A Creative Industry in Transition: The Rise of Digitally Driven Independent Music Production

TLDR

The study investigates how digital technologies are reshaping the North American music industry, extending analysis of the MP3 crisis by examining the challenge to major record labels. The authors use interviews with industry executives and musicians to analyze how digital technologies challenge major labels and affect restructuring at macro and micro levels. The study documents, for the first time, the structures and spatial dynamics of digitally driven independent music production in Canada, revealing insights from executive interviews.

Abstract

Abstract This paper nuances our understanding of the ongoing transition within the North American music industry. It extends the existing analysis of the so‐called “ MP 3 Crisis” by exploring the ways in which digital technologies have challenged the entrenched power of the major record labels. In particular, new insights are offered based on interviews with music industry executives who have been active in shaping the industry's response to illegal file sharing. The paper also uses interview data from musicians to investigate the implications of restructuring at the macroscale on creative talent at the microscale. As such, it documents the structures and spatial dynamics of digitally driven independent music production in C anada for the first time.