Innovation and Reaction to Change in the Music Industry

Gabriel Kanengiser, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center, A254

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-25-2014 4:00 PM

End Date

4-25-2014 5:15 PM

Abstract

There is a common misconception that the Napster era (1999-2001) caused record sales to plummet and pushed the music industry into a free fall. Select musicians, though, continue to adapt successfully to changes and create sustainable careers. In the music industry, change correlates closely with technological advancements, which have dictated (or disrupted) different modes of control exercised by the publisher, the record label, or the Performing Rights Society. Through my review of the careers of Elgar, Duke Ellington, Radiohead, and Zoe Keating, I analyze how musicians and managers in the 20th and 21st centuries have responded to a changing industry and consumer desires by adapting quickly and seeking profitable, innovative opportunities.

Notes

Session III, Panel 14 - Commerce, Action, Identity: Studies in the Politics of Economics
Moderator: James Dobbins, James H. Fairchild Professor of East Asian Studies

Major

Practice and Economics in the Music Industry (IM)

Advisor(s)

Barbara Craig, Economics
Charles McGuire, Musicology

Project Mentor(s)

Charles McGuire, Musicology

April 2014

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Apr 25th, 4:00 PM Apr 25th, 5:15 PM

Innovation and Reaction to Change in the Music Industry

Science Center, A254

There is a common misconception that the Napster era (1999-2001) caused record sales to plummet and pushed the music industry into a free fall. Select musicians, though, continue to adapt successfully to changes and create sustainable careers. In the music industry, change correlates closely with technological advancements, which have dictated (or disrupted) different modes of control exercised by the publisher, the record label, or the Performing Rights Society. Through my review of the careers of Elgar, Duke Ellington, Radiohead, and Zoe Keating, I analyze how musicians and managers in the 20th and 21st centuries have responded to a changing industry and consumer desires by adapting quickly and seeking profitable, innovative opportunities.