Music has a huge impact on our society
With both the instruments themselves, the accessories, and some of the media on which the music is distributed all being industrial products, there are a lot of commercial interests in music, related to manufactured goods.
But next to that comes the immaterial rights and the entertainment industries, both connected to or being part of the music industry.
For many of us, buying a record, be it vinyl, CD or other format, has been a common thing during our lifetime. There have been other formats as well, especially the cassette tapes, but much of the distribution of music has now moved to electronic means. You’ll more likely subscribe to a streaming service than buy a CD, as the world looks today.
During the last many years, we have seen the number of manufacturers of CDs and tapes rise and fall, and that counts as well for manufacturers of the equipment for recording on them and making multiple copies, producing covers, booklet inlays, and many other practical details for a CD or other medium to become a sellable product.
Designers of album covers used to be highly rated, and the shops would buy special equipment for hanging the record covers in the shop windows or inside the shop.
Furniture and other equipment and tools for handling and storing the records were also big business during many years.
And, of course, all of this had to be transported, and materials be produced and transported as well, so a large industry was in place for the physical distribution of recorded music.
And then I haven’t even mentioned the paper-based products, such as note sheets and books about musicians and their music.
And the musicians themselves and their live performances and other appearances, along with traveling, car rentals, hotel rooms, and a long list of additional things that came along with the existence of music as an industrial product.
Even with today’s focus on electronic distribution of the music, the musicians are still touring and performing live, still traveling, etc., and they are still buying instruments, accessories, and other equipment, needed to perform their job.
And then we have the large amateur segment plus teachers, scientists, and many others, who are not necessarily playing, recording, or distributing music, but work with services and knowledge around that industry.
Perhaps we should mention some derived businesses as well, such as the manufacturing and sales of radios, CD players, and other equipment for playing music, and all the cables, power supplies, batteries, and other goods related to that. Mobile phones and computers, along with their built-in and accessory memory, have developed along a line that required them to be more powerful than perhaps otherwise needed, because of their capabilities to play music.
If we take the step of describing all what the music industry implies, we should also consider how much of the electricity production and other infrastructural details are spawned by the industry.
And, the final group of topics I will mention under this headline, is the group of other activities that suffer or thrive from the existence of the music industry. For instance, manufacturing of earplugs is probably higher, while the manufacturing of books could be lower than if there was no music industry.
Music has a huge impact on our society, and there are big money involved. A single song can make an artist become a billionaire, and the sales of all the different products and services involved, across the globe, must sum up to astronomical amounts.
The large amount of products also means a large consumption of raw materials, and such as rare woods, often used for musical instruments, are taking a toll on the attempts to preserve the trees and the habitats where these woods are taken from. The production of cassette tapes were known to result in heavy pollution of the surroundings, and the same can be assumed for many other products.
Electronic products contain gold, among other rare materials, and the prices of such materials are driven up by the production of radios, synthesizers, amplifiers, mobile phones, and all other such equipment. The old products end up in garbage dumps or will be partially recycled, but often with large consumptions of energy during the process.
Like all other industries, the music industry fulfills some needs or wishes that people have, but it also leaves some serious scars on the planet, and it competes with other industries about the raw materials, making such as medical equipment potentially more expensive than it would otherwise have been.
Very many people are occupied with the production of music, related products, and services. All of these people could potentially do something else, such as produce food or medicines, or in other ways take part in improving the living conditions for people.
All industries have such properties. Music isn’t an exception.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
