This assessment will discuss the impact music streaming has had on the industry. It will include the impact on artists, as well as record labels and publishers. It will discuss changes in the way music is consumed, which in turn influences how it is distributed. This essay will analyze the financial implications that streaming has demonstrated in the music industry and the effects on physical products, such as vinyl. This research will include the use of graphs to illustrate the impact of streaming and how it has changed the music industry overall. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Until the end of the 19th century, music could only be consumed in live venues. This consisted of musicians playing instruments for customers, who paid to frequent these venues. In 1877 Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, this had two needles, one for recording and the other for reproduction and now for the first time music could be consumed outside of a live venue. This led to the formation of the first record label, Columbia Records, founded in America by Edward D. Easton in 1887. A record label is designed to produce and distribute music created by artists signed to their label (Center, Misc. and Contracts , 2020). They are often structured with a CEO who controls the entire corporate element of the company. This is followed by the president, a vice president, the legal department and the finance department. Further down the chain is the A&R department, promotions team, artist development, marketing department, publicity department, new media, record label liaison, sales department and art department. The early 20th century saw the emergence of several record companies including Universal Music Group, founded by Universal Pictures, and originally known as Decca Records, until 1962 when it merged with MCA. In 1995 Seagram acquired MCA and shortly thereafter the name was changed to Universal Music Group. It is currently owned by the conglomerates Vivendi which holds a 90% share and Tencent which holds a 10% share (Universal Music Group Careers, 2020). Sony Music is an American record label owned by the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded in 1929 as American Record Corporation before becoming Columbia Recording Corporation in 1938. In 1988 Sony Corporation purchased Columbia Recording Corporation and the new entity was renamed Sony. In 2004 it was renamed Sony BMG after a 50/50 partnership with Bertelsmann Music Group. In 2008 Bertelsmann's stake was acquired by Sony and the company was renamed Sony Music Entertainment. In 1958 Warner Bros. Records was founded by Warner Bros. Pictures. In 2004, Time Warner sold Warner Music Group and became a separate entity from Warner Bros. Pictures. In 2011, Warner Music Group was acquired by a conglomerate called Access Industries. In 2018 these three major labels controlled 70% of the music industry. With a market share of 27% and 3% for independents and artists respectively. The three major labels own many subsidiary labels that can cater to a specific genre, as shown in Appendix 3. Until 2000, record labels used a similar formula for success. The A&R department will scout talent and bring them to record companies, the record company may decide to offer the talent a recording contract. Record companies signed the artist for a specific amount and usually paid part of it up front. The record companyis obliged to pay the cost of recordings for future publication, as well as the cost of any illustrations and videos. They also cover the costs of producing and distributing the music, as well as any funding accrued in promoting the artists' music. The government's overview states that "copyright protects your work and prevents others from using it without your permission." When an artist signs a recording contract with a major label, they may decide to assign the copyright of their recordings to the label, meaning that the label can print and distribute copies of the artist's work. There are two types of copyright, the first is the copyright on musical composition, where generally the author is the lyricist and composer. Secondly there is the copyright of sound recordings, of which the performer is usually the author. When an artist registers their music with various collecting societies, they will be entitled to royalties. The physical or digital production of a song is known as mechanical royalties. Artists are also entitled to royalties for public performances (Understand Music Royalties, 2020). Royalties are paid for synchronization, or the music that can be found in the background of films and TV. Royalties for print work are the sale of sheet music, such as a songbook. An artist may decide to sign a publishing contract, this would involve an author giving up partial or total control of his copyrights to the publisher for a share of the royalties, this would allow the publisher to exploit the composition (Deal , 2020). When vinyl was introduced in the 1930s, the quality made it extremely popular, which in turn allowed record companies to generate large sums of money. Vinyl remained dominant until the 1970s, when it was rivaled by cassettes. In 1981 ABBA's album "The Visitors" became the first commercially released compact disc, its popularity growing throughout the 1990s. These are known as physical copies and were produced and distributed by record companies to record shops around the world, HMV being one such shop. HMV was founded in the United Kingdom in 1921 and began expanding in the 1960s. They were joined by other famous British chains, Our Price and Virgin Records, both founded in the 1970s. Physical sales were a way independent artists could also generate income with some investments. When the American rapper Master P was on his third album "The Ghettos Tryin to Kill Me!" managed to gross over $900,000 and sell over 250,000 units independently (Warner, 2020). In 1999 the music industry was worth £30.6 billion. The emergence of Napster had a huge impact and changed the way music is distributed. Founded by 3 friends Napster allows people around the world to share music, in the form of MP3 files, for free. Because Napster did not own the copyright to the shared music files, record companies and governments deemed it illegal, but the music industry was unable to stop file sharing and Napster continued to grow. In 2001 Napster paid £20 million in settlement charges to the copyright owners and by May 2002 Napster could no longer afford to pay its staff and eventually declared bankruptcy. The company's assets were sold to Roxio, which relaunched itself as a legal site in 2002, by which time other file sharing sites had taken over the market. The effects on the industry were devastating as from 1999 to 2009 music sales in the United States were decreased by almost 50% from 14.6 billion to 7.7 billion. Between 2004 and 2009, approximately 30 billion songsmusic via file-sharing sites have been downloaded illegally, and NPD Group reports that in 2009, only 37 percent of music purchased by consumers in the United States was paid for. The value of the music industry declined annually until reaching a low of $15 billion in 2014. The effects were also felt by record stores when Virgin Megastores closed its remaining U.S. stores in 2009. Record companies they struggled to adapt to the emergence of Napster and before there were 3 major labels, there were 4. EMI Records was the fourth major label until 2011. The company had financial problems and was acquired by Citigroup in February 2011 (Thinking, 2020), the company's music arm was reportedly sold to Vivendi's Universal Music Group for $1.9 billion and the publishing company sold to Sony for $2.2 in November 2011. Ironically, the capital of EMI released the first downloadable version of a single, Duran Duran's "Barbarella" in 1997, but senior executives were reluctant to pursue this method of distribution. EMI was slow to react to changes in the music industry that ultimately led to their demise. Other major labels have taken steps to preserve their brands after the loss of revenue, Universal acquired independent label Sanctuary, while Sony merged with BMG, with Warner aggressively trying to sign deals with artists at 360 degrees (Forde, 2020). record company to revenues generated from record sales, but a 360-degree deal allows the record company to receive revenues generated from all activities, including live performances, this can have a huge impact on an artist's earnings. 360 deals are not exclusive to record labels and can be made between the artist and the music industry. Madonna and Jay Z both signed 360 deals with promoter Live Nation in 2007 and 2008 respectively. With sales of physical products declining in the early 2000s and record labels forced to constantly sue file sharing sites for copyright , Apple's Steve Jobs managed to convince record companies to allow him to use their music, to open an online digital store which he called iTunes (Chen et al., 2020). With the conditions put in place, music could now be sold online. This would benefit the record companies and Apple, but not so much the artist. Since a typical iTunes download for $9.99 would earn the record company $5.35, Apple would earn $3.70, and the artist would receive the remaining $0.94. An artist would receive $0.09 for a single song, meaning that if an artist sold 12,399 songs per month, it would be equivalent to a monthly salary at McDonald's, negatively impacting the artist's earnings. The royalties paid by streaming companies to artists and publishers vary depending on several factors, such as the country the listener is located in and whether it is a paid subscription. If the artist has a specific royalty rate, prices and currency in different regions. With physical sales declining and digital sales rising, artists and publishers are now receiving fewer royalties from streaming services, meaning they must find other means to increase their earning potential. Touring for an artist is a viable way to make money and the live music industry as well as sync deals have shown growth from the years 2005 to 2015 as can be seen in Appendix 4. In 2017 Drake has earned $23.7 million from streams compared to grosses. $85 million off the Summer Sixteen tour. Without the support of 2012.