Technological Innovation and Co-Evolution in the Music Industry

The performance of the music industry registered a peak in the years between 1998 and 1999, with total revenues equal to about 28.5 billion euro. However, this industry currently seems to witness a rapid and, at least apparently, unstoppable decline, with total revenues amounting only to about 14 billion euro in the years between 2012 and 2013. In less than fifteen years, therefore, the huge technological innovations occurring in the music industry have led to radical changes, with its players in general - and the music majors in particular - all facing complex problems of adaptation to date. On this premise, this article analyzes the evolution of the music industry through that conceptual and methodological tool known as the organizational adaptation matrix. In this regard, we study the effects caused by a radical technological innovation to the dialectical relationship between firms and their competitive environment. Our work can provide all those scholars currently committed to advancing the international debate about co-evolution with interesting insights regarding its relationship with technological innovation. At the same time, it can be useful to all those stakeholders from the practice of business associated, at various levels, with the music industry.