new book on how technology is changing the music industry were sparked by her students.
Professor Christie Byun asks students in her introduction to economics class: “How do you listen to music, and what are you listening to?”
“Students are always on the cutting edge of what’s trendy, what’s going to be the next great hit,” Byun says. “And the way they listen to music has changed over the years.”
That change caught Byun off guard during her first years at Wabash when she learned that one of her students was saving up for Metallica’s latest album.
“I thought, I should go buy this thing for him, and Easter is coming up, so why not? I gave him the CD and he was really pleased, but it was almost like he didn’t know what to do with it.”
The student had previously always downloaded music. This was the first CD he had ever received. That realization sparked the idea for Byun’s freshman tutorial, “The Economics of the Popular Music Industry.”
Byun’s previous research centered on the theory of habit formation and household consumption; bringing her expertise to bear on the music industry proved fertile and fascinating ground. Her new book, The Economics of the Popular Music Industry: Modelling from Microeconomic Theory and Industrial Organization, was published earlier this year by Palgrave Macmillan.
“FOR AN ECONOMIST, MUSIC IS SO INTERESTING—the way it is produced and consumed has changed so radically over the years,” Byun says. She recalls visiting record stores as a child with her father once a month to buy a new album.
“We would look at the LP cover, read about the composer and the musicians,” she says. “I remember vividly watching him drop the needle on the vinyl, seeing it spin, hearing the music come out of the speakers. It was an event you could all enjoy together.
“Nowadays when I see students listening to music, it’s typically on headphones. At least it’s not the cheap earbuds—they’re using better headphones. But it’s not the communal activity it used to be.”
The shift to downloadable and streaming music has shaken up the industry. Technology makes it easier for more musicians to produce and potentially distribute their music.
But just because it’s a great time to make music doesn’t mean you’ll get paid for it.
“Technology makes the process cheaper, but it’s still really challenging for musicians to make a living out of their craft, because technology has also made it easier for people to pirate their stuff,” Byun says.
“You’re not going to make a lot of money selling albums, so the bulk of your income has to come from live performances. David Bowie called it back in the day in a New York Times interview, when he said music was going to become like electricity. You flip a switch and there it is, practically for nothing.”
Byun wonders how much better this is for musicians than in the past, when signing with a record company meant a band might become, as Jacob Slichter wrote in So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star, “rock and roll sharecroppers?”
“A lot of musicians and bands are saying, ‘Forget the old model and the big record labels. We can record and promote our own album online and through social media and YouTube.’ For example, Radiohead gave their album In Rainbows away with a tip-jar system—people could pay whatever they wanted to pay.”
Ani DiFranco provided another model by establishing her own label, and many artists turn to crowdfunding.
“DiFranco is really independent?minded, and the music she wrote wasn’t likely to become very mainstream, so that definitely suited her temperament and career,” Byun says. “But it’s not going to work for everybody. It’s a difficult business; it’s a lonely business. It’s a risky business either way you go.”
While writing this story the editor was listening to the Beatles classic Abbey Road. With the current focus on a hit single, would such an album—particularly the innovative “medley” that concludes side two—even be considered today? What do you think?