The Technological Entrepreneurs: Engineers, Accountants, and Hippies

Abstract

Technology made the recorded music industry possible, and despite current pronouncements of doom from record company executives, over the past century innovative entrepreneurs have always adapted technology so that more and more people have been able to enjoy music created by a growing pool of musicians [62]. As technology advanced, new musical styles were created when musicians were able to interact with different musical genres. In turn, the musicians influenced the technology that was created. Leo Fender, who could not play or tune a guitar, would never have created his path-breaking Telecaster guitar had there not been a demand for such an instrument. New technologies brought lower cost means of producing recorded music, but, at the same time, threatened the distribution of music by older methods. The recorded music industry significantly decreased the demand for sheet music, much as the later rise of cassette tapes and CDs decreased the demand for earlier technologies. Technological invention and musical style innovation have gone hand-in-hand since the nineteenth century.