The Music Industry

The Music Industry sells recordings, performances and compositions of music. Since 2000 sales of recorded music have dropped substantially while live music has increased in importance. Four "major corporate labels" dominate recorded music - Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI - each of which consists of many smaller companies and labels serving different regions and markets. Apple Inc. is the largest Internet based music store with iTunes Store.

The music industry is made up of various people including individuals, companies, trade unions, not-for-profit associations, rights collectives and other bodies. Professional musicians including a range of people create recordings of their music and play live shows, to publicize themselves as they are not done so by a record company. Many artists hire songwriters and composers to help make and record their tracks. These people as well as the performers get part of their income from copyright collectives and organisations such as the ASCAP and BMI that ensure the composers and performers are compensated when their song is played on the radio or used on TV. When artists make a CD or DVD the process is often coordinated by a record producer, their roles can consist of anything from suggesting songs and backing music to a full hands-on approach, coaching singers, giving advice to session musicians of their style of playing and working with the sound engineer to shape the recorded sound with the computer technology.

 Many artists sign with record labels, which are companies that finance the recording process in return for a share of the rights to the recording. Record companies manage brands and trademarks in the course of marketing the recordings, they can also oversee the production of music videos for broadcast or retail sale.
Record labels that are not under the ‘big four’ are known as independent or ‘indie’ labels. Some music critics prefer to use the term indie label to refer to only those independent labels that adhere to criteria of corporate structure and size and some consider an indie to be any that releases non-mainstream music.

 A record distributor company works with record labels to promote and distribute music; once a CD is recorded the company organizes the shipping of the CD’s to stores. When CDs are sold and songs/albums downloaded from websites such as the iTunes store, part of the money gained is then paid to the performers in the form of royalties.

Successful artists may hire a group of people from other fields to assist them. A band manager will oversee all aspects of the artist’s career in exchange for a percentage of the artist’s income. A business manager will handle financial transactions, taxes and bookkeeping. A booking agency will represent the artist to promoters, make deals and book performances. A road crew is a temporary touring organisation that travels with the artist, this is also made up of many people, such as a tour manager, staff to move equipment and set up the stage as well as doing stage lighting and instrument tuning and maintenance. The tour manager’s main tasks involve setting up accommodation and making sure it’s all confirmed, as well as this they may also be required to find equipment if the venue does not have it, for example if the band need a grand piano then the tour manager would be in charge of hiring one and making sure it is suitable for the show at hand. They would also be in charge of making sure there are replacement instruments as well as a repair person on standby.