Abstract:
This article examines human agency, technological change, the market economy, and industrial structure and practice through a case study of one of India’s oldest existing music companies and its historically and regionally distinctive catalogue. I consider the cultural and industrial results of changes in technology and government policy that forced Hindusthan/INRECO into tactical business decisions that positioned the company to take advantage of India’s emergent mobile-download market. The study also examines company sales data (2005–7) and considers the impact of the mobile phone platform on music consumption. Most of the success of the music industry, which we’ve only just found out, is because of the long tail, having a big catalogue. Sovan Lal Saha, pers. comm., October 4, 2012