Reformatted : Code, Networks, and the Transformation of the Music Industry

The impact of digital technology on the musical economy has been profound. From its production, reproduction, distribution, and consumption, the advent of MP3 and the use of the Internet as a medium of distribution has brought about a significant transformation in the way that music is made, how it is purchased and listened to, and, significantly, how the musical economy itself is able to reproduce itself. In the late 1990s the obscure practice of 'ripping' tracks from CDs through the use of compression programmes was transformed from the illegal hobby of a few thousand computer specialists to a practice available to millions of people worldwide through the development of peer-to-peer computer networks. This continues to have important implications for the viability of the musical economy. At the same time, the production of music has become more accessible and the role of key gatekeepers in the industry--such as record companies and recording studios-- has been undermined, whilst the increased accessibility of music at reduced cost via the Internet has revalorised live performance, and now generates revenues higher than recorded music. The early 21st century has provided an extraordinary case study of an industry in flux, and one that throws light on the relationship between culture and economy, between passion and calculation. This book provides a theoretically grounded account of the implications of digital technology on the musical economy, and develops the concept of the musical network to understand the transformation of this economy over space and through time. Reformatted provides the most accurate and insightful account to date on the upheavals in the music industry over the past two decades. Leyshon traces music's economic geography from the bricks and mortar of recording studios to financial strategies, file-sharing, code and software struggles, and the muddy fields of festivals. Leyson demonstrates the value of using economic geography to understand historical shifts in music and media. He tracks the circulation of music in the age of software, mapping transformation in the Western recording industries as well as examining patterns of use and sharing. His keen attention to the politics of software as a particular moment in the history of media, as well as the changing configurations of finance, make this an essential read for anyone interested in what has happened--and will happen--to the recording industries.--Page [4] of cover Front Cover 1 Preface 10 Contents 16 List of Figures 18 List of Tables 20 List of Abbreviations 22 1 - Crisis? What Crisis? 24 2 - Time-Space (and Digital) Compression: Software Formats, Musical Networks, and the Reorganization of the Music Industry 32 3 - Scary Monsters? Software Formats, Peer-to-Peer Networks, and the Spectre of the Gift 70 4 - On the Reproduction of the Musical Economy after the Internet 103 5 - The Software Slump? Digital Music, the Democratization of Technology, and the Decline of the Recording Studio Sector within the Musical Economy 133 6 - A Social Experiment in the Musical Economy: Terra Firma, EMI, and Calling Creativity to Account 161 7 - Afterword 177 Bibliography 196 Index 214 Back Cover 223