Research Paper And Video Project About Music Technology Evolution And Its Effects On Artist Revenue and Consumer Listening

Abstract

In this paper I will try to show how the technology that changed over time affected both artists and music consumers. The theory from some of the literature I found is that disruptions in music technology also had many economic impacts to both artists and their audience. In the literature it is suggested that streaming rectified the revenue hit that was derived from the ill effects of digital piracy. In this paper and in the accompanying video that can be found here -

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15IIBwwFLZqpnfqPl_pqmR YsAHgfjMuiN/view?usp=sharing

I will describe the evolution of the technological changes and show that these advances also had the same exponential curve in change very similar to the changes that occurred in print although the ability to record sound arrived thousands of years after the ability to record letters and words. However, at some point the technological changes created the same kind of disruptions - meaning the ability to record sound and transport it and listen to it in various ways. This created markets and economic advancements that were not there before - again similar in many ways to technological changes in other fields. Later in this paper I will focus on the last few years of these changes with an emphasis on streaming technologies. This in my opinion a change that is still ongoing and was transformational in the way revenue distribution came back after a very tough time that included a breakdown in the established industry and the piracy that affected it during this crisis. Another theory is that the instant gratification of on demand technology that gives consumers exactly what they want when they want it was also solved with streaming music services. The literature that I chose to cite and that I based my research on was primarily from trade magazines and industry news. These articles paint a picture of a changing landscape in the music industry and also talk about some of my ideas that led me to research and write this paper.