If Video Killed the Radio Star, Will Internet Kill the Recording Industry?

In discussing the coinciding ascension of popular music and technology as fuelled by consumerism, one wonders if this in the end will be the undoing of popular music itself. As we have seen thus far in FTVMS323, the demand for consumption has pushed technology and competition within the recording industry through different mediums such as the phonograph, radio and television- partially obliterating the medium preceding it. Thus, the emphasis in society, historically and presently, on consumption and materialism may eventually drive technology so far that greater accessibility to popular music will mean that the recording industries itself, the main source of popular music, may not be able to function financially. A prime example of this is illustrated by the emergence of the internet and, consequently, the consumption of popular music through downloading ‘for free’ and utube. Additionally, who knows what technologies the next 100 years will present in which consumers can get around having to pay for the enjoyment of popular music? One only has to look at the past 100 years to see how supply and demand has forced technological development in the music industry towards this. So, one asks, what is the answer? Well, perhaps nostalgia for more ‘human’ technology, which drives alternative music scenes, will become more prevalent? Or perhaps an emphasis on authenticity will see a rejection of ‘new’ technology such as free downloading? Or maybe the answer is quite simply greater policing through the tightening of competition, intellectual property and criminal laws? Whatever the answer, one only has to examine the past to see that the prevalence of these issues will frame popular music and media discussions in the future.