Challenges the conventional wisdom that the internet is 'killing' the music industry.

The Death and Life of the Music Industry in the Digital Age challenges the conventional wisdom that the internet is 'killing' the music industry. While technological innovations (primarily in the form of peer-to-peer file-sharing) have evolved to threaten the economic health of major transnational music companies, Rogers illustrates how those same companies have themselves formulated highly innovative response strategies to negate the harmful effects of the internet. In short, it documents how the radical transformative potential of the internet is being suppressed by legal and organisational innovations. Grounded in a social shaping perspective, The Death and Life of the Music Industry in the Digital Age contends that the internet has not altered pre-existing power relations in the music industry where a small handful of very large corporations have long since established an oligopolistic dominance. Furthermore, the book contends that widespread acceptance of the idea that online piracy is rampant, and music largely 'free' actually helps these major music companies in their quest to bolster their power. In doing this, the study serves to deflate much of the transformative hype and digital 'deliria' that has accompanied the internet's evolution as a medium for mass communication.

Awakening is the definitive account of the music industry in the digital era. It tells the inside story of how the music business grappled with the emergence of an entirely new digital economy with exclusive interviews with the people who shaped today’s industry. Mulligan’s gripping narrative switches between the seismic market trends to the highly personal accounts of artists and digital pioneers. It recounts the events that both spelt the end of the old industry and that are the foundation for the radical new successor that is about to emerge. Awakening is written by the leading music industry analyst Mark Mulligan and includes interviews with 60 of the music industry’s most important figures, including million selling artists and more than 20 CEOs. Alongside this unprecedented executive access, Awakening uses exclusive data presented across 60 charts and figures to chart the music industry’s digital journey and to lay out a vision of the future for the industry and artists alike. For anyone interested in the music industry and the lessons it provides for all businesses in the digital era, this is the only book you will ever need.

For the first time, Appetite for Self-Destruction recounts the epic story of the precipitous rise and fall of the modern recording industry, from an author who has been writing about it for more than ten years. With unparalleled access to those intimately involved in the music world’s highs and lows—including Warner Music chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr., renegade Napster creator Shawn Fanning, and more than 200 others—Steve Knopper is the first to offer such a detailed and sweeping contemporary history of the industry’s wild ride through the past three decades. From the birth of the compact disc, the explosion of CD sales, and the emergence of MP3-sharing websites that led to iTunes, to the current collapse of the industry as CD sales plummet, Knopper takes us inside the boardrooms, recording studios, private estates, garage computer labs, company jets, corporate infighting, and secret deals of the big names and behind-the-scenes players who made it all happen. Just as the incredible success of the CD turned the music business into one of the most glamorous, high-profile industries in the world, the advent of file sharing brought it to its knees, and Knopper saw it all.

'Business-as-usual' has been transformed across the music industries in the post-CD age. Against widespread hype about the purported decline of the major music labels, this book provides a critique of the ways these companies have successfully adapted to digital challenges – and what is at stake for music makers and for culture. Today, recording artists are positioned as 'artist-brands' and popular music as a product to be licensed by consumer and media brands. Leslie M. Meier examines key consequences of shifting business models, marketing strategies, and the new 'common sense' in the music industries: the gatekeeping and colonization of popular music by brands. Popular Music as Promotion is important reading for students and scholars of media and communication studies, cultural studies and sociology, and will appeal to anyone interested in new intersections of popular music, digital media and promotional culture.

This is a book about sound studios, focusing on their architectural and geographical aspects. It explores how music is materialized under specific spatial and technological conditions and the myths associated with this process. Through ten in-depth studies, it examines the design, evolution and current function of sound studios amidst economic and technological shifts in the music industry. Traditional studios are in flux between the past and future. The industry, while steeped in romanticism and nostalgia, also embraces forward-driven pragmatism and an extensive reuse culture, encompassing heritage audio, building materials and existing buildings. A surprisingly diverse architectural heritage, the most significant feature is the host building, the framework around the studio capsule. Many traditional studios adapt to digitalization with hybrid solutions, reflecting a shift toward smaller, more versatile spaces. In a time when recordings in theory can happen anywhere, destination studios must excel to attract clients, balancing historical legacies with diversification. Although they may be easy to deconstruct, many of the myths endure, sustaining ideas of landmark recordings, unique locations and distinct remnants of sonic heritage. Courtesy of their capacity to keep the past alive in the present, traditional sound studios are best described as museums that work. This book aims to reach scholars and students with an interest in history, theory and preservation, as well as practicing architects and architectural students who wish to find out more about the relationship between sound and space, acoustic design and retrofitting of historical buildings into specialized functions. It also aims to reach practicing musicians, producers, music students and music scholars.

Popular Music in the Post-Digital Age explores the relationship between macro environmental factors, such as politics, economics, culture and technology, captured by terms such as 'post-digital' and 'post-internet'. It also discusses the creation, monetisation and consumption of music and what changes in the music industry can tell us about wider shifts in economy and culture. This collection of 13 case studies covers issues such as curation algorithms, blockchain, careers of mainstream and independent musicians, festivals and clubs-to inform greater understanding and better navigation of the popular music landscape within a global context.