Week 11 – Does the Music Industry create the Market?

It can be argued that the Music Industry creates the Market. It has a lot of control over what it promotes and it chooses music that will make a profit. Therefore it will only promote a type of band or artist which it believes the consumer will like. The success of bands makes their style popular so the music industry scout for bands of a similar style, they then push the success of the new band to make them profitable. This means that at that time there will be a lot of bands or artists that sound similar. This can be seen as a way the Music Industry creates the Market. However, it can also be argued that the Music Industry does not create the Market. Many state that you cannot force the consumer to like certain music and that they are free to choose what they listen to. Also, not everything that is marketed by the Music Industry becomes a success, showing that they do not create the Market and it is the consumer who dictates what is popular.