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Welcome
Welcome to the LibGuide for Music Industry Research. This guide is intended to familiarize you with the various resources available to you through Rowan University Libraries. If you need more in-depth help or guidance, feel free to schedule a research consultation.
Music Industry can be a tough subject to research because of its intersections between music, business, technology, and recording science, so keep an eye out for different approaches to your research from different disciplines.
Key Resources
- Music Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
Contains journal articles for the study of music.
- Hit Songs Deconstructed This link opens in a new windowSearchable database for hit songwriting analysis and trends.
- Music Index This link opens in a new windowIndexing and abstracts for Journal and magazine articles about music and the music industry (both classical and popular).
- Entertainment Industry Magazine ArchiveAn archival research resource containing the essential primary sources for studying the history of the film and entertainment industries, from the era of vaudeville and silent movies through to 2000. For students of popular music, a selection of specialist magazines give in-depth coverage of musical genres and eras, such as 'British Invasion' pop (Rave, 1964-70), reggae, African and Caribbean music (The Beat, 1982-2000), or the rave scene (Mixmag, 1983-2000).
Recent Music Industry Books
iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era by
iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era sheds light on the way large corporations appropriate new technologies related to recording and distribution of audio material to maintain their market dominance in a capitalist system. All too commonly, scholars have asserted too confidently, how the rise and reign of digital music has diminished the power of major record labels. In iTake-Over, music scholar David Arditi argues otherwise, adopting a broader perspective by examining how the recording industry has strengthened copyright laws for their corporate ends at the expense of the broader public good, which has traditionally depended on the safe harbor of fair use. Arditi also challenges the dominant discourse over digital music distribution, which has largely adopted the position that the recording industry has a legitimate claim to profitability at the detriment of a shared culture. iTake-Over more specifically surveys the actual material effects that digital distribution has had on the industry. Most notable among these is how major record labels find themselves in a stronger financial position today in the music industry than they were before the launch of Napster. Arditi contends that this is largely because of reduced production and distribution costs and the steady gain in digital music sales. Moreover, instead of merely trying to counteract the phenomenon of digital distribution, the RIAA and the major record labels embraced, and then altered, the distribution system. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the RIAA lobbied for legislation, built technologies, and waged war in the courts in order to shape the digital environment for music distribution. From mp3s to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), from the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) to iTunes, the major record labels and the RIAA, instead of trying to torpedo the switch to digital distribution, engineered it to their benefit--often at the expense of the public interest. Throughout, Arditi boldly asserts that the sea change to digital music did not destroy the recording industry. Rather, it stands as a testament to the recording industry's successful management of this migration to digital production and distribution. As such, this work should appeal to musicians and music scholars, political scientists and sociologists, technologists and audio professionals seeking to grasp this remarkable change in music production and consumption.
Call Number: Available ONLINEISBN: 9781442240131Publication Date: 2014-12-11
The Music Business and Digital Impacts by
This book provides rare insights into the difficult and complex dialogues between stakeholders within and outside the music industries in a time of transition. It builds on a series of recorded meetings in which key stakeholders discuss and assess options and considerations for the music industries' transition to a digital era. These talks were closed to the public and operated under the Chatham House Rule, which means that they involved a very different type of discussion from those held in public settings, panels or conferences. As such, the book offers a much more nuanced understanding of the industries' difficulties in adjusting to changing conditions, demonstrating the internal power-struggles and differences that make digital change so difficult. After presenting a theoretical framework for assessing digital change in the music industries, the author then provides his research findings, including quotes from the Kristiansand Roundtable Conference. Following from these findings, he develops three critical concepts that explain the nature as well as the problems of the music industries' adaptation process. In conclusion, he challenges the general definition of crisis in the music industries and contradicts the widely held view that digitalization is a case of vertical integration.
Call Number: Available ONLINEISBN: 9783319918860Publication Date: 2018-10-15
The Recording, Mixing, and Mastering Reference Handbook by
The Recording, Mixing, and Mastering Reference Handbook provides an easy-to-read guide for music-making in the studio setting, from equipment fundamentals to recording and mixing almost any instrument. In six sections, lessons give a comprehensive introduction to microphone settings andtechniques, audio processing and effects, controlling acoustics, and history lessons on songs recorded with a given technique. The second half of the handbook delves into background theory on microphones, EQ-filters, compressors, and acoustics to give the reader a general understanding of practicalrecording techniques before acquiring deeper comprehension of the tools and the recording processes.Throughout the chapters, lessons on recording methods gradually build complexity and detail to keep readers engaged and challenged. Whether a university student in an audio recording course, a novice audio engineer who needs to build technique, or a busy professional who requires a quick refresh onspecific techniques, any reader will find an essential resource in The Recording, Mixing, and Mastering Reference Handbook.
Call Number: ML3790 .P407 2019ISBN: 9780190686642Publication Date: 2019-01-03
The 11 Contracts That Every Artist, Songwriter, and Producer Should Know by
(Book). Most people regard legal contracts with an inherent suspicion. Having heard scores of horror stories, we in the music business, whether artists, songwriters, producers, or management, are especially cautious perhaps even paranoid of any binding agreement, and with good reason. If you could better understand the most common and important documents in the game, wouldn't you? Steve Gordon, an entertainment attorney with over twenty years of experience in the industry, is making just such an offer with his latest book, The 11 Contracts That Every Artist, Songwriter, and Producer Should Know. The 11 Contracts is an in-depth guide intended to assist any aspirant wary of navigating the music biz or struggling to interpret its insular jargon. This no-nonsense book follows a refreshingly simple format: Gordon presents a sample agreement, then breaks down the nuances of both the legal and business sides of the arrangement. Subjects covered include: * Management Agreements * Production Company and New Artist * Indie Label Deals * Sync Licenses * Producer Agreements * Music Publishing Deals * Composer Agreements * Live Performance Contracts * Music Video Production Contracts * Band Agreements Business Actions Artists Can Take Without an Attorney * Investment Agreements Every purchase also includes access to a library of streaming and downloadable video content touching on music clearances and licensing, management, artist, publishing, and producer agreements, the art of hiring a music attorney, the role of artist management and record companies in the music business today, and more. Ensure that you will never find yourself stuck on the wrong side of a bad deal pick up your copy of The 11 Contracts today!
Call Number: ML3795 .G753 2017ISBN: 9781495076701Publication Date: 2017-02-01
The Art of Sound by
The Gramophone Company and The Columbia Phonograph Company merged in 1931 to become EMI: the Apple of its day. Organized chronologically, this richly illustrated resource tells the incredible story of the development of sound recording throughout the acoustic era (1877-1925), the electrical era (1925-45), the magnetic era (1945-75), and the digital era (1975-present), and it showcases specially commissioned photography of the beautiful, iconic, and rarely seen objects housed within the diverse collections of the EMI Archive Trust.Recording equipment, playback devices, catalogues, artist files, records, master tapes, radios, and televisions are all here, accompanied by obsessively detailed specifications and intriguing archival photographs. Interspersed with the images, in-depth texts tell the complete stories of the pioneering advances in the evolution of sound technology, from the invention of the "Gramophone" method to the development of electronic signal amplifiers, and from the arrival of magnetic tape recording to the advent of CDs and the dawn of the digital age.
Call Number: TS2301.S6 B87 2017ISBN: 9780500519288Publication Date: 2017-06-27
