Phonographic industry: summit and decline in the 20th century (original) (raw)

Phonografic industry: summit and decline in the 20th Century

Journal of Media Critiques [JMC], 2017

Published in 2017 by the "Journal of Media Critiques", the article highlights the Brazilian context as the analytical approach and gathers data on the impacts on music consumption brought by the development of the phonographic industry. Since the emergence of the phonograph in the late 19th century until the revolution brought by the digitization and sharing of files in the first decade of the 21st century, this research presents, chronologically, the main devices for sound reproduction or physical music supports that have appeared within this time period, thus creating a record of the technological evolution in the phonographic industry in the 20th century. This article targets the present-day reconfiguration of the means of production and distribution of music, as well as its means of consumption and some of its effects on the industry, the artists and users.

Between music and technology: existence and functioning conditions of the Brazilian phonographic industry in the 21 st century

This paper discusses the digitalization process of the Brazilian music industry through bibliographical, documental and empirical sources – the latter based on fieldwork and personal interviews conducted from July 2014 to June 2015. To achieve this goal, I intend to: highlight the conditions that lead to the emergence of the digital age; analyze the development of medias, devices and equipment which may have led to this turning point; investigate the possibilities of music production and distribution in the Brazilian context; cross the local circuits of piracy and the independent ways of commercialization, including digital distribution and the copyright issue. The hypothesis raised at the end of this research is that the existence and functioning of the current phonographic industry is pervaded by ruptures and continuities. Finally, I hope that this paper may bring new perspectives about the relationship between music, culture, communication and technology in the Brazilian contemporary context. Particularly, based on empirical research, I reflect upon the effects, ruptures and continuities observed in the current context of digitalization.

The Phonographic Industry and the Recorded Music Market: A Long Misunderstanding*

Drawing on research into the Portuguese phonographic industry, this article addresses the crisis which the industry is currently facing, with the aim of showing how the history of the phonographic field has, from the outset, been marked by various doubts and uncertainties emerging from disputes over a number of objects. It also shows that these doubts have always led to the reinvention of the conventions that have shaped the activities of this organisational and commercial field. Based on an analytical perspective that draws on the theoretical contributions of institutionalist economic sociology (Powell and DiMaggio, 1991; Fligstein, 1996 and 2001) and the economic sociology of conventions (Boltanski and Thévenot, 1991 and 1999; Thévenot, 2002), it discusses the dilemmas experienced by the industry, exploring the hypothesis that these have emerged as a result of the different orders of worth mobilised to coordinate activities in the phonographic field.

From Music Market Crisis to New Listening Practices Tecnologías y medios de comunicación en la música digital. De la crisis del mercado discográfico a las nuevas prácticas de escucha

2010

In the last decade, the music industry has become the paradigm of the transformations that has carried the development of the productive system towards Informational Capitalism. Of the hand of a quick technological innovation, not always produced by companies, new forms of production and consumption of music have been developed. This new environment has dragged the phonographic companies to a crisis of sales that has forced a radical transformation for the sake of survival. One of these business transformations has been the intensification of the management of copyright. This intensification occurs mainly in two areas: the extension of the protection deadlines and the expansion of the fields and rights management companies-driven activities. This article is intended to answer the question that lies behind the ambitions to modify the productive system: how create cultural industries capable, at the time, to maintain a common and democratic culture and also to develop initiatives to g...

The Evolution of Audio Processing: Technological and Digital Mediation in Music Creation and Record Production

Trilogía Ciencia Tecnología Sociedad, 2023

This article describes the technical possibilities that, through the use of digital audio processing technology, have influenced the evolution of music and record production, from the musical creation and composition to the distribution of the finished product. As a whole, these possibilities have brought about significant changes not only in the ways of creating but also in the final aesthetic-sound results. An analysis based on primary sources, bibliographic references, and the autoethnographic experience of the authors reveals the influence that these changes have had on producers, engineers, and musicians in the performance of their artistic work. Finally, there is evidence of a strong impact of the technological passage of time on the creative processes and the aesthetic-sound results, which demonstrates, once again, the importance of studies on technology and its effect on traditional arts.

The Importance of Preservation and Conservation of Audio Carriers in the Study of the Early Decades of the Recording Industry in Portugal

ILKAR - Preserving Endangered Audio Media - Rethinking Archival Strategies for Conservation of Analogue Audio Carriers, 2011

Written during 2011 in the timeframe of the research project "The Recording Industry in 20th Century Portugal,” ref. PTDC/HAH/70991/2006, for an oral presentation in Berlin at the International Symposium "ILKAR — Preserving Endangered Audio Media: Rethinking Archival Strategies for Conservation of Analogue Audio Carriers", Ethnologisches Museum/Staatl. Museen zu Berlin, and published the same year in the “ILKAR Project Ducumentation” DVD-ROM, released the same year, much of the information in this text is currently (2019) out of date. Original abstract: "In Portugal there is still no National Sound Archive or any institution responsible for housing, preserving or even surveying the Portuguese sound recordings. INET-md, with its 3-year-long project [Grant FCT ref: PTDC/HAH/70991/2006], aims is to study ‘The recording industry in 20th century Portugal.’ This research arouse from the lack of studies that would focus on the recording industry in the country, and knowing that it would not be possible to cover systematically the whole 20th century, we tried to elaborate a study of the history of the recording industry in Portugal in its very first decades. This study is trying to bring forth information on phonograms, record companies, recording artists, repertoire, technicians and other agents, the technologies involved in the production and reception of records."

Brazilian music industry: an introduction

The goal of the present seminar is to offer a concise report on the history of the phonographic industry in Brazil. It will cover the period from the first recordings made back in 1902 until the end of the century. The research work made for this presentation is partially based on my PhD thesis. My intention, is to contribute to a better understanding of the music industrialization process in Brazil and thus, help to contextualize international researches on Brazilian popular music. For the same reason I am also currently writing an extended version of the present communication to be published as an academic article, in English.

Ampliar el acceso a la música clásica a través de plataformas digitales: El caso de la OSESP

2021

The use of digital platforms by orchestras and classical music institutions in their communication and marketing strategies has been a growing object of academic study. The São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) is present on social networks, website, and mobile application. But do these platforms contribute to making classical music and OSESP more accessible to the public? Based on this question, a qualitative study was applied to residents of São Paulo, Brazil, to understand the consumption of classical music in the physical and virtual environments and the perception of this public regarding the use of digital platforms as a tool to virtually experience such musical genre. Regarding the results, it is valid to say that the digital communication of orchestras, in general, contributes slightly to the virtual consumption of classical music both by frequenters and by people who do not have this habit. However, OSESP's digital platforms seem to have little influence on audie...

A social history of a so-called "Golden Age" of music industrialization: production in Colombian recording and sound technology industries, 1949-1963 [PhD Thesis]

University of Westminstr - PhD Thesis, 2019

This attempt at writing a social history of recording and sound technology industries from 1949 to 1963, focuses on the relations between different kinds of players intertwined in the sphere of domestic production of records and local assembly of sound hardware in Colombia. It departs from unpacking the idea of a Golden Age in reference to the period of study, in order the describe and analyse the period through evidence collected during rigorous, systematic and exhaustive archive work, including journalistic and institutional primary sources of various kinds, and qualitative as well as quantitative data. The analysis is guided by a social history work plan delineated by Eric Hobsbawm, which begins by sketching a picture of the relational complex studied and understanding its movement through time, is followed by the abstraction of patterns of change and continuity, and finally by the analysis of social tensions involved in the historical process. The work gives special attention to: changes in mode of production when contrasting the 1949-1963 era with the previous two decades; gradual changes in mode of production during the 1950s; changes associable to effects of a mid1950s economic crisis in the country; the relations between key cities Medellín, Bogotá, Cartagena and Barranquilla; and to the different sorts of tensions between players related to the sphere of production.