The most common musical experience today, across most of the globe, is that of listening to a recording. For many centuries, however, music was only experienced live, since recording technology did not exist. As a result, much of the philosophy of music is rooted in the idea that music is a performance art, and recordings have been met with some skepticism (when they have been discussed at all). In this chapter, we investigate the nature of musical performances and recordings, and compare views about their respective values.