Peter Tschmuck: The economics of music, 2nd edition

Abstract

The music industry is a dynamic and complex phenomenon that provides ample opportunity for fruitful economic analysis. Music is regularly covered by studies on the economics of the wider cultural economy, but there are few books that focus exclusively on the economics of music. Peter Tschmuck’s “The economics of music” in 2017 is; however, one rare exception. The book is published by Agenda Publishing and belongs to their series “The economics of big business” where other volumes cover businesses such as airlines, arms, and fishing. In 2021, a second edition was published. There were definitely good reasons to update this book, since over the second half of the 2010s, the recorded music industry has grown by 50% and its logic has been fundamentally transformed. This transformation, as well as the growth, was primarily driven by music streaming platforms (e.g. Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer), which expanded their combined share of the recorded music revenues from 20% in 2015 to 62% in 2020. One should not underestimate the challenge of keeping a volume on “the economics of music” up to date in such turbulent times, and Tschmuck, who teaches at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, deserves recognition and admiration for giving it a go. The publisher explains that the second edition includes a new analysis of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, “as well as trends in the industry, such as the increasing dominance of tech companies and big data”. So, how well is the book able to capture the economic workings of the contemporary music industry? As is commonplace in industry overviews, the introductory chapter discusses the definition of the music industry, its boundaries and sub sectors. The frameworks of the music industry and the wider music economy presented in this chapter are useful overviews of the complexities of the music business. Chapter one provides a brief historic overview of the music business. There is a plethora of such accounts in other volumes about the music industry, but Tschmuck