Peter Tschmuck. The Economics of Music

Compared to its first edition, published in 2017, the second edition further examines the effects of digitalization on the music industry since then, including developments such as streaming platforms and download services. Besides examining the detailed structures of the core sectors of the music industry-music publishing, sound recording, and the live music market, along with their interdependent relationships, it further analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on them, as well as its shock to the secondary markets and music labor markets. Specifically, chapter 2 starts by introducing the fundamentals of economics such as demand and supply, market mechanism, and price elasticities, and then uses examples from the music industry such as a concert of a famous band and hard core fans of the band to illustrate the theories. Digitalization hit the recording industry much more severely than it impacted music publishing. Besides discussing their respective market and industry structures throughout the three chapters, examples are provided from the most popular music companies and extensive empirical data are presented to inform readers.