The Music Industry

Abstract

For centuries music used to be performed live by folk musicians and travelling troubadours or under patronage and supported by the aristocracy and churches. During the 19th century, modern, industrial work processes and technologies began to shape the music market, and music grew from a live performance practice into an industry. The music industry began as an industry of publishers who contracted composers and lyricists to produce songs that could be performed at concerts, vaudevilles, opera houses and music halls and whose sheet music could be edited and sold to private persons to be played at home.