Abstract
Rumours of the death of the music industry have been wildly exaggerated. The alleged cause of its death, or rather of its slow dying, are digitalisation and the Internet. According to the hand-wringers and doom-mongers who have been flogging this story, new communications technologies centred around the Internet are leading the previously huge corporate giants of the music industry towards the abyss. The story has a reverse side, and according to this, exactly the same technological developments are leading to a democratisation of music production and a new enabling relationships between artists and audiences. Jim Rogers has no truck with either the dystopian or utopian account. His book examines how the music industry of the early 21st century is being restructured in responses to the various changes that have occurred since the mid-1990s. It has certainly been challenged by these, and undoubtedly such developments as P2P online file-sharing have led to a decline in record sales revenue, but the industry is resilient, and in many ways is currently succeeding in its responses to these changes. Basing his study on mainly Irish (and to some extent UK) sources, Rogers draws on interviews conducted with 30 key personnel in the music industry. Short profiles of them are provided in an appendix, and their occupational roles range across record producer, music journalist, studio owner, artist manager, songwriter, label owner, radio producer, music publisher and music retailer. The chapters in his book focus on the views of his informants on the major changes that have occurred in the music industry. He highlights not only the difficulties they have caused but also the opportunities they have provided. Further issues discussed are music copyright and licensing systems, and music in film, TV and advertising. Rogers then turns to ask whether the Internet has helped create a more level music industry playing field for music artists, a question which inevitably brings into consideration the relationship between major and independent companies, and the role of blogs, social networking sites, music websites and audio- and video-streaming services. Finally, the book looks at how musical tastes are moulded and directed by various intermediaries, radio being perhaps the most influential, with TV and the music press having a declining effectiveness in this regard. This evidence-based, lucidly presented study is welcome for the way it sets out what is actually happening in the contemporary music industry, with its considerable reconfiguration likely to further erode the culturally democratic potential that digital innovations seemed to promise. Dystopia for the music industry is not around the next corner, and utopia for recording artists and music consumers is certainly not around even the next mountain.