• The 1980s saw important shifts in the music business:
  • A precipitous decline in record sales, unprecedented since the Great Depression
  • The increasing reliance of corporations on a small number of multiplatinum albums by megastars, promoted through the new medium of music video
  • The continued splintering of the market for popular music into dozens of specialized audiences and genres
• During the 1980s, new technology became central to the production, promotion, and consumption of popular music.
• MTV (Music Television),launched in 1981, changed the way the industry operated, rapidly becoming thepreferred method for launching a new act or promoting a superstar’s latest release.