Music industry

The music industry is made up of the individuals and organizations that make money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that assist, train, represent, and supply music creators with the resources they require. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate in the industry are: songwriters and composers who write songs and musical compositions; singers, musicians, conductors, and bandleaders who perform the music; record labels, music publishers, recording studios, music producers, audio engineers, retail and digital music stores, and performance rights organizations who create and sell recorded music and sheet music; and booking agents, promoters, and managers who book and promote artists.

There are also a variety of specialists that work in the music business to help singers and musicians in their own musical endeavors and careers. This includes talent managers, artists and repertoire managers, business managers, entertainment lawyers, those who broadcast audio or video music content (satellite, Internet radio stations, broadcast radio and television stations), music journalists and music critics, DJs, music educators and teachers, musical instrument manufacturers, and a plethora of other professionals and institutions. In addition to businesses and artists, there are a number of organizations that play an important role, such as musician's unions (for example, the American Federation of Musicians), not-for-profit performance-rights organizations (for example, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), and other groups (e.g. International Alliance for Women in Music, a non-profit organization that advocates for women composers and musicians).

It was during the 1930s and 1950s that the contemporary Western music industry came into being, with recordings replacing sheet music as the most significant product in the music industry. Throughout the commercial world, the term "recording industry"–which refers to the process of recording and selling live performances of songs and pieces–began to be used as a broad synonym for "music industry" when referring to the business of making recordings. Within this decade, three big corporate labels have dominated the music industry: Universal Music Group, which is owned by the French government; Sony Music Entertainment, which is owned by Japan; and Warner Music Group, which is owned by the United States government. Independent labels are labels that are not affiliated with one of the three big record labels listed above (or "indies"). Live Nation, the world's biggest producer and owner of music venues, controls the vast majority of the live music industry for concerts and tours. It was formerly known as Live Nation, and it was a part of iHeartMedia Inc., which was previously known as iHeartRadio.^[1]

Due to wide-spread digital distribution of music through the Internet during the first two decades of the twenty-first century, the music business experienced significant transformations during those years (which includes both illegal file sharing of songs and legal music purchases in online music stores). Sales of recorded music have decreased significantly since 2000, while live music has grown in significance. One notable indication of these shifts is overall music sales, which have decreased significantly since 2000. Rather than a physical storefront, Apple Inc.'s online iTunes Store was the world's biggest recorded music retailer in 2011, and it was managed by a computer business. Streaming is currently producing more money per year than digital downloads in the music industry, which has experienced steady sales growth since 2011. When it comes to membership numbers, the most popular streaming services are Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.

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