VOA慢速英语 ：音乐人通过社交媒体吸引粉丝 2014-06-23

Music Industry Builds Fan Base Through Technology

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

Technology is creating major changes in the music industry. Music lovers listen to and buy music on the Internet. They can watch live concerts of favorite artists online. And music makers as well as music industry officials use social media to reach and increase public interest.

Nick Sherwin is the founder of the band — Suburban Skies. He says 21st Century technology permits a band to control its own future.

"Social media is a wonderful thing, and being able to control your own art and not be signed by a record label — to be your own record label — is liberating."

Sherwin says the Internet and social media have created possibilities for musicians. He says the new way to success is to give visitor more than one type of experience.

"Some most important thing is content. You have to have songs, videos to be able to get up and do this. But I think it is extremely important to do shows to build your brand, to build your reputation," Sherwin said.

Music industry officials discussed the future of the business during an international conference in Los Angeles, California. They said musicians are choosing to perform live across the country, following the drop in CD sales in the United States.

Rob Light is head of music with a creative artists agency. "The majority of the income for artists now is coming from the live marketplace."

Along with the popularity of live music there has been an explosion in the number of music festivals, these events are advertised on social media.

Pasquale Rotella leads Insomniac, a company that produces electronic dance music festivals in several countries.

"Someone could make it in their bedroom and put it out there. People can gain fans that way, online without anyone's help, and that has absolutely helped the growth of dance music," said Rotella.

Bob Pittman leads the radio organization — Clear Channel Communications. He says music lovers are still listening to the radio, although there are new ways of finding music. He says 70 percent of Americans say they discover new music from what they hear on the radio.

But Rob Light says radio will soon be a thing of the past.

"I do not believe that terrestrial radio is going to be as relevant to a 12-year-old today in five or six years, and if you are going to look forward, I think they are going to get information from other places and other sources," he said.

Nick Sherwin is not worried. He just wants to reach everyone who likes his style of music with the help of the Internet.

And that's the VOA Learning English Technology Report. For more technology stories, go to our website tingvoa.com. Give us a like on the VOA Learning English Facebook page. Follow us on twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Jonathan Evans.

词汇解析

label

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

n.标记;标签;称号;唱片公司

vt.贴标签于;把 ... 归类

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

Put a label on your luggage.

在你行李上做个标记。

用作及物动词 (vt.)

The bottle is labeled poison.

瓶上标明有毒。

Internet

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

n.因特网

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

Internet plays a very important role in modern life.

互联网在现代生活中发挥非常重要的作用。

You can obtain this information on the Internet.

你可以从因特网上获得这一信息。

conference

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

n.会议;讨论会;协商会;会谈

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

An international conference will be held in Beijing next month.

一个国际性的会议下月将在北京举行。

We are all fully confident that the conference will be a great success.

我们都有充分的信心,这次会议将会非常成功。

majority

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

n.大多数;多数;多数党;多数派

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

The majority of people seem to prefer TV to radio.

多数人喜欢电视胜过广播。

The majority was determined to press its proposal.

多数派决心强求通过其提案。

explosion

难度：3星常用词汇，属常用6000词

英汉解释

n.爆炸;爆炸声;激增;爆发

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

The atomic explosion is always accompanied by huge fireball.

原子弹爆炸总是伴随着巨大的火球。

After the explosion it was some time before the town resumed its everyday routines.

爆炸后经过相当一段时间，这个城镇才恢复了正常的生活秩序。

absolutely

难度：3星常用词汇，属常用6000词

英汉解释

adv.完全地;绝对地;[语]独立地

int.(表示赞同)完全正确，一点没错

参考例句

用作副词 (adv.)

I trust his discretion absolutely.

我完全相信他的判断。

Most researchers believe that, in theory, mobile phones are absolutely safe.

多数研究者认为,从理论上讲,移动电话是绝对安全的。

finding

难度：5星基本词汇，属常用1000词

英汉解释

n.调查(或研究)的结果;[律] 裁决

find的现在分词.

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

The finding is based on such an inquiry.

基于如上调查所得出的发现

relevant

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

adj.相关的;切题的;中肯的

参考例句

用作形容词 (adj.)

Portraits of people will draw readers'attention, especially if the images are relevant and tell a story.

人物肖像可以吸引读者的注意,当图像切题并在讲述一个故事时更是如此。

These values are relevant in a relative sense.

这些值只是在相对比较上才有中肯的意义。