Management

Competition is fierce in the music industry, all genres.  More of a struggle for an artist who doesn’t have the backing, or someone to help oversee his/her career, than it is for an established manager to break into the industry.  Now when it comes to a point where there are two individuals working towards the same common goal, with an added source of help, the competition then takes a different turn.  “Artist managers are persistent.  Persistence in this environment is a quiet determination without being pushy.  Remember that to be effective, the manager must navigate around gatekeepers, and an overly aggressive style can be offensive to some of those whose help is needed on behalf of the manager’s artists (Paul, 2011, p. 10).”

American Marketing Association

            According to the American Marketing Association, “In recent years, music industry sales have declined in the United States by an average of 7% per year, after peaking in 1999. Much of this sales decline has been attributed to the widespread use of illegal file-sharing sites, such as Napster, Grokster, and LimeWire.”  ITunes along with many other file sharing websites that are legal, music can be downloaded at a price to where the music isn’t pirated illegally.   

Digital piracy has become a major problem in the entertainment industry; it undercuts the growth of an artist financially, causing album sales to drop, and piracy also affects the life of record companies.