There Is No Music Industry, Or Is There?
- Team Tonic
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
Moving on from the healthy touring resources I now want to look at a recent piece of writing that caught my attention.
If you’ve ever heard someone (me) talk about 'the music industry', you probably imagined a giant machine made up of record labels, streaming services, artists, and managers etc, an organised system that determines what music we listen to. But according to Jonathan Sterne in his 2014 paper ‘There Is No Music Industry’, this whole idea is an oversimplification. He argues that instead of a single, monolithic music industry, there are actually many industries that make up the complex and ever-changing world of music. I agree!
Why Say There’s No Music Industry? Of course, there’s an industry behind music, after all, people make and sell music for a living but the piece did get me thinking about challenging the general idea of “one” music industry and instead recognise the vast range of businesses, technologies, and cultural practices that shape how our music is made, distributed, and consumed.
Music isn’t controlled by a single system; instead, it’s influenced by a mix of historical, technological, and economic factors. The music landscape of the 1920s, for example, was dominated by radio and records, while the 1990s saw CDs and MTV shaping what people listened to. Today, streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music dominate, but independent artists can also find success on platforms like Bandcamp or (zzzzz) TikTok. These shifts show that music is constantly adapting to new technologies and business models.
One main argument in the paper is that when people talk about the music industry, they often act as if there’s a single set of rules or power structures that dictate how music operates. In reality, different parts of the industry function in different ways. The way a pop star like Taylor Swift makes money (album sales, streaming, merchandise, tours) is completely different from how a jazz musician or a YouTube-based independent artist earns a living.
Major labels, indie labels, streaming platforms, and live venues all have different business models and priorities, which means it’s misleading to lump them all together as if they’re part of a single system. And, as we know, some have a much harder journey than others!
The piece also highlights how technology plays a huge role in shaping the music industries. Every major shift in music consumption, from records to cassettes to digital downloads to streaming, has transformed how we make money and how fans experience music. The rise of digital technology didn’t just change how people listen to music; it also disrupted the power balance between major record labels and independent artists. Now, musicians can distribute their work without needing a big record deal, but they also face new challenges, such as low streaming payouts and algorithm-driven exposure dictated by the big gremlins.
The main thing I learnt from the paper is that we should stop thinking of the music industry as a single, unified entity and instead recognise it as a diverse, evolving network of different industries and players.
Music is shaped by history, technology, business, and culture in ways that can’t be neatly packaged into one simple narrative, but I’ll probably still call it the music industry. Food for thought.
Adam Ficek hosts a monthly show 'Tonic Music' on Totally Wired Radio, where he talks to various guests about music and mental health. You can listen again to any of the previous show on the Tonic Music Mixcloud page.
