Changing Their Tune

Can you remember the first piece of music you bought? If you’re in your 20s， it was probably a CD and you almost certainly went into a music shop and thought very carefully about how to spend your money before you chose the disc by your favourite band. A percentage of the money you spent went to the band or the singer—that’s how the musicians made their living.

Nowadays， however， young people in the UK hardly ever go to music shops. In fact， there aren’t many music shops left on British high streets and small， independent music shops have almost completely disappeared. You could be forgiven for thinking that British youngsters are no longer interested in music. Actually， music is still an important part of life for most British people. In a recent survey young people had to imagine what they would miss if they lived on a desert islandand 90 per cent of those who took part chose music first.

The main difference between attitudes to music now and in the past is that lots of young people would laugh at the idea of paying for music nowadays. “Music is free”， they say， “and you get it from the internet.” Illegal downloading of music is widespread. A recent survey said that an average teenager has 800 illegally downloaded songs on his or her MP3 player. Other research has shown that the majority of teenagers listen to music saved on their computer hard drive and that this contains over 8，000 songs on average.

So， what does this mean for the bands that make their money from the sale of their music? If people don’t pay for the music， the bands don’t make any money. Some young British bands are trying some interesting ways to make money in other ways. In the past bands could make some money from T shirts， CDs and posters but they need to be more creative now. Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand can keep you entertained with their branded puzzles， bags， books and even underwear.

Some of the other big names in British music are joining in. If you need to brighten up your bedroom you can choose a Gorillaz lamp. Coldplay produced water bottles for their Viva la Vida album. You can even listen to music as you dry your Coldplay cups with a Supergrass branded tea towel. Want a new ipod or some sun cream? Then look no further than Robbie Williams’ website—it really takes the biscuit. It looks like an online department store and the majority of the things for sale don’t even have a link to Robbie himself.

If you are thinking of starting your own band you have to go to your audience to promote yourself. This means on social networking sites such as Facebook and My Space where the majority of teens can be found in the evening. It is more difficult for bands that are just starting out in the music business to make money but easier for them to find fans. UKbands is a site dedicated to(奉獻于，獻身于) new music and it gives bands a chance to share their music across the web. So dig out that dusty guitar and maybe you could be an internet star.