The Music Industry And Technological Advancement

“Until the development of the MP3, the majors welcomed technological innovations as opportunities to resell the same music over and over again with higher profits” (qtd. in Hracs 445). As the years have passed, technological advances significantly affected the production of music. The lack of industrial control, the fluctuation of labor, along with the uncertainty in the surrounding fields of labor, and the process of individuality and business management among independent musicians are results of this technological takeover.

To begin with, it is known that musicians had to be signed to record labels to gain any traction with their careers, otherwise, their careers would be known to flop. However, this has changed with the shell-shock of upcoming technology. “As file sharing eroded the power of the majors and wiped out these music retailers, new distribution channels, firms, and power relations began to emerge” (Hracs 449). The music industry and technological advancement went hand-in-hand, with the compact disc used as one of few sources of playing music. Since the introduction to the MP3, the sharing of music across the internet is a major contributor to the downfall of production labels, and it has been this way since 2001. “Recent developments in online music distribution suggest that it is not so much the availability of music on the Internet that concerns the music industry majors but rather the fact that it is free” (Gündüz 205). This included the pirating of songs from online file sharing networks, which hit the industry with full force. ” According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), CD sales have been falling continuously (except for a status quo in 2004) from 2.5 billion units in 2000 t...

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...ernatives, and the lack of managerial and marketing support make it more difficult to earn a living solely from music” (Hracs 460). The music industry has become a contradiction to music artists. It is easy to become involved, but hard to make it a stable career.

Technology put the music industry in for a whirlwind. It brought the possibility of bankruptcy to large record labels and a new way for people around the world to share music, either legally or illegally. The term producer began to mean so much more and became one of the most important jobs to have in the music industry. A musician embodies the businessperson and works diligently to make a living. Music production has come a relatively long way in the twenty-first century. The technological shift in the music industry could prove to be revolutionary. One day, it might even change world in more ways than one.