The Early Recording Industry in the Czech Lands – Part 2

Guest post by Daniel Matoušek

Until now, there has not been much literature on the recording industry in the former Czechoslovakia.  Particularly the history after the 1950s is not mapped at all yet. However, there are two books about the early music industry in the Czech lands that stand out in scope and in depth of detail: “Fonogram I” and “Fonogram II” by Czech record collector and sound industry historian Gabriel Gössel. The following short series of four articles is thus a look into the history of early gramophone industry in the Czech lands as described in these two volumes.

This second part looks at the period of 1920s, when Czechoslovakia emerged as  an independent state with a flourishing market economy, but became also a victim of the Great Depression at the end of the decade.

The Early Recording Industry in the Czech Lands – Part 1

Guest post by Daniel Matoušek

Until now, there has not been much literature on the recording industry in the former Czechoslovakia.  Particularly the history after the 1950s is not mapped at all yet. However, there are two books about the early music industry in the Czech lands that stand out in scope and in depth of detail: “Fonogram I” and “Fonogram II” by Czech record collector and sound industry historian Gabriel Gössel. The following short series of four articles is thus a look into the history of early gramophone industry in the Czech lands as described in these two volumes.

The first part deals with the very beginnings of a Czech recording industry before World War I, a time span when the Czech lands – Bohemia and Moravia – still belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

Music Business Research in 2011 – in retrospect

Dear friends of the music business research blog. I would like to thank you for your interest in my blogging activity and before starting into 2012, I would like to look back to 2011. It was a very eventful year for the music business/industry. The number of recorded music major companies shrank to ony three. The global live music market was faced a downturn after a long boom period. Apple, Goolge and Amazon.com introduced their music clouds to the public. Spotify was not only launched in the U.S., but also in Belgium, Austria and Switzerland. iTunes has become available in most of the Eastern European countries as well as in Latin America. The EU extended to copyright term for sound recordings from 50 to 70 years – to name only a few events.

However, from a music business research perspective, one of the highlights was the second Vienna Music Business Research Days on “New Music Distribution Models” held at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In talks, discussions and in the first Young Scholars’ workshop the recent developments in the dissemination of music by streaming, download and cloud-based services were highlighed by music business researchs and music industry professionals. The summaries of all the talks and discussions can be read in the blog as well as streamed for listening.

In the following you can find all academic theses & papers, which have been added for downloading in 2011. In addition find a list of important music business/industry studies and books published last year. You can also find a top-10-list of the most visited blog-posts and some more information.