Introduction to the Music Industry

Music plays a very important part in today's society, and it is a very controversial topic. People use music as a way of expressing themselves, and it can influence the way they dress, act, etc, giving them a sense of identity.  
There are lots of different genres, so there's something for everyone, including: rock, grunge, pop, metal, goth rock, indie, punk, classical, blues, opera, country, gospel, dubstep, house, techno, hip hop, rap, teen pop, reggae, etc. Basically, there are A LOT of genres. 

There are 5 'majors' (the main transnational corporations): 

• Universal
• Sony
• Warner Bros
• BMG
• EMI

And there are also independent labels.

Within the labels there are different levels: artist and repertoire, marketing/artist development, promotions, legal, and financial. 

With the advancement of the modern technologies, the way in which we experience this music is always advancing. First we had vinyl, then cassettes, then CD's, and now MP3 and other digital file formats. 

Music videos have become an important part in the way in which we experience music, with them being used to promote albums before and after they have been released. In the beginning, they were just simple videos of the band or artist performing the song, but now they are becoming like short films, with a story of their own with the song over the top. 

With the success of digital music being downloaded online now, this has had both a positive and negative impact on the music industry, because although it has made purchasing music much more accessible, people have found ways to share the music illegally for free, meaning that the artists don't get the all the money they deserve for their music, so they have had to depend more on getting their money from merchandise, touring, etc.