Introduction: Why We Need Critical Music Industry Studies

In 2022, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) reported US$25 billion of revenue for recorded music alongside US$132.6 billion in live performance revenue in the year prior to the pandemic. Furthermore, global music publishing is projected to surge over the next decade. Music is a big business. But as a business, it also exploits. Most recording artists never receive money from their recordings, tours regularly lose money for artists, and racism and patriarchy perpetuate systems of domination on those musicians. At the same time, music industry studies programs train students to go work in the music business with the express goal of getting students jobs in the industry. To do so, they teach students how the business works and how to fit themselves in it. The Handbook of Critical Music Industry Studies aims to fill this gap by providing students with the means to think about how the performance, recording, distribution, and publishing of music could be if we do things differently.