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Music business from the 1940s through current times

Students name

Institutions affiliation
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Music business from the 1940s through current times

The music industry has developed greatly, generating big opportunities for the artists in

the industry. The current music business is quite different from that of the 1940s. This paper will

tackle these changes, mainly focusing on Chance the Rapper (The Late Show with Stephen

Colbert, 2017) and the whole of his music career generally.

In 1940s music game was not as easy as it is current and one of the reasons is the

development of technology as time goes. In the 1940s, we found that the music was listened to

through radios, which would reach limited people (Taylor, no date). When it comes to the current

music, we see a big difference from Chance the Rapper’s music. In his music, we see that

streaming services are available (Kellman, no date), which generated enough income for his

music career. Generally, streaming and other online services have affected the music industry

positively.

The music played on the radios during the 1940s was for artists under big recording

labels mostly. Therefore, making it through the musical journey was hard for single artists who

didn’t have recording labels to brand or support them (Taylor, no date). Chance the Rapper

proves that more personal and artist-owned labels are possible when he released his mixtape (10

day), which worked well in 2012. Self-promotion and publicity were not easy as current; we

have social media, streaming services, and large performance platforms, as seen from Chance the

Rapper, who performed in the white house (Staff, 2016).

Just like any other business, music has been affected by the pandemic negatively. All live

music performances or events will not be active due to the pandemic, and yet they were the main

sources of income for the musicians apart from streaming and other minor sources like ringback
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tones and more (Cooper, 2020). Though musicians are trying to release music during this

pandemic, they can market and sell their music efficiently due to streaming and other online

services, but the business is not like before.

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References

Cooper L. (2020, December 18). Guardian News and Media. Change the tune: how the

pandemic affected the music industry. The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/dec/18/how-the-pandemic-affected-the-music-

industry.

Kellman, A. Chance the Rapper: Biography & History. AllMusic.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/chance-the-rapper-mn0003115050/biography.

Staff, B. (2016, October 6). The Evolution of Chance the Rapper. Billboard.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7525638/the-evolution-of-chance-the-

rapper/.

Taylor, R. The evolving relationship of record label and artist.

https://www.academia.edu/533323/The_evolving_relationship_of_record_label_and_artist

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. (2017, September 26). Chance The Rapper Debuts A New

Song. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soC7DtJXMC8