Music Industry Research Paper

he music industry is a very competitive place to be employed. Many differing jobs are part of the music industry, with songwriters being the most sought after job. However, jobs such as music manager, music publisher, music manager, and music producer are common jobs in the music industry. Each type of job has different responsibilities and different salary scales. Despite the industry being competitive, there are many opportunities in the music industry to be successful.

In the magazine article, “How The Web Changed Music Forever”, Veronica Majerol describes how over the years, music and the way it is dispersed has changed alongside the evolution of technology. Long before the internet existed, “If a band was lucky enough to get a record deal, it gained access to a label's vast resources and connections.” which then allowed their music to be broadcasted on radios around the world, played in jukeboxes, and made into records. The mid-1990’s changed all of this when people began discovering the internet; new opportunities surfaced with this development. Disaster occurred for the record industry once the vast majority began using the internet to illegally download copyrighted music; listeners no longer needed to

The Internet allowed unprecedented access to music and allowed artists to distribute music freely without label backing.[6] Innumerable online outlets and sheer volume of music also offers musicians more musical influences to draw from.[1][6]

Though it doesn 't receive as much attention in terms of media attention and public discourse as it earlier in the 2000s, the issue of copyrighted music and its illegal consumption over the internet still continues to be a major issue. With the advent of the internet, digital music, and mp3 players, one of the drawbacks for many of those in the music industry was the subsequent increase in pirated music that occurred. As illegal torrent sites appeared, such as Napster and Limewire, people were discovering that they could now download for free what they once paid for. Of course, as a direct result, music companies and artists both saw a significant decrease in sales in terms of the physical medium, with CD sales beginning to show sharp declines. In fact, this had a carryover effects of also closing down many of the mom and pop record stores that existed, since they did not have the financial means to withstand a restructuring process. Major chain stores were also not immune to the decline sales, as some once-prominent stores, such as the Virgin Megastore and the Wall, had to close down. Once Apple Inc. released its iPod and created the iTunes Store, the music industry was finally beginning to adapt itself to the digital realm, as Apple began signing agreements with most of the major music labels to release their songs on a digital platform as well. With songs being available individually for just $0.99 cents and whole albums able to be purchased, people now had a legal

The internet changed the way how people consume music. With the internet along came music streaming that opened new ways for upcoming artists and songwriters to share their music with the audience on YouTube and Spotify. Social media like Facebook, Bandcamp and Soundcloud made it possible to do it independently without signing deals with major record labels but the downside of it is that now every musician has that kind of an access so it is easy to vanish in that great ocean of new music.

Digital recording and digital distribution has affected the Recorded Music Industry in many different ways; it has created issues for major record labels and solutions for independent artists. Digital recording has made it harder for labels to stop piracy, and easier for independent artists and labels to distribute and create music. The evolution of digital music has created an apparent and drastic shift in the way consumers and producers view and use the music industry. The existence of these music files that have been digitally compressed, making them easily obtainable for a small fee or illegally downloaded for free, has made the music industry reevaluate how they are able to make a profit from their art form. “These new means of music distributing and marketing have not only pushed the music industry to new levels, but has created a whirlwind of changes as record labels are losing control, with artists and consumers having the upper hand”(Stafford).

Over the past couple years music, in my opinion, seems to be getting more untolerable. Throughout middle school I was able to bear all the top songs that were played on the radio, Infact I even enjoyed listening to all those songs, but as high school came along I started to abandon all the hype that was the radio and the top songs on itunes. Straying away from mainstream music and moving onto songs that were more aligned with my personal interest was surprisingly a longer transition than I would've thought. I was listening and experimenting with different genres for awhile but I still kept listening to a fair amount of mainstream music.

No one can deny that technology is actively changing the music industry. Production, distribution and sales of music have been affected dramatically within the last 10 years along with artists, composers, and technicians. Most of the changes have been great for consumers, but vastly negative for professionals in the music industry, however a few artists have found ways to adapt to the changing atmosphere of digitally downloaded music and use it to their advantage. We’ve seen music change form from physical, tangible products like records and CD’s to electronic single tracks stored in an invisible cloud. Two major factors in this sudden revolution are online music stores (specifically iTunes) and file sharing websites that allow music to be downloaded illegally.

The internet is the one media that brings up the most controversy in bands spreading their music. Whether they promote it or not their music is downloaded for free on the internet. Most bands do not like that their music is downloaded for free, but they can’t do much to stop it. In a way downloading music for free could bring the musicians even more money. If a person likes one of the songs they downloaded off of the internet they may be inclined to buy the entire album or at least the single. After the person buys the latest album they may even buy earlier albums from the same artist if they like the music enough. The internet has

When speaking economically, the digital music sector of the international music industry is undoubtably the most important sector in the industry. Within the last decade, music has seen cardinal changes in the way both major and independent labels distribute their products. An industry that once relied on Payola 's and mass distribution of physical records and CD 's now relies heavily on the power of the internet. The first instance of mass distribution of music through the internet was by the service Ritmoteca.com in 1998 [1]. Ritmoteca had a library of over 300,000 songs, offering individual songs for 99 cents each and albums for $9.99. After signing distribution deals with many major music labels such as Warner

The internet changed music in many ways, but one important way is music streaming. Music streaming means listening to music in “real time”, instead of downloading a file to your computer or device and listening to it later. Many artists believe that music streaming services such as Spotify or Pandora don’t reward them enough for the right to play their music. Artists want people to purchase songs and albums through traditional ways, this includes stores or iTunes or anywhere else (Alexander 2015).

In the midst of the United States’ “dot com bubble” (years 1997-2000), there was a surge in technology that brought about file sharing and digital downloads. Threatening the survival of the music industry and introducing a unique set of challenges for the industry to overcome. To remain relevant in the new global market of digital music online, the music industry would have to evolve and change with the introduction of each new facet technology had to offer. The introduction of digitally compressed music files, so easily attainable for a small fee or downloaded legally (pirated) for free, made the music industry reevaluate how to make a profit and protect copyrights. Social media created a visible opportunity for both consumers and artists to maintain digital relationships while providing a platform for consumers to follow and discover new musicians and bands, naturally, making the internet a promotional medium for artists. As the corner record shops closed to make way for virtual storefronts and instant downloads; the internet, digital downloading, and social media made an enormous impact on the music industry that has changed the way consumers purchase, source, listen to, and produce music today.

Like said earlier the internet gives you a lot more access to music, but a lot of times that access is abused by people copying and pirating the music through piracy sites and apps. One of the most used piracy apps was LimeWire. LimeWire was a free peer-to-peer file sharing program that was ran on most computer programs. Eventually, Big labels caught onto that their music was being downloaded for free, so they took it to court and Limewire had to stop distributing the LimeWire software .This is causing lots of artist to lose money because people are no longer buying their music; instead they are downloading it for free. This is making lots of artist to do more live performances to make the money back in another way. Even though streaming music isn’t piracy some big artist like Taylor Swift has begun to speak out about the services and withholding their music from the services, because they feel the payment models are unfair and that these services are cannibalizing their album sales. Other artist do praise the services because it delivers a legal alternative to piracy, but with all the illegal sharing of music the artist and their labels are still missing out on a lot of money. Most people who are involved with making a song are paid in royalties, and when the music changes hands without money being involved, those royalties cannot be

Digitalization, data compression, and the internet have affected the music industry significantly. These technologies have shifted the recording industries from hard-copy recordings to digital music distribution. This has made it easier for consumers to enter the music market through copying. Consumers have access to copying technology that allows them to obtain music without paying the record label. The situations clipped high in 1999 when Napster, a file-sharing service was launched. The service facilitated music file sharing on a wider scale. The consumers just download the music and transfer it to a digital music device. This has negatively affected the trade value of music sales, for instance in

The evolution of the music industry follows the familiar pattern of digitization. Innovation began with the introduction of the vinyl record, transitioned from the cassette tape to the compact disc and landed us in an era of digital downloads. The emergence of music streaming services like Spotify has progressed the industry even further, giving consumers the ability to access music on demand using download-free online platforms. Spotify faces criticism from artists as a result of the overlap of creativity and commerce. They argue that business activities corrupt creativity, transforming it into a tool for profitability rather than an outlet for expression. Artists insist that Spotify deters album sales, favors established artists and fails to support them financially. However, Spotify was created for consumers. It delivers an accessible alternative to purchasing and downloading music. The interplay between creativity and commerce is changing the nature of the music industry. Spotify has adapted to this change, providing a platform that supports both artists and consumers. Through analysis of the market, artist’s revenue, record labels and consumers, I will argue that artists should accept the evolution of the industry and support Spotify.