The Collapse of the Music Industry
Does collapse necessarily mean death?
The 8-track medium died in the early 1980s. The vinyl record died around 1990, although there are vinyl die-hards that live on along with the high-end audio aficionados (the high-end audio industry has been in serious decline for many years now). I had not particularly noticed that the cassette tape died around 2005 (I dropped the use of tapes since the introduction of the audio CD in 1983).
Now the observation is on the continuing decline of the audio CD format, possibly to extinction as with all preceding mediums. Even digital is showing decline with the legitimate question - will the music industry died altogether? I think mediums and formats die but music and the associated industry will continue. The best original music is now being written and produced for the movie industry. Classical music listened to in year 2099 on Mars will be music from early 21st century Earth.
The "industry" manifestation might be self-promoted musicians publishing their works on YouTube and earning revenue on their work without recording companies playing the role of the middleman collecting their portion of the revenue. In general, the Internet offers an unmatched level of disintermediation.
2010 Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2011 Jan Feb Mar Apr Jun Sep Oct Dec
2012 Jan Feb Apr May Jun Oct Nov Dec
2013 Jan Feb Mar May Jun Dec
2014 Jan Mar Jun Jul Aug Oct Nov Dec
2015 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Oct Nov Dec
2016 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2017 Jan Feb Apr Oct
2018 Jan Feb Mar Apr
2020 Mar Apr May
