This site by in large is a blog which tries to explain basic economic concepts using examples from the music industry. However, it also occasionally provides an economic analysis of events in the music industry in order to provide commentary on the world of music. A popular example of this was the recent analysis of... Continue Reading →
Music is an odd type of good, in the sense that it doesn't really have a physical form. Songs exist as a sonic entity and the only material we attach them to is the object which is used to deliver the music itself, so vinyl records, tapes, and CDs; but even today with the surging... Continue Reading →
A recent post on this site looked at how the Bohemian Rhapsody film sent Queen's music back into the charts (see here). So with the release of the new Sir Elton John movie, Rocketman, last week I felt it was only appropriate to conduct a similar analysis for another one of Britain's greatest ever performers. The analysis is... Continue Reading →
If you ever go on to study economics in college you will no doubt take an introductory Microeconomics module. Microeconomics is the part of economics which focuses on the decision making of individuals and firms. It often goes without mention that economics is a study of people and their choices and not just figures and... Continue Reading →
Within the history of music there are many examples of tragic figures who have achieved incredible success but don't seem to be any happier for it. Kurt Cobain is one of the greatest examples of this. Cobain had a difficult childhood with his parents divorcing and him bouncing from home to home sometimes spending the... Continue Reading →
Pink Floyd are one of the most successful acts of all time. They have sold in excess of 250,000,000 albums worldwide and have more than 10,000,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. I'm personally a big fan of them and David Gilmour happens to be my favourite guitarist so I can understand their incredible level of success.... Continue Reading →
Apple have had arguably a greater influence on the music industry in modern times than any musician. When they introduced the iPod way back in 2001, they basically created the first viable platform for digital music to succeed on. Yes, before the iPod there was MP3 players, but none of them really managed to take... Continue Reading →
Academics have one job, to advance knowledge within their field. The two ways they do this are by teaching and researching. Both are obviously important because teaching communicates what is already known within the field, while research creates new knowledge. Economic research involves quite a bit of quantitative measurement and seeing if one thing is... Continue Reading →
A recent post on this site looked at the decline in the contribution of physical music to global music revenue. CDs and Vinyl have finally been overtaken by streaming in this field. While there is a definite decline in the sale of CDs and other physical music formats, they still have their place in the music... Continue Reading →
