Studying at York
Introduction to the Music Business - TFT00065I
- Department: Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
The module offers an introduction to the music business and the wider context of the music industry that arises as an interplay of creativity, law, technological development and societal change. Tracing the technological development in music from Gutenberg to Spotify, the module will contextualise the recent history of the music industry from a longitudinal perspective. Topical cases and examples such as Napster, iTunes, YouTube, Spotify and the debates around music creators' earnings will be used to discuss controversies around disruptive technology and changing music value on the streaming music platforms. This module will help you develop a more sophisticated understanding of the music business and pressing issues in the music industry than widely perceived accounts.
Related modules
No pre-requisite knowledge is required.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
Module aims
This module aims to:
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To facilitate understanding in technological innovation of the music industry and help students develop a nuanced approach in the contemporary issues in the music industry by taking into account a diverse range of factors involved in the innovation.
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To provide an opportunity to learn key theoretical concepts in the music business and relevant theories that have been used to understand technological innovation in the music industry
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To help understand the complexity and contingency in the music business
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To develop and consolidate personal, professional and/or employability skills relevant to the music business by learning key areas and foundational concepts required in the creative industries
Module learning outcomes
At the end of this module, you will be able to:
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Demonstrate a basic understanding of key concepts of popular music studies, media and communication studies
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Articulate a firm understanding of the foundational concepts and theories in the music business
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Show analytical ability to re-contextualise contemporary debates surrounding contentious issues in the music industry in a historical context
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Understand the complex value networks composed of various stakeholders and their differing power relationships
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Critically analyse the major debates in the music business, ranging from issues in the creative labour and to streaming culture
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Advance a knowledge in copyright, disruptive technology and music business models
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Articulate professional skills and enhanced competencies that are required to engage in evolving music business contexts
Module content
This module will combine traditional modes of learning - lecture, reading-based discussion-led seminar and problem-based learning in scenario-based workshops. In many cases the scenarios will be drawn from business case studies. The workshops will also feature two master classes.
Week 1. Induction
Introduces the module as a whole.
Week 2. Evolution of Music Technologies
This lecture traces how music technologies evolved from a longitudinal perspective. Unlike today’s ‘ubiquitous listening’ (Kassabian 2018), music had long been a rare treat available only to certain people and situations. This lecture investigates how technological developments, in conjunction with societal changes, have brought changes to the way music is produced, distributed, promoted and consumed.
Week 3. Music and Copyright
The music industry is often called a copyright industry as it underpins many aspects of the music business. How has this come about and what does this mean for today’s music business? This session looks at the historical developments of copyright and its influence in the music business. By looking at a diverse range of factors that have impacted upon the conceptual developments of copyright, this lecture opens up a widely perceived idea about copyright and focuses on the constantly evolving concepts of copyright.
Week 4. Industrial Structure of the Music Business
Music business is composed of a complex web of heterogeneous players who have different motivations, interests and negotiating power. This lecture introduces the foundational structure of music business, and the underlying dynamics that are constantly changing in the context of legal, societal and technological settings. Students will learn major organisations such as publishers, record labels, distributors, and the live music sector and their respective roles.
Week 5. Digital Disruption
The arrival of Peer-To-Peer (P2P) file-sharing technologies and the subsequently developed networks such as Napster suggested a seismic shift in the music business, by making music freely available on the internet networks. This lecture critically examines the major prediction of the digital disruption in the music industry.
Week 6. Evolution of Digital Music Business
This lecture investigates how the music business model has evolved in the digital age since Napster to Spotify. In this lecture, you will learn how the way music is valued has been in constant influx in the constantly evolving business environment.
Week 7. The Structure of the Music Streaming
In this lecture, we revisit the industrial structure of the music business and discuss the changes brought about in the streaming business. We explore the wider networks of the streaming music business and critically assess the major discussion of the platformisation.
Week 8. Music Discovery: Algorithms and Playlist
In the face of the unprecedented level of music access enabled by the streaming business, playlists have become the main means of music listening and discovery. What does this mean for the music consumption and the music business? In this lecture, we explore the underlying dynamics involved in the music discovery process in the streaming music business.
Week 9. Economics of the Music Streaming
The subscription-based music business model has brought a significant change in the way music is valued in the market. This lecture revisits the music business logic underpinning the copyright system built around physical products and examines the new economics in which dematerialised music is valorised in the market.
Week 10. Music Data Management
A deluge of data is giving rise to a new economy in the creative industries. Known as ‘datafication,’ data-driven economy is turning many facets of the music business into data-dependent information. Despite the widely accepted importance of data and its management, music business has fallen short of taking the full potential of the data economy. This lecture investigates the current state of music data management, challenges to collective management, its stumbling blocks and diverse initiatives and solutions emerged to improve the current status quo.
Week 11. AI in music
Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses a great challenge in the conventional concepts of music creation and the ownership of musical works. In this lecture, we discuss major debates about the changes AI might bring to the music business.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
Formative work and feedback is embedded in the seminars, through research tasks and problem-based scenario exercises
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
You will receive written feedback in line with standard University turnaround times.
Indicative reading
Frith, S. (2004). Popular music: critical concepts in media and cultural studies. London: Routledge.
Wikström, P. (2009). The music industry: music in the cloud. Cambridge: Polity.
Negus, K. (2011). Producing pop: Culture and conflict in the popular music industry. Edward Arnold.
Meier LM. (2016). Popular Music as Promotion: Music and Branding in the Digital Age. Cambridge, UK: Polity
Sun, H. (2018). Digital Revolution Tamed in the Recording Industry. Cham: Springer International Publishing. [Online]. Available at: doi:10.1007/978-3-319-93022-0_8.
Harrison, A., (2021). Music: the business. Random House.