The impact of innovative technologies on small players in the recorded music sector: a chronological overview

Abstract

Throughout history, music has been presented to the audience in different ways, and technology has played an essential role in shaping the forms of music consumption. Each innovative process has led to new business models, socio-cultural changes and ultimately new entrepreneurial activities. This paper reviews the history of the music recording industry from the perspective of innovation and entrepreneurship. It examines how small independent record labels periodically emerged and filled the creative and commercial gaps within the music recording industry’s history. It also explores the philosophy of independent music, the do-it-yourself (DIY) ethos that rose to prominence in the 1970s with the UK’s punk music movement. This study shows that the independent music sector has continually displayed entrepreneurial reactions to the major corporations’ practices and market dominance. Independent musicians’ ups and downs have moved parallel to the sector’s technological developments and the ease of access to these innovative tools.