In this essay, I will discuss and identify how the invention of the Phonograph in 1877 has determined and modified the modern music industry, focusing on how it has affected how the consumer listens to music and how it is distributed. I define a media disruption as the way in which audiences receive content and have chosen the phonograph as my point of research as it was revolutionary in developing and founding the components of the music business that exists today.
In the 1800’s music was a very social event and a commodity of the bourgeoisie. People would arrange to go to symphonies and it was viewed as a high-cultured art. This differs from the modern idea of music as social class does not have a great effect on whom can experience music with its large availability across different platforms. How we listen to music today has evolved over time and has been affected by technology. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877 and proved to be the most reliable way to listen to music at that time. Edison predicted a year later that the phonograph would be undoubtedly liberally devoted to music (Timothy Dean, 2014) and he was right with record labels beginning to be established releasing singles for public consumption. It encouraged the concept of genres within music and by the 1920’s, music was being placed into their own easily identifiable categories for the first time on a mass scale. Entrepreneurs used the phonograph to make profit which created the early music industry. This reaction to the phonograph and the increased availability of music to the public made producers realise consumers wanted predictability and this brought about defining the music genres that exist today. The popularity of the phonograph and this idea of listening to music in our homes shaped the way music was to be recorded. As discs that played the music were limited in size, they could only hold 2-3 minutes of recordings. Where music had previously been symphonies, it was now shortened for the consumer. This shows how the phonograph came to shape the industry of today as Mark Katz notes “the three-minute pop song is basically an invention of the phonograph” (Thompson, 2016). The phonograph allowed for the idea of in-demand listening which created a new relationship between the listener and the music.
The influence of the phonograph and its importance in the evolution of the music industry is huge, especially regarding how the consumer listens to music. It is widely regarded that Edison’s invention is an important stage when discussing the history of the music industry. The popularity of it brought about broadcasting music in the 1920’s where national broadcasting systems started to grow around Europe. The world’s oldest national broadcasting organisation, the BBC, was prominent in this movement at the time and the technology and compositions of the music industry has changed ever since. The 1930’s was a prosperous time in England for ownership of consumer goods, with the emergence of personal household appliances began to drastically increase. This included the rise in ownership of radios and by August 1934, 5.7 million radio licences had been issued out in the UK (Jones, nd). Music was increasing in availability to a mass audience and we began to see the early foundations of how we access music today, via streaming, being built. Post-World War 2, clear genres were beginning to be defined in the industry and people were labelling themselves according to what music they enjoyed. The idea of youth and the ‘teenager’ was conceived in the 1950’s and music became a political expression rather than just a social enjoyment, most notably would be the influence Ray Charles and Chuck Berry had on the civil rights movement among a white audience. This shows how the invention of personal consumption of music had an effect on many aspects of society and even shaped how society functions today. After the rise of radio, Cassette tapes were a big step forward in the music industry. The late 60’s, but more prominently in the 70’s, saw Cassettes become a big feature of listening to music with it allowing people to enjoy it in their cars and through Cassette portable players. The cassette went on to influence the creation of MP3’s and increased in-demand listening. The Compact Cassette caused the biggest shakeup in the recording industry since Edison’s invention of the phonograph and that is only a small feature of its cultural importance. It was important to the industry as it encouraged more personal listening and also made it easier to access music but had negative effects due to the rise in piracy that followed its invention. By the late 1980s, with the CD and digital technology becoming cheaper and more accessible, pre-recorded music cassettes began to lose popularity. This seemed to damage the industries revenue further as CD’s made it easier to copy copyrighted music onto disc that could be shared and sold. The CD therefore stands as a wonderful symbol of the music industry’s inability to see the deeper, underlying trends in technology (Moody, 2012). It made clear that copyright industries were still trying to preserve unsustainable business models instead of planning for future technologies, perhaps suggesting little progress from the industry created by the invention of the phonograph.
The phonograph’s early influence on distribution and production of music continues to evolve as technology improves. The internet has had a big effect on distribution in the music industry as it allows the artist to promote themselves rather than just through their labels. It also acts as free advertising across social media and allows the audience to share the artist’s work and further advertise their product. Streaming services have increased the coverage an artist gets and the range of audience being reached. This is a positive of the modern music industry as it allows for all audiences to access all music appose to the early music industry where it was mainly a commodity of the bourgeoisie. Online promotion of bands became prominent in 2005 with the Arctic Monkeys becoming known as the first high profile band to use the internet as a major part of their advertising and distribution. Through websites such as Myspace, the band generated a huge following and hype without even releasing a song or being signed to a record label. They sold out headline gigs and had a huge following propelling them up the charts which showed labels the increased importance of the internet on the industry and pushed the focus away from physical releases of music.
Currently the industry finds itself in the fourth stage of digital music. The first stage was the rise of piracy and its effect on the music industry was controversial. It introduced this new peer-to-peer technology and allowed people to share and copy copyrighted music without charge. At the height of its controversy, the court case filed against music-piracy giant Napster put an end to what was reported as a $300 million loss to the industry, when they were ordered to shut down and pay damages to record labels. Napster was created in the summer of 1999 and attracted 1.6 million users by February 2000, showing how fast it became popular and how big the number of users were. This case featured in the global media heavily and brought about a lot of change in the industry, especially regarding laws on sharing music. With more protection for artists, that resulted from the rise of piracy, the second stage of digital music was the rise of download stores which was viewed as progression for the industry. Through online stores such as ITunes and Amazon, people could purchase individual songs rather than whole albums and for relatively cheap and little effort. Coinciding with releases of technology that almost became a fashion statement by Apple, the increase in people downloading music and purchasing it digitally was huge. In 2005 the revenue for digital downloads of music was $400 million which rose to $3.7 billion in 2008 which shows the impact it had on the industry and the influence it had on how music was distributed (Digital Music Report 2009).
In the early 20th century with the emergence of consumerisation of music and huge profits being made by record labels, music started to become copyrighted and involve legal complications. Artists were ripped off and even radio stations did not have to pay royalties to labels or artists. With laws being introduced to protect artists and their work as music became ingrained in mainstream culture, it is clear to see the phonograph’s influence on the modern industry. The early problems of the increased availability of music still remain today in the form of streaming services. This is the third stage of digital music which changed a lot of things about the industry including revenue and profits even more than the previous two stages had. Whilst debate around artists getting paid too little per download was started by piracy and download stores, streaming services definitely highlighted it on a bigger scale. Spotify are widely condemned for paying musicians very little and in reaction to this, high profile artists, such as Taylor Swift, have taken all their discography off streaming services. The phonograph’s invention which eventually led to the formation of streaming services has been hailed by some musicians who disagree that this wide availability of music is a negative thing, highlighting how easy it is for their work to reach a global audience. Artists work can now reach an audience in places where they perhaps couldn’t before and also generate a higher revenue through live music tours. This is supported by IBIS World who state that the live music touring market in the US grew an average 4.7% per year for the last 5 years and it brings in $25 billion per year in revenue. The increase in streaming has also saw the first growth in revenue for the music industry since 1995, and totalled £10.2bn. With digital sales amounting to revenue of over £4bn and streaming increasing to £2bn, physical sales are in decline. IFPI’s chief executive, Frances Moore, said that after some tough times for the music industry, the increase in people consuming music in new ways is to be celebrated. She said the figures showed “an industry that has adapted to the digital age and emerged stronger and smarter”. (Ellis-Petersen, 2016). The phonograph’s influence on the modern music industry can be seen as both a positive and negative thing but its importance is undoubtedly obvious.
The platform that consumers are using to listen to music now are curated and ‘listen’ services. These services share the characteristics of streaming and also the radio as it takes a blend of both algorithms and human curation to choose what we listen to as well as gives the option to discover new music . This idea was presented in the form of Pandora radio in 2000 but did not become prominent until a decade and a half later with the release of services such as Beats Music. The positives of this is that it gives artists more coverage to newer audiences and our music choices become even more personal to us as it has been chosen based on our interests and listening patterns. As for the future, trends in music consumption are hard to predict. Developers at Spotify are working on ideas to use a feature where our music choices are suggested by our heart rates and behaviour. This idea would mean expanding on this stage of curated services and goes to show how far the music industry has progressed and has been moulded by the invention of the phonograph, which introduced the consumer listening to music on their own and in-demand. The idea of using our heart rate to choose what music we listen to exemplifies the increased personal relationship that the consumer has with music now and how the music industry tries to accommodate and encourage that. Future trends are difficult to predict in this age of technology and this is shown by the sudden increase in vinyl sales. This style of listening to music in a pre-digital age has made a comeback with sales at their highest since 1991. 2016 experienced a rise of 53% in vinyl sales compared to 2015 and it is the first time ever that vinyl sales have outstripped digital downloads (Ellis-Petersen, 2017).
In conclusion, the invention of the phonograph and the reaction to it started the music industry and built the foundations for what it has developed into in the contemporary world. It encouraged entrepreneurs to make profit from releasing music, the creation of identifiable genres within music and a more personal relationship between the consumer and the music as it enabled them to listen to it in-demand. These ideas developed the industry and soon music spread into mainstream culture, with technology improvements allowing listening to music become even easier. Artists could reach a larger audience as accessibility became enhanced and music became easier to consume, forging an industry that produces a revenue of billions. The phonographs influence and importance on the modern music industry is undoubtable.
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