Sound Recording and Popular Music

Chapter 3

“We’ve put a lot of work into making the iPod a part of on-the-go living.”

—Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, 2006

Youth, Music and Repression

1700s: waltz viewed as “savage” 1800s: tango viewed as primitive, sexual

– banned in Argentina– attacked by the French clergy

1920s: the Charleston vilified 1950s and ‘60s: rock and roll decried as too

sexual– The King’s “pelvis”

Development Stages

Novelty Entrepreneurial Consumer marketing

– Recurring themes

Early History of Recording

de Martinville, France, 1850s

Edison, U.S., 1877

Berliner, U.S., 1880s

Victor Talking Machine, USA, 1900s

Radio gets an edge over recording industry, 1920s

History cont.

Edison’s wax cylinders Berliner and vinyl records Magnetic audiotape (Germany, 1940s) Stereo sound (1950s) Digital recording (1970s) Compact discs (1980s) DVDs (1990s) MP3 and music piracy issues (now)

“Our best guess, is that for every legal song download there are 75 illegal downloads.”

—Gene Munster, music industry analyst, 2006

Records and Radio

1914: ASCAP founded to collect copyright fees for music writers and publishers.

1924: Radio competition cut record sales in half. However, costs of royalties forced many radio

stations off the air. Radio and the recording industry join forces in

the 1950s.

U.S. Pop Music

“Music should never be harmless.” —Robbie Robertson of The Band

Pop music starts as low culture.– It appeals to the masses.

Likewise blues, country, Tejano, salsa, jazz, rock, reggae, rap, hip-hop, easy listening, and more

Rock Music Divides and Joins

High and low culture– Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over

Beethoven”– Sinatra vs. Elvis

Masculine and feminine Black and white North and South Sacred and secular

– Ray Charles’s gospel origins

Cover Music and Racism

Dick Clark promotes white covers of black music. Elvis listed as co-writer Pat Boone “king of cover music” Little Richard outsings Boone. Ray Charles gets #1 with white cover.

Payola Scandals

Payola– The practice of record promoters paying deejays to play

their songs on the air Alan Freed ruined

Congressional hearings in 1959– 1998: Promotional strategy called pay-for-play emerged

“The white boy who sang colored”

1950’s sees radio losing programming to TV. Creates void filled by rock and roll Led by R&B penetration (25% by 1953) Overtly sexual lyrics Declining segregation

– Elvis– Alan Freed (Cleveland deejay)

Crossover Heroes

Bill Haley and the Comets (R&B) Johnnie Ray (R&B) Chuck Berry (country) ex. “Maybellene” Ray Charles plays in a white band Southern music (gospel and country/folk) regains

cultural respectability after CW. Delta blues, rockabilly, Hooker and Holly

The Times They Were a Changin’

The 1960s The British Invasion Vietnam War Motown

Oh brother where art thou?

Broadly, folk music = songs performed by untrained musicians and passed down through oral traditions

Considered a democratic and participatory form

Folk music was popularized by radio and by grassroots activists like Woody Guthrie, who championed peace and social justice.

The Sound of Music

Recording industry generates more revenue than all other media except TV.– Hence the panic over piracy

GLOBAL OLIGOPOLY:– Four corporations control most of industry

worldwide.

Ownership

Four corporations at the top: – Universal (31.8%)– Sony BMG (26%)– Warner Music (14.9%)– EMI (9.1%)

And the Indies (18.2%)

Media Giant

Making Recordings

Artist development (A&R agents) Technical facilities: technical production specialists Sales and distribution

– Direct retail– Music clubs– Internet sales

Advertising and promotion– Radio– MTV

Administrative operations

The Artist’s Cut

An artist with a typical 11% royalty rate

makes about $1.80 on a $16.98 CD and sells 500,000 copies.

Free Expression and Democracy

How can popular music uphold a legacy of free expression while resisting co-optation by giant companies?