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Before the days of recorded music, composers held recitals at the bequest of a benefactor. The composer scored the music, and provided sheet music for the orchestra that would be performing the piece. Sometimes, the composer would sit at a piano and play the piece themselves. This was the first real connection between the composer and the audience.

Fast forward and Thomas Edison invents the phonograph, heralding in a new form of benefactor, the record label. Via the record, the audience didn't have to attend the performance of the composer's work. The performance was recorded. The audience could sit at home with their phonographs and listen to the performance repeatedly. It also fit radio. These records could be played on the radio for enjoyment of everyone.

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The invention of the reel to reel allowed for better fidelity of recording. This system allowed improved quality of the recordings. As recording techniques became more sophisticated, it also became too expensive for the average musician or composer to finance a recording session themselves. The record company started to subsidize the cost of recording for the composer and performer. This became known as an "advance" to the artist. The label would then take back the cost of the advance from the sales of the records, and the composer or performer would receive their royalties. Composers also received royalties through the sales of sheet music.

Up until the 1950's recording was quite crude until the use of multiple track recording. The tape would be divided in sections and you could record the best performance on each section. Then you could "mix down" the performance into a single track. Also around this time, big bands and composers were beginning to take a back seat to songwriters that played their own instruments. New talents such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis bashing on his piano, began to dominate radio airwaves and the listening time of the post World War II youth.

Artists set into a cycle of recording and then touring to promote their new songs. American and British youth were excited to see their favorite artists performing live. Young Englishmen heard these sounds from America, and were inspired to create their own music. The Skiffle craze took hold in England leading to such early British hit makers as Lonnie Donnegan. All over England, young men were trying to become songwriters and musicians. The biggest artists are now well known as the bands of the British Invasion.

As the

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