ABSTRACT
Introduction This chapter describes the recording industry’s economic and social place in the United States and the world. It explores the nature of the recording industry as it entered the twenty-first century, including its products and markets, relation to the external environment, and place as a medium of mass communication. The industry can best be understood by examining its three primary income streams: the sale and use of recordings; the sale and use of songs (primarily the music publishing industry); and live entertainment.
