The document provides a timeline of key developments in the film and music industries from the 1950s to present day. It covers historical contexts, technological innovations, popular genres and artists, marketing strategies, distribution methods, and changes in consumer habits for each decade. Major events and innovations included the rise of vinyl records and cassettes, the introduction of the CD and MP3 formats, the growth of music streaming services, and social media's increasing influence on the industry in recent years.

1. Film Industry Timeline
1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020+
Key
historical/
music
industry
contexts
Post World War
II - rise in
consumerism
The ‘birth of the
teenager’
Moral panics
about the
diabolic
influence of rock
and roll
The swinging
sixties introduced
the” British
Invasion”.
Psychedelic rock
artists became
big, such as Pink
Floyd, The Jimi
Hendrix
Experience and
The Rolling
Stones etc.
The rise of Disco
music. Punk rock
also thrived towards
the late 1970’s.
Decline in the
industry may have
been a result of the
economic recession
of the late 1970s.
The AIDS
epidemic became
recognized in the
1980s and has
since killed an
estimated 39
million people.
The LGBTQ+
community turned
to music as a
means of
communal
solidarity and
political advocacy
The 1990s saw extreme
advances in technology, with the
World Wide Web.The birth of
the grunge genre; Nirvana,
Pearl Jam etc.
Groups such as BTS and
Blackpink​ became international
phenomena with their
dedicated fan bases allowing
for a rise in foreign music.
Music
Production
in 1948
Columbia and
RCA, rivals in
the industry,
began to make
vinyl ownership
mainstream
introduction of the
Sony Walkman in
1979
24-track recording
machines arrived by
1970
In 1971, Inoue built
the first machines
for karaoke which
translates to ‘empty
orchestra’. The
relationship between
music fans and
songs they love has
never been quite the
same since.
The first compact
disc (CD) player
emerged in 1982
from a
development
agreement
between Sony and
Dutch
manufacturer
Philips Electronics
NV
New technologies
allowed for
synthesizer
sounds and drum
machines.
With the
increasing sound
quality of the
cassette,it quickly
became the most
widely used music
listening format in
1983 with nearly
half of all recorded
music industry
revenue
In 1995, the MP3 player was
created and this represents
another invention in the world of
music which a lot of musicians
focused heavily on creating
music for MP3s and promoting
their tracks through paid adverts
on music download websites.
Auto-Tune becomes widespread
across the industry - The most
famous deliberate use of
Auto-Tune is without a doubt
Cher’s 1998 techno-pop song
Believe.
2003 Sony started
producing exclusive
recordings that were
only available to
users of Sony
Connect
The recorded music
industry has been in
decline since its
peak in 1999.
Sales of vinyl records
increased by 15% during 2019
however most listening was
done via mobile phones.
CDs and other physical media
continued to decline
Throughout the 2010s hip - hop
became a popular genre.
The increase in streaming
services influence over the
Billboard Hot 100​ rap music
became the most popular
genre in the US.
Mainstream rock since the
early 2010s had become softer
and more refined because of
indie rock.
In 2019 360 Audio: ​360 Reality Audio | Music.com​ and
https://www.deezer.com/us/devices/app/360bydeezer

2. Film Industry Timeline
Cross
media
convergenc
e and
synergy
In the late ‘80s,
Sony acquired
Sony Pictures​, the
film production
company behind
classics such as
the Karate Kid
Late 1990s was a revolutionary
period of innovation for the
music industry, as it brought
about the relevance of music in
its digital form. It was from a
combination of the internet and
digital audio recording that the
MP3 was born.
XFactor first
appeared in 2004 -
it is produced by
Sony Music and
Simon Cowell’s
SYCOtv. The acts
from the show
receive record deals
with the companies.
Sony released their PS4 with
soundtracks only playing Sony
artists.
Throughout the 2010s, different
movements in music and the
music industry have been
formed because of the rise of
social media such as ​YouTube​,
TikTok​, and ​SoundCloud​.
Since 2011, boy bands and girl
groups have returned to
mainstream popularity for the
first time after the early 2000s,
with the most popular
examples being British-Irish
boy band ​One Direction​ and
American boy band ​Big Time
Rush​.
In January 2015, Sony announced PlayStation Music, a
new music service with Spotify as its exclusive partner.
Music
marketing
The Beatles play
on the ​rooftop of
Apple
Headquarters ​in
London as part of
their project
In 1981, MTV
launched which
enabled music
videos to play a
huge role in
marketing artists
songs.
Another music
channel VH1 was
launched in 1984
and introduced a
more classic rock
format.
The predominance
of these music
videos as a
around-the-clock
marketing tool was
effective and
influential in
bringing several
new artists as well
as new genres into
the mainstream.
Old printed posters were used
regularly for promoting gibs
back in the 90s.
2004 Sheryl Crow
performs on a
United Airlines flight
from Chicago to Los
Angeles to promote
a new deal between
Sony Connect(TM)
and
MileagePlusMusic.c
om
Beyoncé released her 5th
album in 2013 without any
marketing.
1. YouTube
YouTube is obviously the first choice for any musician,
both popular and new. With music being the most viewed
category of video (27%), and people watching over 1
billion hours of YouTube videos every day.
2. Social Media Networks: Facebook, Instagram, and
Twitter
Twitter has about 330 million monthly active users, it’s the
place for most budding music journalists and influencers,
and it helps you get a lot of word-of-mouth.
With a staggering 2.38 billion monthly active users,
Facebook is the most used social media platform globally,
and it’s where people discover your live videos. Instagram
with its 1 billion MAU is the place where budding artists
can generate a community and a loyal fan base.
3. Spotify
Controlling over 36% of the global streaming market,
Spotify has 217 million monthly active users and is the
most popular music streaming platform in the world.
Whether you’re aiming for placement on the editorial or
label-owned playlists depends on your marketing strategy.
4. TikTok
As you probably know, TikTok is the newest obsession in
the world of music marketing. It lets you repurpose music
and transform them into memes that you can share with
your followers, and this is a trick most people seem to be
loving these days.

3. Film Industry Timeline
Music
Distribution
Vinyl became
the most
prevalent
choice for
consumers
with regards to
affordable
means of
owning and
playing music.
The late sixties
brought about the
significant
popularity of the
cassette as a
means of record
production. With
this innovation,
record companies
began to worry
about the
cassette as a
potential
disruption in the
level of vinyl
sales.
Vinyl remained the
dominant format
until the late 1970s.
The 8-track
(introduced in mid
60s) was the fastest
growing format in
the industry,
claiming 25 percent
of all music industry
revenue in 1974
Capable of
producing a higher
quality sound than
the cassette, and
provided more
versatility than vinyl,
it disappeared from
the market in
1982----> one of the
first indicators of the
music industry being
a subject of the
market’s tastes and
preferences.
2003 ITunes first
launched.
Spotify launched in
2008.
During the 2010 music era, the
use of IPODs grew and
streaming had a rise in
consumer experience leading
to less demand for physical
CDs.
In 2011 Apple signs a deal with
Sony for its new iTunes Cloud
music streaming service
Sony acquired Ericsson's stake
in Sony Ericsson in January
2012 and launched the
smartphone, the Xperia, which
has its own inbuilt app: the
Sony Music Player.
streaming became the fastest
growing music format in the
recorded music industry
YouTube signs an agreement
with Universal Music Group
and Sony Music over royalties
and copyrighted material in
2017. In the same year, Sony
signed a deal with Spotify.
The music industry saw a
consistent decline in album
sales in response to the rising
popularity of streaming
services. As a result, music
superstars have been trying a
new method for increasing
album profits: exclusively
releasing their music on a
specific digital music
distributor.
In recent years, Sony Music launches its own music site
which enables free previews and links to buy their albums
from online partners
To date Sony has dozens of apps which allow streaming
of music on smart devices in your home, in your car, on
your PC, ear-pods… Sony Android Apps on Google Play
Music
consumptio
n/
consumer
habits
The rise of the
top 40 stations
in the early
50s has
influenced how
music radio
operates even
today.
By the late 60s,
all of Ford's
cars were
offered with an
available
8-track player.
In the early 1970s,
the music industry
became frustrated
with ‘bootlegging,’ or
illegally recording
vinyl audio or radio
broadcasts onto
programmable
cassettes
In 1987 record
sales from the CD
finally surpassed
those from the
declining vinyl
format.
This is an
important
innovation in the
music industry as
it proves the
consumer’s power
in
influencing the
way music is
recorded and sold.
Music sharing and piracy
became a larger concern of the
record labels, and in response,
the Audio Home Recording Act
of 1992 was created. This act
essentially imposed a two
percent royalty on digital audio
recorder manufacturers to be
paid to copyright holders to
make up for the lost sales from
the increasing ease of piracy
MP3 unit sales
surpassed all other
formats in the music
industry in 2007.
Use of physical radio
decreased as streaming
services increased or radio
began to be streamed through
telephone apps.
Music was often illegally
downloaded and pirated
causing artists to miss out on
download fees.
The use and demand for
bluetooth headphones
increased during this period.

4. Film Industry Timeline
The Dire Straits’
album ‘Brothers in
Arms’ sells more
copies on
Compact Disc than
on LP, and
became the first
Compact Disc to
surpass the one
million sales mark
(1985)
Top selling
artists/alb
um/single
of each
decade
Elvis Presley -
Presley's
discography
boasts 10 No.
1 albums and
18 No. 1 songs
N1:
Frank Sinatra
“Songs for
Swingin'
Lovers!”
(1956)
The Beatles are
the only other
musical act to
sell more than 1
billion records.
Best selling
album in the
UK:
“Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts
Club Band”
(1967)
The '70s secured
Elton John as one
of the prominent
figures in rock and
roll.​ He has
achieved seven
consecutive No. 1
records on the
U.S. album charts.
Swedish group
ABBA spent 35
weeks at the top
of the UK Album
Chart during the
1970s, longer than
any other artist.
Best selling album
in the UK:
“Bridge over
Troubled Water”
(1970) by Simon &
Garfunkel
Prince
dominated the
music scene in
the 1980s -
His album "1999"
was released in
1982 and sold
three million
copies. In 1984,
he released the
album "Purple
Rain," which
spent 24 weeks
at No. 1 and sold
10 million copies
in the U.S.
Best selling
album in the UK:
“ Brothers in
Arms” (1985) by
Dire Straits
Mariah Carey reigned
supreme in the '90s. She is
one of the best selling female
artists of all time. Her album
“Mariah”​ ​netted four No. 1
singles and two Grammy
awards in 1990.
Best selling single in the UK
and US:
Best selling album in the UK:
“(What's the Story) Morning
Glory?” (1995) by Oasis
Eminem’s second
album, "The
Marshall Mathers
LP," released in
2000 was the
fastest selling solo
album in U.S.
history.
Eminem – Lose
Yourself​ ​was the
best selling song of
the decade.
Best selling album
in the UK:
“Back to Bedlam”
(2004) by James
Blunt
Amy Winehouse
had the third
best-selling album
of the decade with
Back to Black,
which later
became the UK's
Adele is considered the top
selling artist of the 2010’s.
She sold 36.7 million
singles/albums throughout
the decade.She also had the
top selling album of the
decade:
The #1 song of the 2010’s
was Tik Tok by Ke$ha.
Best selling album in the
UK:
“21” (2011) by Adele
Top artist in 2020 was Post Malone.
The top selling album of the year was Folklore by
Taylor Swift:
The UK’s biggest song of 2020 is The Weeknd’s
Blinding Lights.

5. Film Industry Timeline
Detailed timeline of different audio formats
best-selling album
of the 21st century
(only to later be
overtaken by
Adele's 21).