2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：音乐产业

　　In early March Spotify reportedly paid 200m for Echo Nest,

　　在三月初据报道称，流媒体音乐服务Spotify宣布它已经收购了音乐智能技术公司Echo Nest，

　　which analyses data for music services and helps shape playlist algorithms.

　　后者为诸多流媒体公司提供数据分析，以及构建播放列表等服务提供支持。

　　Beats soon followed by purchasing TopSpin Media, which collects data to help artists connectwith their fans.

　　魔音公司随即收购了TopSpin Media，而这是一家能够通过采集信息去帮助艺术家们与粉丝联系的公司。

　　Warner Music Group recently launched a new label in partnership with Shazam, amusic-recognition app.

　　华纳音乐集团近期与音乐雷达合作成立了一家新的唱片公司。

　　Together they will trawl Shazam's listener data to identify rising artists to sign up.

　　他们将一起收集分析Shazam的听音数据，以寻找并签下冉冉升起的新星。

　　Providing the streaming services can be persuaded to share their data,

　　提供流媒体服务的商家，也能够与唱片公司们分享自己的数据。

　　record labels will be able to see the response to new songs immediately,

　　而在这样的情况下，唱片公司们能够马上得知一首新歌的反响，

　　and put marketing dollars behind those that strike a chord.

　　并能从中挑选出扣人心弦的歌曲，从而投入市场推广资金。

　　Performers will get a better idea where their fans live, to optimise their tour schedules.

　　与此同时，音乐表演者们也能够对他们自己粉丝的居住地有较好的了解，从而优化他们的巡回演出计划。

　　The economics of streaming look quite different from those of earlier music formats.

　　流媒体的盈利模式与先前的音乐格式相比显得十分不同。

　　On-demand streaming services pay a record label about three-tenths of a cent each time oneof its songs is played,

　　以需求量为标准的流媒体服务商在每首歌点播之时，会给予唱片公司的3/10美分，

　　and online-radio services even less.

　　而网络电台服务商则支付得更少。

　　But music fans may play a favourite tune dozens, maybe hundreds of times,

　　但一些粉丝或许会连续播放一首自己喜欢的曲子数十遍，甚至上百遍，

　　so those fractions of pennies can add up.

　　因此这些零零碎碎的加总能得到一个很高的数字。

　　Streaming subscribers pay around 120 a year,

　　流媒体的付费订阅者每年大约要支付120美元，

　　which is more than double what the average American music consumer spends.

　　而这一数字大约是平均美国音乐消费者花费的两倍。

　　Yet some performers are unconvinced.

　　然而，一些歌手却对此表示怀疑。

　　Thom Yorke, the lead singer of Radiohead, has called Spotify the last desperate fart of adying corpse.

　　Radiohead乐队的主场汤姆·约克将Spotify称为一个垂死之人所放的绝望的最后一个屁。

　　Music services have responded by being more open about how artists are paid,

　　而服务商们对此的回应是，让歌手们的收入方式更为自由，

　　and arguing that their cheques will grow larger as more people sign up, as has happened inSweden.

　　并表示歌手们的收入会随着付费订阅人群的增加而增加，就像瑞典的案例一样。

　　It is more complicated in countries with a well-established download market,

　　音乐市场状况在一些早已建立起了下载规范的国家来说显得更为复杂，

　　such as America and Britain, where industry executives worry that streaming may cannibalisedownloads.

　　比如美国和英国，这些国家的老板们担心流媒体服务或许会催生出将音像资料分割开来的非法下载。

　　However, the bigger issue for artists is that so few people overall pay for music, says WillPage, an economist at Spotify:

　　然而，Spotify的经济顾问威尔·佩吉表示，对于歌手来说更大的问题是只有很少一部分人为音乐服务付费。

　　Half the population in the West spends nothing on music.

　　他说：目前西方国家当中的半数人口享受着免费音乐，

　　You can't cannibalise zero.

　　对此你可以不必担心所谓的分割下载能够损害唱片行业利益。

　　For years music has been a toxic place to invest.

　　多年以来，唱片行业都不是一个投资的好领域。

　　But the internet is at last bringing sexy back, as Justin Timberlake, a pop star turned actorand entrepreneur, might say.

　　但最终随着网络发展，唱片行业或许最终能像贾斯汀·汀布莱克所说的一样，实现强势回归。

　　Since 2009 investors have poured more than 1 billion into digital-music services in privatetransactions.

　　自2009年以来，私人交易领域中投资者们已经对数字音乐服务投入了超过100亿美元。

　　Speculation is mounting that Spotify, which was reportedly valued last year at more than 5billion, will soon go public.

　　针对Spotify公司近期上市的传闻越来越多，而据报道称去年这家公司的估值已经超过了50亿美元。

　　Shares in Pandora, already listed, have nearly tripled in the past year.

　　上市公司Pandora的股价在去年几乎增长至原先三倍的水平。

　　Its market capitalisation is now almost 7 billion.

　　目前，该公司的市场价值约为70亿美元。

　　Such valuations assume that the services' popularity will continue to grow,

　　从这样的估价我们可以推断出，流媒体市场的热度将会持续上涨，

　　and that subscription-based ones will persuade a sufficient proportion of those using theirfree versions to upgrade to paid varieties.

　　并且付费订阅的服务商也会令足够大的一部分使用免费服务的用户，升级进入到付费市场当中来。

　　Worryingly, churn tends to be high: around 46% of users of subscription services have eitherswitched or say they plan to, according to Mr Mulligan of MIDiA.

　　令人担忧的是，此行业的客户流失率也很高：来自MIDiA机构的穆里根先生所提供的资料显示，约有46%的付费订阅用户已经改变自己的音乐消费或者正打算改变。

　　Nevertheless, people in the record industry are talking about another golden age.

　　尽管如此，唱片行业的人都讨论着新一轮黄金时代。

　　There is bound eventually to be a shake-out among the many new streaming services.

　　在这为数众多的新进入市场的流媒体服务商当中，最终肯定会进行一次洗牌。

　　But for the music labels, it now seems clear that, once the physical CD has eventually gonethe way of the wax cylinder,

　　但目前对于唱片公司来说，如果实体光碟最终像黑胶唱片一样逐渐消亡，

　　they will still have a profitable way to exploit their catalogues,

　　那么他们也能找到另外一条有钱赚的路子，以继续歌曲创作事业。

　　based on music fans being offered instant access to a near-limitless online jukebox.

　　而这条路，便是持续地为音乐爱好者们提供一个几乎毫无限制的线上点播服务。

　　词语解释

　　1.fill in 填好,填写

　　Our participants found forms with bold labels easierto fill in.

　　我们的参与者也觉得使用粗体标签将使填写变得更容易。

　　Why not allow users to fill in their contactinformation while they register.

　　为什么当用户注册的时候，不允许他们填写联系方式。

　　2.help to 有助于，促进

　　This will not only help to pay down its growing debt load but it would also show that thegovernment still runs the show.

　　这不仅有助于偿还日益增长的债务，也能表明意大利政府仍在掌控全局。

　　While the current board member shuffle may indeed help to revive oversight at the firm,the company has certainly taken a twisted path to get here.

　　虽然现在的董事会成员大换血可能有助于重振公司的监管，但是惠普确实走过了一段曲折的道路。

　　3.access to 有权使用

　　Access to employment was easy in booming ireland.

　　获得就业过去在爱尔兰是很容易的。

　　We also crave access to information to help us fit the pieces together.

　　我们还迫切地想获取信息，帮助我们把碎片拼成一个整体。

　　4.due to 由于;因为;应归于

　　Much of the shift is due to economic growth.

　　这种变化的大部分都是由于经济的增长。

　　Police say it's due to better policing.

　　警察说这是因为加强了治安。

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