One interesting piece of music industry history is the start of the phonograph. The phonograph started as a cylindrical piece of wax, and then it became a shellac disk, and then later on a vinyl disk, and so on. This was a way, by using acoustic and electric technology, to have somebody perform in front of a microphone, and get that recording onto a piece of material that could be played back in anybody’s home, using a phonograph record machine.
The principle of the record business is the same principle as the publishing business. If I were to just give you a piece of vinyl with no grooves on it, it wouldn’t be worth anything to you. What makes it worthwhile is the information that’s on it. The idea is what’s valuable. However, it’s not just the idea that’s on the record—it’s the performance of an idea.
To outline the difference, there is the idea that’s fixed in form with paper and ink, and then there is the actual performance of that idea, which is then fixed on the vinyl record. So, the two parts of the music business become the idea and the performance of the idea. And in the record business, you’re not only paying the performer who’s on the record, but you’re also paying the author of the idea that’s being performed.
Sometimes, when we talk about the music industry and say that there are two sides to a record, we aren’t literally talking about the two sides of a record. We’re talking about the publishing side, which is the initial idea, and we’re talking about the master side, which is the actual performance of the idea and the person or people behind it.
Just as it is with sheet music, a performer is not necessarily going to know where to buy vinyl, where to press it, where to create the little pieces of paper that go inside of it, or the names of all the stores that sell records across the country. Because of this, we need record executives, who are able to take care of those things. So, the record business, just like the sheet music business before it, becomes a partnership between musicians and entrepreneurs—between artists and business people.
A record producer has two entities to pay. The first is the publisher and songwriter, who are the owners of that song. The second entity is the performing artist, who usually gets a royalty per record for the distribution of the performance. That’s how the music business operates; you either own the song, or you can own the performance of that song in fixed form.
The music industry today operates on those same principles. The only main difference is that today, in many cases, the performance of the song is not fixed in physical form, but instead available digitally.
Performances started in much the same way that songs did: in the oral tradition. A performance wasn’t something to be bought and sold. But then came the idea of modern theater, and the modern venue. The idea behind it was very simple: there’s a performer in a room. People are outside the room, and there’s a person at the door who’s going to take $5 from you. If you pay the $5, you gain entry to the room, and you’re going to hear the performance.
That is essentially the core of the business of being a performing artist. Of course, that artist can also record things on vinyl, or a CD, or on a digital file, and that’s worth something as well.
If you’re interested in learning more about how performing artists monetize themselves and their performances, as well as many other concepts regarding the music industry, think about exploring online music education. It is by far the most accessible and convenient way to access the lessons that come with a solid music education.
