ABSTRACT
This study examines two related questions: (1) the relationship between market concentration and homogeneity of the cultural product and (2) the form of the changes in these variables over time. Focusing on one symbol-producing domain, popular music, it will be possible to identify a number of the specific mechanisms that condition the associations that are observed. The popular music industry is a strategic research site for a number of reasons. There are more systematic data available over time than in the case of any of the “fine arts” where creations are not mass produced. More systematic data are available than for television, movies, or popular magazines, because the record output of the music industry is the input for the radio and jukebox industries. Thus, trade magazines publish weekly performance figures for currently popular records and periodically aggregate these data. Finally, the record industry is convenient because it has received more scholarly attention than any other popular arts industry. There have been periodic analyses of the ideological content of lyrics, and studies of the complex structure of the industry and its changes over time.
