The Economic Effects Of Digital Technology On The Market For Recorded Music

Abstract

For more than fifty years, the recorded music industry has owed its existence to the development of analog sound recording technology. It was not, however, simply the development of a sound recording technology that created and sustained the industry. It was the fact that this recording technology was analog-based. Today, music recorded using analog technology is rare, having been almost completely replaced by the recently developed digital recording technology. As the use of digital recording technology continues to increase, particularly in conjunction with the evolving Internet, the likely outcome will be one of significant financial loss and structural change to the traditional recorded music industry.