The Record Industry

The record industry has come a long way from those first recordings that were cut directly onto wax discs. Microphones were directional. Artists had ONE chance to get it right.

Advancements in the recording industry happened faster than in many other industries, though. The double-sided 78 RPM shellac disc was the standard musical consumer format from the 1910s to the late 1950s. It didn't take a long time for records to shrink in size from the big 78 RPM shellac discs to 45 and 33 1/3 RPM vinyl discs.

Recording sound to vinyl tape was the way that most all sound recordings were made between the 1950s and 1960s. Eight-track tapes followed closely by cassette tapes changed the music industry forever. While recordings made to vinyl discs could not be duplicated easily, taped recorded music could be easily transferred from one tape to another. And tape recorders became smaller and cheaper over the same period of time.

It wasn't long before everybody owned not only a tape player but a tape recorder as well. It didn't bode well for the recording industry.

Then as Internet use became commonplace and electronic development seemed to explode with MP3 players and other handheld devices, the music industry began to suffer significant financial losses. It's still a problem today and nobody has come up with a solution to the problem. Music is easily shared between computer users all around the world. Record sales have plummeted and nobody in the music industry can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

What will happen to the music industry? Nobody really knows right now except that the entire industry is relying more heavily on live performances now than it ever has in the past.