Sound Recording and Popular Music

Chapter 3

“It’s not supposed to be a model for anything else. It was simply a response to a situation. We’re out

of contract. We have our own studio. We have this new server. What the hell else would we do? This

was the obvious thing. But it only works for us because of where we are.”

—Radiohead’s Thom Yorke

Music and the Internet

Source: Frank Micelotta/GI

Youth, Music, and Repression

• 1700s—waltz viewed as “savage”

• 1800s—tango viewed as primitive, sexual

Youth, Music, and Repression

•1920s—the Charleston vilified

•1950s through 1980s—rock and roll decried as too sexual, violent

The Development of Sound Recording

• de Martinville, France, 1850s

• Edison’s cylinders, U.S., 1877

• Berliner and flat disks, U.S., 1880s

The Development of Sound Recording

•Victor Talking Machine, U.S., 1900s

•Introduction of electric record players makes gramophone an essential

appliance for Americans, U.S., 1920s

The Development of Sound Recording (cont.)

• Magnetic audiotape (Germany, 1940s)

• Stereo sound (1950s)

The Development of Sound Recording (cont.)

•Digital recording (1970s)

•Compact discs (1980s)

•MP3 and music piracy issues •(now)

Figure 3.1Annual Vinyl, Tape, CD, Mobile, and Digital

Sales

Convergence: Sound Recording in the Internet Age

• MP3 format in mid-1990s paved way for illegal and legal digital music downloads.

• iTunes is the model for legal music downloading.

• Streaming music and “music in the cloud” are the future of Internet distribution.

The Rocky Relationship between Records and Radio

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

• 1924: Radio competition cuts record sales in half.

The Rocky Relationship between Records and Radio

•1950s: Radio and the recording industry join forces against television.

•2010: Music industry proposes charging radio stations royalty fees.

The Rise of Pop Music

• Pop music appeals to the masses— started as low culture.

• Expanded from the world of vaudeville into different forms:• Jazz• Rock and roll • Blues• R&B

Rock Muddies the Waters• High and low culture

• Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven”

Rock Muddies the Waters

• Masculine and feminine

Rock Muddies the Waters

Country and city

•North and South

•Sacred and secular• Ray Charles’s gospel origins

White Cover Music Undermines Black Artists

• Dick Clark promotes white covers of black music.

• Elvis given co-writer credit

•

White Cover Music Undermines Black Artists

• Pat Boone “king of cover music”

• Little Richard out sings Boone.

• Ray Charles gets #1 with cover of white musician.

Payola Scandals Tarnish Rock and Roll

• Payola: The practice of record promoters paying deejays to play their songs on the air• Congressional hearings in 1959• Ended DJs’ careers and undermined rock and roll’s

credibility• By 2005, payola persists.

A Changing Industry: Reformations in Popular Music

• The 1960s

• The British Invasion• The Beatles• The Rolling Stones

• Motown• The Supremes• Marvin Gaye

Folk and Psychedelic Music Reflect the Times

• Folk music:• Popularized by radio and by grassroots activists like Woody

Guthrie• A democratic and participatory form

• Psychedelic era of music influenced, and ultimately brought down by, drugs.

Punk, Grunge, and Alternative Respond to Mainstream Rock

• Punk rock returns to the basics of rock and roll• The Ramones• Blondie

Punk, Grunge, and Alternative Respond to Mainstream Rock

• Grunge updated punk’s spirit in 1990s• Nirvana

• Punk and grunge considered subcategories of alternative rock

Hip-Hop Redraws Musical Lines

• Exploded in popularity by mid-1980s

• One of the most popular music forms today

• Questions class and racial boundaries

• Challenges status quo values

Music Labels Influence the Industry

• The music industry has experienced significant revenue losses:• 1999 U.S. music sales: $14.5 billion• 2009 U.S. music sales: $7.7 billion

• Global oligopoly• Four corporations control most of industry worldwide.

• Indies discover new musical trends.

Figure 3.2U.S. Market Share of the Major Labels in the

Recording Industry, 2009

Making, Selling, and Profiting from Music

• Artist development (A&R agents)

• Producer and session engineer oversee recording process.

• Sales and distribution• Internet sales—now 40% of U.S. market• Chain, independent record stores continue to go out of

business.

What Sony Owns (selected)

Music• Sony Music

Entertainment– Arista, Arista Nashville,Columbia, Epic, Jive,RCA, RCA Victor, SonyMasterworks• Sony/ATV Music

Publishing(50% ownership)

Movies• Sony PicturesEntertainment Inc.• Columbia TriStar MotionPicture Group– Columbia Pictures,

SonyPictures Classics. ScreenGems, TriStar Pictures• Sony Pictures Studios

• Metro-Goldwyn-MayerStudios• Sony Pictures HomeEntertainment

Television• Sony Pictures Television– Jeopardy!, Wheel ofFortune, The Young and the Restless, Breaking Bad, Seinfeld, The Big C• Crackle• Game Show Network (GSN)

Electronics• Sony Electronics Inc.– DVD and Blu-Ray Discplayers– Bravia HDTVs andprojectors

– VAIO computers– Handycam Camcorders– Cyber-shot Digital Cameras– Walkman Video MP3players– Sony Reader Digital Book

Software• Sony Creative Software

Digital Games• Sony ComputerEntertainment America Inc.– PlayStation

Mobile Phones• Sony Ericsson MobileCommunications (50% ownership)

Figure 3.3

Figure 3.4

Alternative Voices• Indie labels are the music industry’s risk-takers.

• The Internet:• Indie labels become more viable by using Internet as low-cost

distribution outlet.• Signed and unsigned artists can reach fans through social

networking and video sites.

Free Expression and Democracy

• How can popular music uphold a legacy of free expression while resisting domination by giant companies?