QUIZ: How well do you know these music industry giants?
The music industry has undergone a heck-load of rearrangement and evolution in the past few decades. The role of everyone from radio DJs to booking agents and record label heads has shifted. So how well do you know your contemporary music industry giants?
We live in a time of rapid, non-stop technological innovation, and nowhere is this more apparent than the music industry. Accordingly, many of the music industry’s most influential figures now helm tech startups rather than conventional industry positions.
So who runs the music biz? Is it the A-list pop stars? The taste-making music journalists? Or the Swedish cartel of hit-making writer/producers? Take a look behind the scenes and you’ll find a cast of incredibly powerful people whose faces aren’t likely to end up on a Times Square billboard. Though, you might read about them within the pages of Billboard.
We’re talking about the individuals responsible for founding and operating the world’s biggest music industry organisations. Specifically, companies like Spotify, which has utterly transformed the way music is listened to since its inception in 2006.
Latest figures indicate Spotify has 271 million active users per month. Of these, 124 million are paying subscribers. The rest, apparently, have a thing for ads and would prefer to spend that $12 monthly fee on a kebab and chips.
Of course, everyone knows about Spotify, but what about Access Industries? Access is a powerful multinational investment group and the parent company of the Warner Music Group. Warner is the third largest company in the global music biz, meaning Access is a hugely significant industry enterprise. But could you name the company’s owner?
Lucian Grainge is another name that holds a lot of clout. The London-born Grainge is known as an innovative businessman who’s interested in taking risks to move the industry forward. But with what company would you associate the eminent figure?
Take our quiz to prove your knowledge of the industry’s behind-the-scenes high rollers.
QUIZ: How well do you know these music industry giants?
This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.