Music Industry Evolution: Internet vs. Phonograph Distribution

This essay examines the profound transformation of the music industry, focusing on the impact of downloadable music facilitated by the internet and contrasting it with the emergence of the phonograph as a music distribution medium. It highlights how the internet has revolutionized music production, distribution, and marketing, enabling independent artists to reach global audiences and generate income, while also fostering new methods of promotion through social media and online platforms. The essay discusses the evolution from physical formats to digital downloads, including the rise of platforms like iTunes and streaming services like Spotify, and how these technologies have reshaped the relationship between artists, record labels, and consumers. It also contrasts the limitations of early phonograph technology, such as reduced quality in copies, with the flawless replication capabilities of digital formats, along with the ongoing challenges of piracy and copyright. Furthermore, the essay references various artists, music blogs, and festivals, providing concrete examples of how the internet has influenced music creation, distribution, and consumption, ultimately concluding that the internet has restructured the music sector as a whole.

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Arts and Music of America
The music industry has experienced tremendous changes. Traditionally, people would listen to
music aired in radio stations. For so many years, music lovers only listened to music force-fed to
them by radio stations. However, advancement in technology revolutionized the music industry.
Artists decided to search for new ways of directly connecting with their fans. Fans began by
taping their favorite songs from the radio so that they could listen to them later. Recording
companies did not take this lightly and considered those involved in the practice of taping as
thieves (Kot p.134). This led to a conflict between music companies and the consumer. Greedy
music executives held numerous yet futile campaigns aimed at ensuring music flowed through
the traditional channels. Listeners discovered CD burning and peer-to-peer sharing of files and
they have not turned back since. The internet provides a platform for exciting music, ingenuity,
and creativity. Songs from artists that were previously inaccessible are now easily reachable with
the revolutionized industry (Knopper p. 253). Despite some artists whining about digitization,
there are those that took advantage of the situation and thrived. The industry has grown from
listening only to radio to home taping to CD burning to the use of iPod, phonographs and
beyond. There now exist numerous technology companies that have developed applications
where consumers can easily and freely download music of their choice. In this paper, we seek to
compare and contrast the impact of the development of downloadable music on the internet with
the emergence of phonograph as a means of distributing music.

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The internet has reduced the world to a global village by enabling connection of people all over
the world. Smart unknown musicians are now able to reach their audience without the need for
aid from a major label. Their fans can now easily access the music they previously wouldn't have
listened to. The musicians can now have a source of income from having leveraged the internet.
The impact of the internet in music has been expanded through the establishment of different
ways of marketing, promoting and distributing music. Despite their having an agonizing
transition for recorded music, the internet, though indirectly, has contributed to the rise of
popularity of music concerts. Apple iTunes store began the era of legal digital distribution which
has contributed to recording companies recovering part of their misplaced sales.
(Weissman)Some artists market live performances by releasing free music reversing the
prototype of concert tours.
With analog phonography, piracy was reduced since for every additional copy made, quality was
reduced. However, this was quelled by music being of inferior quality. Digital formats can be
replicated infinitely with copies being flawless surrogates of the originals. Employment of other
techniques as well as watermarking was considered to reduce piracy. MP3s usually compress
audio files to transferable sizes that can even fit in laptops. Firewire and USB are external
products introduced to enable fast transfer of files in hard drives (Tschmuck p.365).
Napster introduced peer-to-peer- (P2P), a technology for file sharing (Alderman p. 311). This
enables users to search for a song and directly download the MP3 from related file sharers.
Napster became the main avenue for production and distribution of music making record labels
less relevant. However, Napster was shut down following lawsuits of its contribution to
copyright violation.

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Apple music store was introduced to enable users to buy songs without any subscription fee. The
two companies that signed in first were Universal and Warner. Consumers could now play songs
from their iPod. This turned out to be a new stage for the music business. ITunes gained loads of
popularity that resulted in record labels requesting them to change their pricing strategies and
charge more for songs by popular artists. These resulted in the introduction of a three-tier pricing
model. CD sales were on the decline following the popularity of Apple store. Apple owns more
than 50% of the market share for digital music purchases. (Pells p.144) This success by Apple
motivated the emergence of other platforms to sell music. These include Amazon, Google,
Spotify and Beatport among others.
It is evident that technological change has resulted in a great transformation of the music
industry. Up-coming artists can now create quality music from the anywhere following
availability of advanced production and distribution software. Sites such as YouTube and Sound
cloud has made this easier. They no longer require a professional studio or a record label. Social
media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter enable artists to connect with their fans and they
enable videos and songs go viral. My Space and Band Camp are networks that enable artists to
promote their new projects and sell their albums. (Wiechmann p.22) The release of free music by
artists’ acts as a promotional tool for them as it aids boost demand for show tickets. This is in
contrast to the way artists traditionally made money through live shows rather than the sale of
recordings.
The emergence of music blogs and websites around the net promote digital transmission of fresh
music. They help musicians increase their fan base, distribute information about shows and
releases as well as building their reputation. Record companies have now become

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unrecognizable. Cloud computing was introduced to enable customers to store music libraries
that they can access from any device provided it has an internet connection. (Anniss p.111)
Mac Miller, an independent hip-hop artist, attributes his success to the use of social media and
adoption of latest technologies. He started by releasing free mixtapes online and posting his
videos on YouTube. Websites and music blogs enabled him to expand his fan base.
Radiohead, a rock band, has greatly benefited from the internet. The group implemented the use
of electronic music and saw their sales rise dramatically. Some of their albums such as The King
of Limbs was developed through the use of sampling and looping via the internet. (Doheny
p.55). The group independently released their seventh album that was available for download by
consumers, who could set their own prices. This greatly contributed to the band's success and
rise to fame.
Lily Allen, an English songwriter, and singer utilized My Space to make her songs public. Lily
began by posting demos of her recordings in an account she had created in My Space.
(Dickerson p.302). Thousands of listeners were attracted to these demos. Lily accumulated
thousands of friends on My Space and this contributed to her popularity making her songs spread
widely.
Pitchfork Music festival celebrated each summer offers a platform for artists to showcase their
new, emerging music. There also exists an online magazine known as Pitchfork. The magazine
focuses on new, independent music. The magazine is aimed at providing the internet with
updated information on underground music. The magazine has had a positive influence in
ensuring publicity and popularity of artists. Artists such as The Book, Bon Iver, Junior Boys, and
Arcade Fire among others can attribute their popularity to the magazine. (Pitchfork p.53)

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Trent Reznor attributed the success of their Nine Inch Nails Tour to the availability of a Liquid
Crystal Display (LCD) sound system. (Huxley p.112). Trent claims that the LCD changes their
experience making everybody feel good and excited.
To sum up, we can conclude that technology, as well as the internet, has contributed to the major
transformation in the music industry. This is in terms of production, recording, distribution as
well as live entertainment. The internet has opened the environment for artists as well as their
fans who are the consumers and both have greatly benefited from these. Availability of different
phonographs has promoted the distribution of music. The transformation in the phonographs
used is as described above. However, record labels are not happy with this developments as they
have greatly lost business. Social media platforms and sites have contributed to the popularity of
artists making their songs sell remarkably. Availability of downloadable music has transformed
the industry as consumers can easily access songs of their choice as opposed to traditionally
where they listened to only what was aired in radios. Upcoming artists utilize the internet to
market themselves and their music. An example of such artists is as described above. Music
festivals have also contributed to the promotion of music as tickets are now sold online.
Therefore, the internet has fully impacted the music sector and restructured the city as a whole.

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References
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Anniss, Matthew. Impact of technology on music. Capstone Global Library Ltd, 2016.
Dickerson, James L. Go, Girl, Go! London: Music Sales, 2010.
Doheny, James. Radiohead: the stories behind every song. London: Carlton Books, 2012.
Huxley, Martin. Nine Inch Nails: self-destruct. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2015.
Knopper, Steve. Appetite for self-destruction: the spectacular crash of the record industry in the
digital age. Berkeley, CA: Soft Skull Press, 2010.
Kot, Greg. Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music. New York, 2010.
Pells, Richard H. Modernist America: art, music, movies, and the globalization of American
culture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.
Pitchfork. Pitchfork Review Issue Fall 2016. Pitchfork Media, 2016.
Tschmuck, Peter. Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry [recurso electrónico].
Alemania: Springer Healthcare Ltd, 2012.
Weissman, Dick. Talkin' 'bout a revolution: music and social change in America. New York:
Backbeat Books, an imprint of Hal Leonard Corporation, 2010.
Wiechmann, Daniel. Impact of online music services on the music recording industry. Grin
Verlag Ohg, 2012.

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