#NH1074Ward COM 107 is the Communications and Society class at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications taught by DR4WARD

1. Chapter 3
Sound Recording and
Popular Music

2. Music and the Internet
“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

3. Source: Frank Micelotta/GI

4. Youth, Music, and Repression
• 1700s—waltz viewed as “savage”
• 1800s—tango viewed as primitive, sexual

5. Youth, Music, and Repression
•1920s—the Charleston vilified
•1950s through 1980s—rock and roll decried as too
sexual, violent

6. The Development of Sound
Recording
• de Martinville, France, 1850s
• Edison’s cylinders, U.S., 1877
• Berliner and flat disks, U.S., 1880s

7. 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

8. The Development of Sound
Recording (cont.)
• Magnetic audiotape (Germany, 1940s)
• Stereo sound (1950s)

9. The Development of Sound
Recording (cont.)
•Digital recording (1970s)
•Compact discs (1980s)
•MP3 and music piracy issues
•(now)

10. Figure 3.1
Annual Vinyl, Tape, CD, Mobile, and Digital
Sales

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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

15. Rock Muddies the Waters
• High and low culture
• Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven”

16. Rock Muddies the Waters
• Masculine and feminine

17. Rock Muddies the Waters
Country and city
•North and South
•Sacred and secular
• Ray Charles’s gospel origins

18. White Cover Music Undermines
Black Artists
• Dick Clark promotes white covers of black music.
• Elvis given co-writer credit
•

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. A Changing Industry:
Reformations in Popular Music
• The 1960s
• The British Invasion
• The Beatles
• The Rolling Stones
• Motown
• The Supremes
• Marvin Gaye

22. 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.

23. Punk, Grunge, and Alternative
Respond to Mainstream Rock
• Punk rock returns to the basics of rock and roll
• The Ramones
• Blondie

24. Punk, Grunge, and Alternative
Respond to Mainstream Rock
• Grunge updated punk’s spirit in 1990s
• Nirvana
• Punk and grunge considered subcategories of
alternative rock

25. 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

26. 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.

27. Figure 3.2
U.S. Market Share of the Major Labels in the
Recording Industry, 2009

28. 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.

29. What Sony Owns (selected)
Music • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – VAIO computers
• Sony Music Studios – Handycam
Entertainment • Sony Pictures Home Camcorders
– Arista, Arista Nashville, Entertainment – Cyber-shot Digital
Columbia, Epic, Jive, Cameras
RCA, RCA Victor, Sony Television – Walkman Video MP3
Masterworks • Sony Pictures Television players
• Sony/ATV Music – Jeopardy!, Wheel of – Sony Reader Digital
Publishing Fortune, The Young and Book
(50% ownership) the Restless, Breaking
Bad, Seinfeld, The Big C Software
Movies • Crackle • Sony Creative
• Sony Pictures • Game Show Network Software
Entertainment Inc. (GSN)
• Columbia TriStar Motion Digital Games
Picture Group Electronics • Sony Computer
– Columbia Pictures, • Sony Electronics Inc. Entertainment America
Sony – DVD and Blu-Ray Disc Inc.
Pictures Classics. Screen players – PlayStation
Gems, TriStar Pictures – Bravia HDTVs and
• Sony Pictures Studios projectors Mobile Phones
• Sony Ericsson Mobile
Communications (50%
ownership)

30. Figure 3.3

31. Figure 3.4

32. 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.

33. Free Expression and
Democracy
• How can popular music uphold a
legacy of free expression while
resisting domination by giant
companies?