to have some time series on that.

 

Thanks Opty that's really useful and thanks for taking the time to check.

Believe it or not it was the tutors who were asking! So I guess there is a huge disconnect.

Thanks