Music is defined by the possibilities and limits of the forms in which it is recorded and disseminated. There could be no ”Ode to Joy“ without musical notation, no quiet sounds without microphones, no global hits without radio. In the digital age, this is more so than ever, with the result that the work of musicians sometimes serves more as a source of ”instant hot water“ that can be siphoned off to establish new formats and portals that become the actual show. The situation today is unprecedented, with the channels now making the music. This book tracks their power as the engines defining music: in technical, economic, and artistic terms, ranging from recycling and processing systems and digital one-offs to the endless stream of lip sync videos.