Michael Whitty

Professor Peter Schaefer

Music Industry Essay #2
17 July 2020

As the years went on, advances in technology were not the only advances that were made

in order for more profitable gains for lots of music companies. With the emergence of Napster

coming into the limelight, the music industry was forced to innovate new ideas and strategies to

utilize this new distribution platform and ultimately use it to their advantage. Luckily, it wasn't

until the “teen pop bubble” that the music industry saw a boom in record sales and an influx in

listeners and fans. The two events were impactful in a way that the music industry forever

changed the way it operated for lots of producers and publishers. While the new “Napster”

brought more accessibility to fans across the world, the “teen pop bubble” brought a new fan

base that would amplify sales and revenue across all boards. These two events are similar and

bring a connection to each other because of their commonality of reaching out to new fans and

expanding music revenue.

In ​Appetite for Self-Destruction​, Ralph Simon and Clive Calder, the co-founders of the

Zomba Group, found that the “publishing--the part of the music business that takes a tiny

songwriter’s cut for every song sold via album and single--was where the money was” (Knopper

85). This was widely how a lot of producers and publishers sought out the “teen pop bubble” era,

and exactly how many of them were thriving and sitting on thousands--if not--millions of dollars.

The idea that publishing music initially seemed easy to Simon and Calder, just like a lot of other

music producers, however, the task would require finding talent that would intake a huge

fanbase. This is where the “teen pop bubble” began to form. Talent like the Backstreet Boys,
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New Kids on the Block, and ‘Nsync, were boy bands that generated sales in a demographic that

was able to thrive in the benefit of the music industry. These boy bands, “unlike rock bands, ...

were perfect to do promotions with, … they appealed to the Top 40 demographic--fifteen to

eighteen to twenty-five year old, the female demo” (Knopper 94). This idea of selling and

tailoring music to a certain genre in benefit of a boost in music sale and revenue is very similar

to the emergence of why many of other producers believed Napster to be the next big thing for

the music industry.

While Napster did find itself a bad reputation among artists like Metallica, the music

distribution platform did seem to allow for more accessibility and ways to amplify new talent.

Therefore during this new talent era of the Backstreet Boys and ‘Nsync, the targeted

demographic was the perfect candidates for using streaming services like Napster. Even though

the biggest argument made by Metallica towards Napster was the lack of the artists receiving any

sort of revenue and profit anytime a song or album were to be played or downloaded, the “teen

pop bubble” seemed to debunk this theory against Metallica. Because it was clear that even with

the existence of Napster being available to the public, or those who pay the subscription, sales of

physical records and singles were still being made and artists were still being profited; And

thanks to Sony Music, Ralph Simon and Clive Calder and their emphasis towards music

publishing, it was clear that “The Backstreet Boys became more successful off of Jive Record’s

mechanisms” (Knopper, 96). These mechanisms were clearly ones that put emphasis upon

promotional content and sales. Artists were benefited by radio shows that put them on specials

for different holidays and themes to boost audience engagement and, but of course, the sales!
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Therefore, my point lies within the fact that Napster brought more accessibility and

coverage of music and artistry which parallels the “teen pop bubble” that utilized a specific

demographic to boost sales and promote new artists. Without services like Napster, it would've

been harder for these teen pop-bands to have made it into the limelight like they did because they

didn't exactly quickly sign into an agency the second they formed their group. Napster ultimately

benefited the “teen pop bubble” while the “teen pop bubble” ultimately benefited Napster in a

way. The two events correlated and worked hand and hand with one another in a way that was

very similar to each other’s controversial upbringing, and the hype did even last very long. While

the teen-pop bubble and Napster were of much excitement and hype upon initial emergence, it

began to slowly die down as more and more fans began to grow up and sort of--move on. Fans of

the boybands during the teen pop bubble found themselves growing up and “the next generation

of kids just didn't have the emotional connection to the superstar acts” (Knopper 107). Just like

the industry and just like time, the world keeps moving and progressing. While all of this is

happening, someone is conjuring up the next idea that will be profitable and ultimately be the

next “latest greatest” advancement for the music industry. Just like Napster and the “teen pop

bubble”, there was plenty and still will be plenty more musical advancements that will forever

change the music industry.

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Works Cited

“Chapter 3: 1998-2001; The Teen Pop Bubble: Boy Bands and Britney Make the Business

Bigger Than Ever--But Not for Long.” ​Appetite for Self-Destruction: the

Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age​, by Steve Knopper,

Steve Knopper, 2017, pp. 79–110.