If we reflect for a bit, we’ve always thought about versioning in a mere product conception; for example, different versions of Microsoft Office, of a Transavia’s flight or of a Netflix account. But if we turn on the radio (for those who still listen to it) or pay attention on the playing background of a supermarket or a shop, we will realize that music, that nowadays has become one of the main digital information goods, is also strongly subject to these second-degree price discrimination.

42 years have passed when Eric Clapton, the best living guitarist of the history according to Rolling Stones[i], built his fortune covering Cocaine from John Weldon Cale; he basically came out with a different version of someone else’s song. However, this is not really what the real definition of versioning means, that is, in the music case, the same author proposing different version of a same song. “Radio edit”, “remix”, “video version”, “remastered”, “reprise”, “unplugged”; it’s nowadays usual to come across these extensions right next to the same original title of a song composed by the same author. In all of these cases, the strategy of the artist/band is simple: making his effort available through all the different channels and trying to reach as many targets as possible (e.g. the rockers, the pop lovers, the forevertechno club, ecc…). This phenomena can be seen as a fragmentation of the song; as if the artist, through his song itself, was putting a mask with the goal of be liked by anyone. But what’s the problem at the root with this practice? As the famous Italian dramatist and poet Luigi Pirandello taught us, among all his masterpieces, especially in Six Characters in Search of an Author, the mask hides the concepts of “self” and “identity”[ii] that, applied to music, should be proper to a song and eventually reflect the artist’s thought and personality. The result of this approach is a different philosophy of making music: be liked instead of be yourself, even if this means being fake to your loyal fans.

How can we sum up versioning into music with a metaphor? It’s like a wall of glass, “something that prevents someone from doing a different job or doing their job more effectively”[iii]. But here is the paradox; is doing a different job (a different version of the same song) that prevents an artist to do his job more effectively: being himself.

[i] https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-153675/eric-clapton-4-38244/

[ii] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811026036

[iii] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/glass-wall

In 1979 the English musician Bruce Woolley published a single called “Video Killed the Radio Star”, a song in which is described the delicate passage that music was facing at that time, leaving the radio and moving into the tv.

In the same way, it’s easy to draw a parallel with the trend that the way we enjoy music is undertaking.

Do you actually remember the last time you bought a CD in a music shop? Music is perhaps the most drastically affected industry by digital disruption. An accurate overview of the recorded music’s revenues is described in the Global Music Report 2019 published by IFPI[i]. Starting from 2001, we assisted year after year to a constant decrease in physical sales that was accompanied by the disruptive input of streaming services. It’s relevant how the last year’s picture tells us that streaming’s revenues even doubled the physical ones.

But where did this liquid music trend originate? There can be found several explanations. First of all, the today’s customer is extremely exigent and demanding. If coming across good music, he prefers to buy and immediately have it in his mobile with one tap instead of having to go to music shops (that are slowly fading away). This is especially due because of the always more convenient offers that major music streaming services like Spotify and Google Play Music are offering. And concerning these latter, there is one competitive advantage that clearly makes the difference: paying a monthly or annual fee, you basically have access to any song at any time.

However, despite of the overall physical music revenue’s decrease, is relevant to notice how the vinyl’s sales are currently increasing[ii]. Apart from some music icons like Pink Floyd, there are several current artists deciding to invest also in the very first form of CD. This is the case of the rockstar Liam Gallagher, whose first debut album “As You Were” released in 2017 is the most vinyl sold in one week in more than 20 years[iii].

To conclude, in my opinion, the digital disruption lead music to a no-return point. Streaming services will still be the most profitable source of the sector in the long run. However, the customer experience that comes from buying an album in a shop and playing it on a stereo in something still enjoyed by few customers and that only the compact disc is able give. And fortunately some artists and record label are aware of that.

[i] https://ifpi.org/news/IFPI-GLOBAL-MUSIC-REPORT-2019

[ii] https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewleimkuehler/2019/01/07/vinyl-sales-grow-2018-buzzangle-beatles-kendrick-lamar-queen-album-sales/#5d06650775aa

[iii] https://thevinylfactory.com/news/liam-gallagher-debut-vinyl-sales-record/