The Music Industry in the Digital Age - by Richard Frenneaux (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The Music Industry in the Digital Age examines at the major shifts brought about by digital technology and platforms in the music industry.

Frenneaux looks at how digital production tools, social media, and streaming services have impacted music distribution, creation, and consumption. Along with addressing the challenges of sustaining employment in a fractured attention economy, the book examines the democratization of music production and the ascent of independent artists. It looks at how record companies, producers, and A&R's changing roles in a data-driven environment as well as how algorithmic curation affects genre boundaries and music discovery. Frenneaux explores the demands of continuous engagement and the complexity of artist-fan relationships in the social media age. The work also tackles important concerns such mental health in the music industry and how platforms like TikTok affect virality and marketing for music. Combining knowledge from academics, industry professionals, and artists, the book presents a complete picture of both opportunities and challenges in the modern music industry. Frenneaux balances artistic integrity with commercial viability in an always changing digital environment by exploring subjects including streaming economics, DIY ethics, and the blurring of mainstream and independent production, so offering a nuanced view of how digital disruption continues to shape the future of the music industry.

Review Quotes

In this book, Frenneaux delivers a comprehensive and truly insightful account of how digital technologies have impacted and re-shaped the contemporary music industry. Combining his skills as a musician, composer, producer and academic researcher, Frenneaux deftly explores how platformisation in the music industry influences everything, from the production and dissemination of music and, the evolution of music genres, to the career paths of music artists and the renewed significance of DIY ethics. This is supplemented with attention to other highly pertinent issues including mental health in the music industry and the influence of TikTokification. The Music Industry in the Digital Age is a highly valuable resource for anyone interested in gaining a deeper knowledge of how digital technology has become integral to how music is created and consumed in the 21st century.
Andy Bennett, Professor of Cultural Sociology, Griffith University, Australia

This is a very readable text that brings together academic thinking about changes in the contemporary music industries with interview material from those directly affected by those changes in the western world. The possibilities afforded by digital technologies are clearly discussed as are the challenges that those technologies raise in terms of artistic integrity, authenticity and mental health. The book makes a compelling argument for how artists should approach music making, distribution and marketing in the digital world, while casting light on contemporary commercial business practices within the recorded music industry.
Chris Anderton, Associate Professor in Cultural Economy, Southampton Solent University, UK

About the Author

Richard Frenneaux is a producer, songwriter, musician, and Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China. First gaining prominence with his band Red Light Company, using MySpace to secure a record deal and chart success, Richard then entered production and collaboration with prominent artists. Now, working academically, he uses industry knowledge to investigate digital disruption and how it affects the music industry.