Has The Internet Helped Or Hurt The Music Industry?

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As I’m sure you’ve noticed already, technology changes pretty much every industry on earth. While every kind of business is feeling the progress of technology, the music industry is (as always) one of the more prominent ones. Depending on who you ask, the internet is either the best thing or the worst to ever happen to the music industry. Here, we’ll look at both sides of the argument.

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Cynic that I am, let’s start with the bad! The main drawback the internet’s created to the music industry is something a lot of people consider one of its biggest benefits.

The internet has made music a lot cheaper and easier to obtain, or more accurately steal. Yes, without the need for CD production, music itself is now more accessible than ever before. This of course means that a huge amount of money that was previously tied to the industry has disappeared into the air.

It’s true that various social platforms have made the industry easier to break into for new, up-and-coming pop musicians like this one: https://jasminevenjasminstone.bandcamp.com/album/echoes. However, these very platforms have also meant that it’s easier than ever to download mp3s without paying anything.

This, in turn, means that very little royalties actually make it to the artist’s bank account. That’s who we all imagine we’re paying, right? To sum up, the internet has made it much harder for anyone to try making a decent living as a musician.

Source: Pixabay

Now, onto the good. The internet has really been something of a double-edged sword for musicians and other people in the industry. While it’s certainly made it harder to be a full-time musician, the internet has been the musical artist’s best friend in a lot of other ways.

At one time, if you wanted to make it as a musician, you had to gig in better and better venues, usually for no pay except drinks. Until someone from a label approached you and took you on, there’d be absolutely no way to get exposure other than through bars and venues. These days, everything has changed.

Now, if you can record your music to an mp3 file, you can post it to a music sharing platform like Band Camp in seconds. Little-known artists like these: https://findsomaep.bandcamp.com/releases are now able to start selling their music instantly. Of course, like all the labels, these sharing platforms take a pretty significant slice off the top, but that’s show business.

Pretty soon, many of these major labels are going to find themselves having to become more invested with these more accessible online platforms. Things like Sound Cloud, Band Camp, YouTube and so forth are all eliminating the need for endless gigs in bars, waiting for a PR guy to take an interest. More and more musicians are becoming their own marketers, and the whole industry is feeling it!

Source: Pixabay

So, has the internet been a good thing or a bad thing for the music industry? Obviously that depends on who you are. Wherever the money’s going, I’m sure we can all appreciate how accessible the industry has become for promising young musicians.