This document discusses the interrelationship between music, business, technology and culture throughout history. It traces the evolution of music from ancient times through the modern digital era, highlighting how developments in business and technology both shaped and were shaped by musical culture at different periods. Key points covered include the rise of professional musicians, music commerce and patronage, the printing press, radio, recording technology, and how the digital revolution has disrupted traditional business models in the music industry.

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Music, Business and Technology
Alejandro Sánchez-Samper
Associate Professor
Florida Atlantic University

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 What is music?
 An art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms
through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.
 What is Business?
 The purchase and sale of goods in an attempt to make profit.
 What is technology?
 A scientific or industrial process, invention, method, or the like
 The sum of the ways in which social groups provide themselves with the material
objects of their civilization.

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CULTURECULTURE
BusinessBusiness TechnologyTechnology MusicMusic
Developments in music, business and technology draw from the culture from which
they originate, and reflect back onto it.

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THE ABC’s of the music Industry
 Artist
 Provides music (content) to a listening audience in the form of:
 Goods
 Services
 Business
 Provides a framework and structure for the sale of goods and services.
 Consumer
 Demands and “consumes” music.

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Basic chronology of “commercial” music in
western civilization
 Art as entertainment (paying
audience) - business
 “Professional” performer -
music
 Development of the
amphitheater, and music
instruments – technology
Ancient Times: 550 BC – 476 AD

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The Middle Ages (5th
-15th
century)
 The Sacred
 Music and ritual
 Business. no commerce
involved in liturgical music
 Technology - Development of
music notation (music could now be
transmitted via written document rather than
orally) –

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The Middle Ages (5th
-15th
century)
 The Secular and Profane
 Music - Amateur.
 Business – musicians employed
for the service of feudal lords
and kings.
 Technology – instrument
development.

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The Renaissance (14th
-17th
century)
 Music – development of the
professional musician
 Business – development of
commerce = more $
 Technology – instrument
development. More
instruments in every ensemble

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The baroque (17th
-18th
century)
Music – professional musician
Business – Patronage of nobility
Technology – Printing press.
Dissemination of music

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The classical period
(18th
– early 19th
century)
Joseph Haydn -
Rich
Ludwig Van Beethoven
- Middle class
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -
Poor

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The Birth of Change
 Music - The rise of popular
music in the 19th
century
 P.T. Barnum – entertainment mogul
 Business.
 Power and culture belonged to a
larger middle class rather than to
nobility
 Technology – transportation
and the industrial revolution

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Late 1800’s: music publishing as a lucrative
business
 Music is now both service and
PRODUCT
 1892: After the Ball by Stephen
Foster sold 1,000,000 copies in
12 months in the U.S.
 Technology: trains and player
pianos.

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1885-1930:Tin Pan Alley
 Golden era of music publishing
 ASCAP- 1914

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1920-1940: Radio and the birth of mass media
culture
 First radio stations in US
licensed in 1920
 Radio begins paying ASCAP in
1923 (Radio is still ASCAP’s
main revenue source)
 By 1930 NBC had radio
stations on both coasts = big
business
 1940’s sees the expansion of
radio worldwide and the birth
of global music markets

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The phonograph
 Invented in 1890
 Music as product
 The phonograph becomes a
household commodity in the
1950’s.

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1950’s:The american dream
 Affluent middle class
 Radio,TV and record player in
every household
 Business – radio sells records

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1960’s: New markets
 New markets/new
demographics
 The LP RECORD (music as
product) and 45’ single
 Technology – amplified sound
allows for greater sized venues.

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1970’s: Golden age of the LP
 Record is king
 Dark Side of the Moon = $50
million records sold to date
 Business - Record companies
go global
 Technological threat – cassette
 Portable
 Re-recordable
 Piracy
 Multi-million dollar studio and
recording budgets

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1980: Golden age of the CD
 CD = profit making monster of
the 80’s
 Portability and non-recordability
 Cheaper to produce than vinyl and
cassette yet sold for more
 Digital domain
 No generation loss
 MTV
 24/7 video delivery service
 Golden age of mass media,
payola and big business

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1990’s: Doing business cheaper
 Digital brings costs down
 Studio costs
 Digital piracy

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2000 -2010: Lo-fi in the WI-FI world
 Napster vs. $18.98 CD
 A computer company brings
the record labels to their knees
 iTunes and the death of the
album
 Resurgence of singles
 Death of the record labels?

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2010-2020…
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