Digitaliseringens effekter på de Svenska skivbolagen : Skivbolagens erfarenheter och betydelse i en allt mer digitaliserad värld

Title: The effects of digitization on the Swedish record labels – The record labels viewpoint and significance in a digitalized world Authors: Tyra Ahlerup and Elsa Bynke The past twenty years has brought transformative changes to major industries due to the digitalization. The music industry suffered immensely from these changes when illegal file sharing made the record sales drop which resulted in a crisis for the industry and the record labels. The music industry survived and so did the record labels but the entire music economy has changed, thus this thesis aims to examine how the digitalization has affected the swedish record labels and their position in the industry. This will be discussed and examined through Peter Tschmucks theory on the four traditional central processes of a record label, as well as Patrik Wikströms theory on how the music economy has changed. To collect material on how representatives from record labels perceive the changes, difficulties and opportunities that the digitalization has led to, interviews were held with four record label representatives as well as two interest organizations for swedish record labels. The collected material was analysed through a qualitative content analysis that focused on the changes regarding four traditional central processes of a record label; searching for talent, recording and production, marketing and distribution. It is clear that all of the these four processes has changed and that the swedish record labels don't hold the same control over the music industry as before since the distribution is no longer in their hands and recording and production has become more accessible. Thus, the organisational structure of record labels has changed and they are no longer purely music companies but more marketing specialists that help artists to break through in the enormous stream of music that is produced today