The music industry has been a business first since its inception, prioritizing profit over the art that musicians create. From greedy managers to big corporations like Ticketmaster and Spotify, the idea of a democratic music industry has always been more of a dream than a reality.
In CBC News Explore’s BIG Music, the latest instalment of its BIG docu-series, we take a deep dive into the history of the music industry and look at the decades-long fight for control between artists, consumers and corporations.
The episode features interviews with musicians, writers and industry insiders including Cadence Weapon, Alan Cross, Tatiana Cirisano, Kelefa Sanneh, Stephen Witt and more.
Watch the full episode below.
An original series from CBC News Explore, BIG jumps off from the news to expose how the biggest industries on the planet have unseen impacts on our everyday lives. Watch BIG News, BIG True Crime and BIG Dating on-demand on CBC Gem.
One tap and you can hear any song in the world, but who benefits? CBC News Explore’s BIG MUSIC looks at how Spotify, Ticketmaster, LiveNation, and Tik Tok are changing the very nature of music.