Main Points

Thomas Edison pioneered the development of the phonograph, which was first used as a device to record voice and later, music. Emile Berliner perfected the modern technique of recording music in a spiral pattern on a disk. By the end of World War I, record players were found in most American homes.
The coming of radio and the depression hurt the development of the recording industry, but the business was able to survive because of the popularity of jukeboxes.
After World War II, the industry grew quickly because of the development of magnetic tape recording and the LP record, and, most of all, because radio stations began to play recorded music as part of their formats.
Rock-and-roll music helped spur record sales and made young people an important part of the market for recorded music.
The development of the CD meant increased sales. During the early 1980s, MTV emerged as an important factor in music promotion.
File-sharing software such as Napster may transform the basic way the music industry conducts business.
There are four segments in the recording industry: talent, production, distribution, and retail.
Five big companies, three of them with foreign headquarters, dominate the record business.
After some periods of slow growth in the mid-1990s, recording industry revenue has increased.
Billboard magazine's charts are the most important form of audience feedback for the industry.

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