ABSTRACT
The music industry can best be defined as encompassing a range of economic activities or revenue streams. These are engaged in by various economic entities, primarily, but not exclusively, the sound recording companies, commonly referred to as the ‘record labels’. These business institutions are characterized by accompanying social practices: the manner in which people operate within and in relation to them. I regard an understanding of political economy and the associated notion of
the cultural industries as central to the study of the music industry. Following an introduction to these related concepts, I focus on the heart of the industry, the record companies themselves. Historically, these have been engaged in a constant struggle to control an uncertain marketplace, primarily through concentration and consolidation (vertical integration), their operation as part of media conglomerates (enabling horizontal integration and facilitating marketing) and the regulation of copyright. The general view of the binary nature of the record companies, into ‘majors’ and ‘independents’, is problematic, but it does provide insights into their ideological underpinnings, their organization and operating practices. The music industry has used the extension and consolidation of copyright legislation, both domestically and internationally, in an attempt to maintain market control. The late 1990s saw the beginning of a long decline of the sound recording
companies and their market dominance, as the internet radically altered the production and marketing of music, with music increasingly going online and the digital environment posing a major challenge to the traditional operation of copyright. This shift is considered in the second half of the chapter, which looks at the arguments around this decline, the record labels’ response to it and the present configuration of the industry.
