Artists, then, kneeled at the pulpits of priestly record labels who maintained tight relationships with key decision makers. While the big artists got bigger, those without capital and connections stayed powerless. But air time was limited - radio stations could only accept 3 or 4 new songs per week. For example, the major record labels released more than 130 songs and almost 100 albums per week during the 1990s. The economic value of labels stemmed not from the music itself, but rather, from the music distribution - CD manufacturing, packaging, shipping, physical retail, and promotion, all of which have been made cheaper and easier by the internet.³ The number of songs that could be played on the radio, for example, was constrained by time - there are a limited number of radio stations and only 24 hours in the day. According to a 2014 report, since 2000, major labels spent between $500,000 and $2,000,000 to promote newly signed artists, money that could not be recovered if their albums flopped.² They invested heavily to sign and promote a select number of artists - the chosen few.

Labels held tight relationships with radio stations, television networks, and record stores. Artists, who lacked the capital to create and distribute their music, were at the mercy of omnipotent record labels, who, by virtue of controlling distribution, determined what people listened to. It would be decades, well into the 1940’s, before the average family could afford a radio or their own record player at home. Used originally for church sermons, and later for music entertainment, the phonograph beckoned a new era of pre-recorded music listening on demand. That began to change when Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. They had personal relationships him and supported him physically, emotionally, and financially.

Wealthy aristocrats and the political leadership of small city-states financed Mozart’s travels and his performances. There was no way to record it, so if you wanted to listen to Mozart’s music, you had to be there in person.¹ It was expensive to attend a Mozart performance. In 1781, Mozart moved from Salzburg to Vienna, the cultural capital of Austria, to advance his music career. The future of music is a return to Mozart.

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