ABSTRACT
Writing in 1987, Simon Frith argued that ‘to analyze the music industry though its history means focusing on three issues’, which he defined as ‘the effects of technological change’, ‘the economics of pop’ and ‘a new music culture’ (Frith 1987: 55–6). Frith's article made clear that by ‘music industry’ he meant the record industry, and this chapter is a further schematic, interpretive sketch of the record industry in the twentieth century. It benefits from the wealth of academic and journalistic research that has taken place in the twenty-five years since Frith's pioneering article, and in particular it attempts to take a global perspective.
