Ferguson Career Launcher: Recording Industry

English | Publisher: Ferguson, 2010 | 169 Pages | PDF | 2,3 MB
The recording industry has experienced dramatic changes in recent years as music lovers have made the switch from listening to music on CDs to downloading music online for MP3 players and other devices. As much as things have changed, some have stayed the same, and the industry still needs people who can find and recognize new talent, produce top quality recordings, and get the public interested in new music.

Although the recording industry is highly competitive and founded on creativity, it offers many types of jobs and opportunities.

The recording industry is definitely an industry in flux. The big record labels have been singing the blues with music sales at almost half of what they were in 2000, according to the Record Industry Association of America. Soundscan reports that only 112 albums released in 2008 sold more than 250,000 units that year and fewer than 200 artists broke 10,000 units for the first time. What’s going on? What has changed the business so much? The answer is downloadable music and shareable digital music files. The computer age has made it incredible easy for consumers to copy and share music—often without paying for it.

The industry is gradually adjusting to this and other technological changes. If you are a creative professional starting out in the business and eager to learn new things, opportunities are growing.