The music industry redefined by scholars - A bibliographical study to intermediaries in the music industry

This research examines whether there is a shift in positions and influence among intermediaries in the music industry through a content analysis of 255 articles on music intermediaries obtained from the Web of Science database. When the music industry transformed from a publishing industry into a recording industry, there was also a shift from publishers as dominant institutions to record companies. Recently the music industry has dealt with several changes related to the digitalization of music. It is interesting to examine whether this has also created a shift of most influential intermediaries. It can be concluded that digitalization enabled a lot of new intermediaries to enter the market and that they did take over the pre-selection role of record companies who now function as post-selectors. These smaller or new intermediaries are launching and developing artists careers and play a important role in determining which artists will be signed by major record companies.