The history of The Music Industry

Unfortunately, sales of recorded music to consumers began to decline throughout the first decade of the 21st century and by 2009 consumers of recorded music were spending half the amount they had 10 years previously in 1999 with the introduction of internet music distribution. The iTunes Store was launched in 2003, meaning the people were able to digitally download music legally, and by 2012 the popularity of internet music distribution has topped the physical sale of music. This complete and sudden change in the music industry and increased popularity of downloading music from the internet has changed the 20th century balance between artists, record companies, promoters, retail music stores and consumers. Recording artists now rely on their live performances, tours and merchandise to fund the majority of their income, and they become more dependant on promoting their music and the internet to increase their popularity, with the aid of sites such as Ticketmaster, Facebook and Twitter. In the music industry today, many newer artists no longer see a record deal as an important factor in their business at all, but can now use inexpensive recording software to record their own music in their homes and can easily distribute it over the internet to a worldwide audience. This development now means that recording studios, producers and audio engineers are now finding it difficult to find work, and so this continues with the development of technology.

However, in the 21st Century music sales have been rapidly decreasing, which means that promotion of music is even more important. Music videos have become just as important when promoting both the music and the artist themselves. As we progress throughout this project we will have to consider promoting our product using both a digi pak and magazine advert, however the music video will be equally as important in promotion which we must keep in mind throughout production.