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Music Industry Research Paper

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Music Industry: Independent vs. Major Record Label
Music is at our fingertips. We can turn on a radio or select a song on a menu and it chimes back at you the melody of the song you selected. A man named Scott de Martinville of the 18th century was fascinated by the way photographs preserved images, and he felt as if he could do the same with sound. The invention of the phonograph was the beginning of the music industry. Musicians could now use a machine to record their sounds and then publish and dis- tribute records. With records came record labels, the leaders of the music business. Then just like everything else in a capitalist country it became all about the money, rather than the music. The business aspect of music should be based off of independent artistry in opposed to corporate wel- fare.
Ludwig van Beethoven one of the most talented, prolific, and remembered composers of all time was an independent artist. One has to wonder, how did composers/musicians make their money 150 years before labels were established? Beethoven used the same methods as an inde- pendent artist would today. He would do live performances on piano or composing a large or- chestra. These performances would bring profit while expanding popularity just like modernized artists. Beethoven also found profit in selling his sheet music, patronage, and being an instructor. This was the unintentional start of independent music, and it continued to be this way until one man decided to industrialize the

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