Abstract:This article explores the social lives of two-dozen sound recordings made by Louis Armstrong between and Through this case study, it examines how the meaning of media content … Expand. In a Washington Post feature article from a few years back, popular music critic J.
Freedom du Lac laments the death of the car song. Du Lac attributes the demise of the car song—a musical phenomenon … Expand. Revitalizing the Culture Concept. Culture was defined for social science in by Edward B. View 1 excerpt, references background. It covers the period from the s to the present day, while tracing the roots of pop much further back.
From soul, … Expand. View 2 excerpts, references background. Copyright and the music business. For the music industry the age of manufacture is now over. Companies and company profits are no longer organised around making things but depend on the creation of rights.
In the industry's own … Expand. The regionalization, commercialization, and subsequent diffusion of country music are examined in terms of the massification hypothesis. Each of the data sets examined suggests that the massification … Expand. After tracing the evolution of pop music, the book focuses on the roots of rock music and the everchanging components of the modern record making process.
By analyzing both the possibilities and the … Expand. The era is an obvious case in point. It is no less tempting to identify an 'Napoleonic' aesthetic revolution withits mostcelebrated exponents Vivaldi,Shakespeare, Picasso. In thisvein,it is possibleto pointto specific individuals like Beethoven, ChuckBerry, Little Elvis and Lee Lewis and that rock Richard, Presley Jerry say in thelate sbecause,likeothercreative circles ofartists emerged Kadushin.
In bringinginto , they began theircreativeefforts question this 'supply side' explanation, I do not, for a moment belittle their Rather,I suggestthatin any era thereis a much largernumberof accomplishments.
Whatiftheyearhad leadersofthenew musicifithad emerged of accomplished than? A number blackrhythm and blues been rather who come to mind,mostnotably T-BoneWalkerand Louis Jordan. Wouldthewhites eachofthesetraditions, somewouldhavecomefrom from music? Probably country HankWilliams, butmore butwhowouldhavebeentheElvisPresley? Rather, professional inKorea, andsavedenough tobuya a truck, then served with theArmy drive money beerjoint.
As explanation itsaystheremarkably cohort ofnewly-affluent instance, appliedtothis large young ofthe'baby-boom' couldnotrelate tothejazz-basedsensuous people,thevanguard slowdancemusic for theageoffirst created twenty-year-olds approaching marriage.
The a mixoftheexcruciating with themes included love,fights appropriate joysoffirst and frustrations withhigh school and the older generation parents, generally. In fact, itcouldnothavedoneso. After theoldest ofthe all,in wereonlynineyearsold and halfhad notevenbeen bornyet! Quiteto arguing the contrary, the newlyaffluent teensand pre-teens the heartof the comprised market intheriseofrock Thepoint music.
Itis,indeed,ironic that thecommercial culture which is consecrated industry, tomaking themassofpeoplewiththekinds ofentertainment money byproviding thattheywant,was systematically blindto the unsatiated demandforcultural that to thecondition ofyoungpeople. In unravelling products spokemoredirectly thisirony, we will arguethatit was the structure of arrangements, and habits, of the commercial culture itself thatcaused theblindness. Workin the production-of-culture has identified six kinds of perspective factors that shape the sorts of symbols that can emerge.
These include law, technology,industrystructure,organisation structure,occupational career and market. These have been called 'constraints'in earlierwork, but this word will be avoided herebecause itsuse has unintentionally led to theidea thatthe six forcesso named onlylimit or hold back creative buttheycan also stimulate forces, change. For extensive examples of how they work in the production of popular cultureand see Peterson ; To beginto understand ways completely becamea masssuccessin we havetogo right backtothebeginning of whyrock thetwentieth century.
Copyright The US Copyright Law of forthefirst timegave protection to theownersof had musicalcompositions. American sheetmusicprinter-publishers Heretofore, subsistedprimarily standardfavourite by reprinting songs and appropriating worksby Europeancomposers who received no royalties fortheir contemporary of new songs had lobbiedaggressively use.
Writer-publishers forthe copyright thenewlaw wouldprovide becauseitclearly madea songintoa pieceof protection that be sold and developedby itsowner. Withcopyright property could bought, theaggressive New Yorksheet-music couldafford to protection, writer-publishers a deal of a newsongbecauseother couldnot money spend great promoting printers thevaluable thuscreated. Their fostered a quick succession pirate properties activity in musicand populardancing, ofinnovations mostnotably and jazz.
In a numberof the new music banded together and formed ASCAP, a privatemembership writer-publishers to theroyalties collect for As Ryan and Sanjek company, public performance. ASCAP was notvery in itsearly successful butbythe showin detail, years, iteffectively s controlled accesstoexposing newmusictothepublic.
Itdid this thatonly ASCAP licencedmusic could be played in by, in effect, mandating on theradio,and incorporated intomovies. As late musicals, Broadway performed an oligopoly ofjusteighteen as determined which publishers songscouldreach thepublicear Ryan,p.
These oligopolists shared an aestheticwhich accented well-crafted, abstract love themes, strongmelodies and muted jazz rhythms and harmonies. But the point forour storyis not whetherthey were good or bad, but that they and the innumerableless memorablesongs like them were the only songs thatAmericans could hear through the dominant media of dissemination. Evenafter gainedwidespread publicexposure withtheradionetworks, still thelatter welcomed BMI-licenced the songs. Now for timeitbecamepossibleto makea living first as a songwriter or publisher in these in fusing alternative that formed thefoundations oftherock aesthetic.
But genera6 withthenetworks, rockdid notbreakout in ASCAP cameto terms and all intheolderswing a vestedinterest and crooner thosewith worked hard pop music in the marketplace to keep thataesthetic ascendant Ryan;Sanjek A belowneededtochangebefore number ofother factors described rock couldbreak out. Patent law Theapplication ofpatent lawis another ofthose factors that influenced thetiming of rock's From the of the before the turn of the twentieth emergence.
Whilenumerous advanceswere thelong-playing record was notintroduced in the made, and patents registered, sbecause,it is said, the record was so due to the Great industry depressed that consumers would not have the for the new and Depression paid price players records Metz;Sanjek He refusedthe offer and orderedhis engineers to quicklybringto market an alternative systemforthe high fidelity play ofclassical music. Theirresponse was the 7-inchvinylrecordwiththe large hole in the middle that played at 45 rpm.
The 'battleoftherecordspeeds' went on forseveralyears,by whichtimethere were millions of record players on the marketthat were capable of playing both resolvedwhen, through speeds, and 78s as well. The battleofthe speeds was finally mediation,the rivalsagreed to pool theirpatentsand produce records government. One ofthegreat carethat had tobe expensesof78swas theextreme takenin handling and shipping them,and each of the majorrecord companies developeda nationaldistribution systemthatwas geared to handlingits own delicate 78s.
The smallrecord couldnotafford thecostsofthenational companies distribution of78s,and there itwas distribution beingno independent companies, for a smallcompany in to have a national hitrecord. The virtually impossible indestructible 45smadeitmuchcheaper toshiprecords in smaller, lighter, virtually of independentnationaldistribution bulk, makingfeasiblethe development As importantly for thepromotion ofnewsongs,italso madeitpractical companies.
FCC regulation A numberof local, stateand federal government regulatory agenciesarguably influenced theadvent ofrock, buttheFederal Communications Commission FCC the numberand played a vital role.
During thes, whenthe throughout inradioswas growing interest and virtually American homehad a set, rapidly every theFCC restricted thenumber ofstations licenced to each market to three to five. A largenumber ofapplications for new stations weresubmitted, butthese were denied or deferred 'in the publicinterest' because the networks lobbied to maintain thissmallnumber of stations. Whenthe Warcame,all successfully weredeferred. Itwas reasoned that scarce electronic material couldnotbe requests thewar effort to buildtransmitters.
Mostof Sterling thenew licences wentto poorly stations. What did these capitalised independent stations use as programming?
Mostreliedheavily on phonograph records. What kindsof records did theyplay? Ah, thatgetsus ahead of our story. Whatis the answer totheprior withdraw their tothe question, whydidthenetworks opposition ofnewbroadcast licenses? To answer thisquestion, itis useful tointroduce granting the secondmajorclass ofcontraints, technology.
Technology The development of the vinyl 45 rpm record, just discussed, was a major to the advent of rockmusic. Here we will note technologicalinnovationimportant the importanceof the advent of televisionand the development of the transistor radio receiver.
Television Television,more than any othertechnologicaldevelopment,shaped the advent of indirect. Televisionbegan to be rockmusic even thoughits influencewas primarily of all American households had a TV cent in For this to the reason, the networksremoved theirobjection licencingof many additional affiliates were put on the market radio stations.
For the same reason, radio network theirpricewas further in greatnumbers. A gluton themarket, depressed by thefact thata spate of newly licenced AM radio stationswere going on the air just at that on theadvent ofrockmusicin the did have some directeffect TV programming time. This will be discussed in the section on Marketbelow. Thetransistor Until the mids, radio receivers used a set of large, power-consuming, vacuum tubes.
Their use dictatedthatsets would be large, heavy heat-generating, WhilemostAmericanhomes had a radio,fewhad and expensivepieces offurniture. Auto radios were the exception, and portable radios were not common. These so-called'portables'were relatively and, because ofthe large,fragile large batteriesrequired, quite heavy. American radio manufacturersintended to introduce transistors,a Bell TV and phonoLaboratoriesinvention,as a prestigeitem in theirtop-of-the-line and radios only into them and consoles TVs, phonographs cheaper put graph to the this The in by strategy shipping Japanese upset gradually succeeding years.
Defining the boundaries of the industryunder consideration sounds raises issues ofinclusionand exclusionthathelp reveal simplebut theprocesss often in the s,but for the structure. Our concernhere is the popular music industry is not included. Live of instruments musical the manufacture present purposes vital to building halls and arenas while in dance concert halls, bars, performance new records,is also peripheralto our concern.
The empirical careersand promoting focus here is the popular music conveyed via the electronic media and via phonograph records. This brings into focus two sets of corporations that are of phonoas quite distinct identified industries,the manufacturers conventionally on the other. The stations radio hand and commercial on the one records graph relationshipbetween phonograph recordmakers and commergrowingsymbiotic in the advent of rockmusic in the cial radio stationowners was centrally important mids.
Industry is oligopolistic when a structure together few firmseffectively controlthe style, amount and price of products produced. Perfectcompetitionis when the actions of no firmssignificantly influenceany of these factors.
While an industrymay vary fromperfectcompetitionto perfect is possible as well. This is an industry oligopoly thatis monopoly ,anotherstructure fieldin whichthereare a fewfirms thatinteract likean oligoply,butin whichthereis also a large numberof small firms thatsurviveand prosperby servingsmall special segments of the total potentialmarketnot served by the oligopolists.
Such a dual industrystructurebecame well established in the music industryin the years between and Gillett Second, industrystructure involves vertical the to all which from integration, degree production processes securing raw materialsto retailsales are performed firms.
Radiobroadcasting, In thediscussion thatfollows,and formuch oftherestofthearticle, we will contrast the stateofaffairs in ,thatis the timeclearlybeforethe advent ofrock,withthe state of affairs in afterrock music had become well established.
In the American radio industryconsisted of four national networksand theiraffiliated stationsin each of the radio marketsaround the country. In addition, therewas a number of newly licensed independent commercialstations. The networkscompeted with each other using what I call a 'slice strategy' which is characteristic in such conditions of oligopolisticcompetition.
In such each network triedto increase the size of its slice of the totalAmerican conditions, radio audience. Programmeswhich drew large audiences to one of the networks stimulatedthe othernetworksto createsimilarprogrammes to captureback the lost 'marketshare'. In just a few seasons thisstrategy made fora dailyand weeklycycle of programmesthat was virtuallythe same fromnetworkto network.
Thus, the weeklyradio schedule ofprogrammeson the air in looked not unlikethe cycle of televisionbroadcastinga decade or two later. There was, however, more popular music played on radio in than on network television in On weekend evenings, each of the radio networks featuredthe major dance bands of the era broadcastlivefrom one ofthe manylarge dance halls or elegant hotels around the country.
The popular hitsof the day were also played on the air by studio orchestrasas part of the mix of the comedy and varietyshows hosted by the likes of Bop Hope and Jack Benny. There was a programmecalled 'Your Hit Parade', thatfeaturedthe top ten sellingrecordsofthe week. Buttherecords were notplayed!
Rather,thestudioband and itsmale or female each of the songs in turn. Since the hit songs of singer,as appropriate,performed were written, arrangedand recordedby professionalsto fit widelyunderstood swing era conventions,it was easy forthe studio band to faithfully reproduce the sound of the record.
The earlymorningnetwork'wake-up' shows also had studio bands as did the homemakershows that played around lunch time. Therewere, programme musicprogrammes broadcast affiliates several that did however, locally bynetwork use phonograph records. Their form tells a great deal abouttheradio-programming aesthetic ofthetime.
Through and even pseudo-interviews withband leaders,Blockgave theprogramnme the a hotelballroom. Again,theysimulated Manycountry in all partsofthecountry radiostations and Peterson playedliveon independent thiskindof received Gowan ,pp. Therewere in ,however, several exposure innovative radioprogrammes thatplayedrecords forblackbuyers. At intended severalradio stationsin the South and Mid-West, small independent record and used ittoplayand ofairtime companies bought simply thirty-minute segments their ownrecords.
Innovative record stores also bought airtime toplayand promote suchrecords on sale in their stores. The topeight together other firms had anyhitsat all! These figures, and thediscussion that are follows, drawn from and Berger Peterson which a detailed in of how, presents analysis the late sand earlysso fewfirms were able to control the market for recordedmusic so effectively, even thoughthe basic product,a phonograph was cheap to record and manufacture.
The major radio,Broadway integration record wereabletomaintain a dominant three companies position bycontrolling key inthehit-making theservices ofcreative First, points process. Second, theymonopolised the channelsofrecorddistribution. As we have alreadynoted,thiswas facilitated by the of the 78 rpm shellac records of the time.
Third, the major record breakability radiowho decided what companiesmaintainedclose tieswiththepeople in network songs would be heard over the air. They were equally successfulin controlling the songs that reached the public ear via Broadway musicals and movies. Radio broadcasting, theadvent ofTVas thepessimists Radiodidnotdiewith had predicted. Intheyears was totally between and ,however,the radio broadcasting industry In theradioindustry transformed.
Thus,in effect, whathad been one single national market with four becameupwards ofonehundred autonomous local networks, contending markets eachwith toa dozenormore radiostations with eachother eight competing and Haight,p. Sterling Financedby national the old radionetworks had been able to advertisers, afford forms ofprogramming: dramatic showsand expensive programmes, comedy livemusic. Dependingprimarily on local advertisers in each city, radio however, stations couldnotafford suchexpensive and Haight , programming Sterling p.
In thesearch yetappealing is crucial for inincreasing ourstory, stations numbers between and turned to playing records on theair.
As he reached theheight ofhis popularity, for Decca tostamp on eachofhisrecords, 'Notlicenced example, BingCrosby required forradioairplay'. Fortheir had disdainedplaying 'canned part,radioexecutives music'. Now, the two were inexorably bound together. Radio dependedon the musicindustry forprogramming and record-makers, thatradio material, finding increased thandepressed rather thedemandfor a record, cameto airplay quickly and promote advertise their new releases.
Thus,the beganto differentiate by playing aesthetic ofrecords range playedon theairincreased dramatically bythemids. We willexamine thisprocessin greater detailbelow. Therecord industry, The greatly increased on the air profoundly play of records changedthe record in the s. Statistics show the Record saleswhich had industry picture very clearly. Then gradually through so thatthetotalvalue of every yearfortherestofthedecade sales grewrapidly.
Thus theywere able to successfully compete in the national show thisin stark popular music market Gillett Again, the statistical figures detail.
Thefour firms that had 81 percentofthepopular musichitsin gradually lostmarket itreached 74 percentin Thenthings shareuntil changed rapidly. In a word, an industry that had twenty-nine beendominated offour inwhich firms becamean industry a byan oligopoly rapidly ofsmall firms wereabletocompete number oneventerms with themajors. Explaining the Advent of Rock Music" is his analysis of the production of culture and its characteristics as the background mechanism which facilitates change in popular culture.
In "Why ? The institutional constraints model of the production of culture aims to demonstrate how changes in style and nature of cultural products and the emergence of innovative and groundbreaking trends can be explained through institutional constraints which influence, directly or indirectly, the production of culture.
The institutional constraints of the production of culture introduced by Peterson are: technology and technological innovations, law and regulation, career patterns, market structure, industry structure and organizational structure.
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