Between the pinnacle of the music industry in 1999 when it was valued at approximately $40 billion dollars, and the trough in 2014 where the industry was valued at less than $15 billion dollars, there has been a love/hate relationship with the disruptive force of technology. It’s no accident that the decline which began in 1999 aligned with the rise of Napster. The landscape of the industry was suddenly unfamiliar, as artists, radio broadcasters, and the larger music industry found themselves facing Mount VUCA. On this episode of WMD, Dr. Tamara Schwartz looks back at 20 years of music industry disruption with Professor Jeff Schiffman, York College of Pennsylvania and manager of WVYC radio.
