| Abstract: | Music is with us on every step we make and practically throughout the entire day – in the morning while getting ready for work or school, on the way to work, at workplace, in a restaurant, while shopping, during sports activities, at social events, etc. It is present at all levels of the social life.
The presence of music anytime and anyplace has been enabled by the technological progress, which has on the one hand significantly eased listeners to access music, but on the other hand it has incurred significant losses to the music industry. Today, music listeners can download the latest music hits to their players (mobile phone, mp3, mp4, computer, etc.) within a few moments and play it anywhere, anytime and as many times as desired. Music listeners do not need to buy any sound recording medium, the sale of which represents an important and almost the only source of income to the music industry.
I have researched the sale of music by individual periods between 1980 until today, and the sale by an individual sound recording medium. The first notable profit made by the music industry came from selling tapes. In 1981, the global sale of sound recording media amounted to USD 12 billion. Following that year, the sale of tapes started dropping. The main reason for the drop in sale was, according to music labels, the sale of unrecorded sound media – tapes, which enabled taping of music at home.
A new increase in the sale of music was brought by the development of the compact disc. In 1992, the sale of sound recording media totalled USD 28,893 million. The global music industry reached its peak in 1996 by selling 3,526.9 million of sound recording media. After 1996, the music industry has been recording increasing falls in the sale of sound recording media.
The biggest impact on the drop in the sale of sound recording media can undoubtedly be attributed to the appearance of the internet, which the music industry failed to respond to in time. Users were able to freely exchange music work for several years, while the music industry, shocked, only warned about the presence of piracy, i.e. illegal exchange, and did very little to protect itself.
The global music industry has recorded a high increase in the volume of online music sale and the sale of ringtones; however, the loss has remained substantial.
The music industry tried to cover for giant losses at least partially by introducing legal protection for musicians and record labels. Organisations for copyright protection of musicians (authors and performers) and interests of record labels were established worldwide. The industry has managed to start raising funds from music users (radio and TV stations, organisers of concerts and other events, commercial centres, clubs…). Such funds are intended for authors, performers and publishers. In Slovenia such rights are protected by SAZAS and IPF. |
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