"The Evolution Of The Music Business"
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Music Publishers |
In the 1800s, sheet music dominated the music business. The term sheet music originally referred to musical notations written or printed on paper or parchment. It now also refers to music presented on the computer screen. The term is used to differentiate between the written form of music and the audio presentation.
In the 1900s, the phonographic industry gained dominance over sheet music. The record industry had been born. This quickly replaced sheet music publishing as the music industries largest income producer. By the end of the first world war, records had surpassed sheet music as the biggest player in the music business. From this point, the music business was dominated by the record industry. The economics of mass-production allowed the manufacturers to create album copies for a tiny fraction of their potential sales price. This, of course, led to allegations of price fixing.
Cries of inequitable treatment by the record industry led to the creation of the Recording Artists' Coalition. This organization was created to represent the interests of the recording artists against the recording industry. These two industries developed an uneasy symbiotic/parasitic relationship with the invention of todays new technologies.
Today, digital downloading appears to be replacing the record industry as the music business's big money maker. This action has been met with resistance by the record industry. Much as the sheet music business was resistant to the phonograph industry, which was initially resistant to the radio and television industry.
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Brian Cook is a freelance writer whose articles on music and songwriting have appeared on many websites.
You can find more of these at SongwritersGuide.com.
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