Music Industry Terminology

Covergence of Technology - The move from analogue up until digital technology.
Covergence of Industrial Activity - An example would be a company moving from hardware to music, such as Sony, and covering everything within the company.

Synergy - Two or more industries combine to produce a result that they can't achieve by themselves. Examples are the Marks and Spencers advert, or the Tony Hawk Pro Skater advert 4 with ACDC in the background (EMI label, produced by Neversoft - and is a cross platform game being compatible using Playstation, Gamecube and Xbox).

Conglomerate - A company of companies.  An example of this would be Sony, as it ranges from Sony hardware, to Sony music, etc.

Globalisation - A record label that sells its products on a worldwide basis.

Analogue Music - A method of recording sound, which is now being replaced with digital systems.
Digitalisation - Happened round about 1984. It's an MP3, however used to be analogue/Wav files which were bigger, the files are now getting smaller.  CD's are also digital which consist of using a sequence of binary numbers.

Vertical Integration -When a company expands its business into areas that are at different points of the same production path.
Horizontal Integration- The merger of competing companies from the same line of business and involved at the same level of activity.

Major Record Label - The music industry (or music business) sells compositions, recordings and performances of music.


Subsidiary Label - A record label owned by the major record label - don't represent the entire group.


Independant Label - Record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels.


Niche Audience - Targeting a small but significant group of consumers with a media product directed specifcally at their interests.


Mainstream Audience - Mainstream is, generally, the common current of thought of the majority, meaning most people like the type of music which has come out.  An example could be chart


Fans -(fanatic) People who really admire a certain artist/performer.


Active Audiences - Audience members who already are interested in an organization, issue, or cause. Instead of waiting to receive information on it, they seek it out from many sources and when doing so, they speak as well as listen.


Audiophiles - An audiophile, from Latin audio "I hear" is a hobbyist who seeks high-quality audio reproduction via the use of specialized high-end audio electronics.


Early Adopters - A person who starts using a product or technology as soon as it becomes available.


Consumption - The using up of a resource.

Web 2.0- Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.

Meta-tags / Personalisation - Personalization involves using technology to accommodate the differences between individuals.
Download - Copy (data) from one computer system to another or to a disk.


Streaming - A method of relaying data (esp. video and audio material) over a computer network as a steady continuous stream, allowing playback to proceed while subsequent data is being received.
Peer to Peer - Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or work loads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application.

Piracy - (pirate) copy illegally; of published material.

Portability / Miniaturisation - Act of making on a greatly reduced scale.


Multi-track - A recording made from the mixing of several separately recorded tracks.


Sampling - The technique of digitally encoding music or sound and reusing it as part of a composition or recording.


Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) - A computer based set-up for editing material.

A&R - Artists and Repertoire - A&R is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.


Record Deal - contract - royalties - A record deal is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote.

Distribution - The action or process of supplying goods to stores and other businesses that sell to consumers.


Plugging / marketing - Mention (a product, event, or establishment) publicly in order to promote it.