What Music Industry?

As a rookie blogger, it has taken me a little while to get accustomed to this whole concept of broadcasting my thoughts to the entire world. Although I sincerely doubt the majority of the blogosphere is even remotely interested in this blog's topical content, the idea of my personal opinions being etched in virtual “hyperlinked stone” is quite intimidating to a writer/journalist by trade. All apprehension and personal constraint aside, I determined that the best plan of action would be to simply rip the proverbial “cyber Band-Aid” right off.

If you have had a chance to read my introductory post or check out my About Me section, you have probably already gathered that I am a public relations practitioner by trade, and a music industry enthusiast by choice. Although my specialty is crisis communication and reputation management, very little of my educational background has anything to do with the music or entertainment industry, aside from a minor in Vocal Performance during my undergraduate work. My fascination with the music and recording industry stems from a childhood devoted to mastering every musical instrument in sight, honing my vocal chops and developing a deeply-rooted appreciation for timeless, traditional music that was far beyond my adolescent years.

It was that same devotion to music and the preservation of the traditional recording industry that prodded me to attend graduate school. I already knew that southern Mississippi’s educational opportunities would lend me nowhere near the master’s degree in music business that I had always desired. However, I determined that I would settle for a degree that was closest to music business and would, hopefully, one-day get my “foot in the door” down on Music Row. The next best degree, in my mind, that would help me to advance my career in the music industry was public relations and communication. Bare with me, I promise I’m getting to the point…

As I started to form and mold my research interests while attending graduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi, I began to realize the significant lack of research dedicated to the unidentified and unexplored research chasm, more commonly known as the music and recording industry. Sure, there were stacks upon stacks of hardbound books in the library covering the ins-and-outs of the recording industry, but they were all dated back to the 70s and 80s when the music industry was booming. With the occasional exception from 1990, there was virtually no substantial recent research to be found on the music and recording industry. Where were the peer-reviewed journal articles and trade publications that can be found, at the touch of a keystroke, for almost every other legitimate profession?

The answer was simple. They did not exist. While I was writing my first formal graduate research paper concerning public relations and its impact on the music industry, I literally thought I was going to pull out my hair when trying to compile academic sources for a proper literature review. Why? There simply were not any appropriate sources available. There may have been an occasional journal article written concerning music, but they rarely addressed the inner-workings of the recording industry or its methods of artist publicity and record promotion.

Why is there such a lack of current academic sources concerning the music and recording industry? I believe that the recording industry, as a whole, has grown silent in light of a daunting new digital music age that has granted consumers unlimited access to music through digital online libraries, like Apple’s iTunes for example. These so-called “digital music libraries” have, one-by-one, silenced traditional recording labels by threatening the very legitimacy of the recording label itself and, as a result, virtually silencing their professional voices. As a result, the music and recording industry has amounted to nothing more than a tribute and faint reminder of a once powerful and influential industry mogul.

The good news: the music industry does not HAVE to remain silent. Instead, the music and recording industry must learn how to empower itself by reinventing its traditional methods of distribution and promotion in light of an increasingly digital music market that is, most definitely, here to stay. In my next post, I will elaborate more on this eminent crisis within the recording industry and offer a few suggestions that will help the music industry learn to embrace, instead of fear, this new digital music revolution.