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Chapter 4

Sound Recording and Popular Music

In this chapter, we will place the impact of popular music in context and:

• Investigate the origins of recording’s technological “hardware,” from Thomas Edison’s early

phonograph to Emile Berliner’s invention of the flat disk record and the development of

audiotape, compact discs, and MP3s

• Study radio’s early threat to sound recording and the subsequent alliance between the two

media when television arrived in the 1950s

• Explore the impact of the Internet on music, including the effects of online piracy and how

the industry is adapting to the new era of convergence with new models for distributing and

promoting music, from downloads to streaming

• Examine the content and culture of the music industry, focusing on the predominant role of

rock music and its extraordinary impact on mass media forms and a diverse array of cultures,

both American and international

• Explore the economic and democratic issues facing the recording industry

Preview Story: The old route to success for musical artists was highly dependent on signing with

a major label, which handled all of the promotion to sell records. Now, with so many distribution

forms for music—traditional CDs and vinyl; digital downloads and streaming; social media;

music licensed for use in advertising, television, and film; and (lest we forget) real, in-person

concerts—there are multiple paths for talented artists to find an audience with an independent

label or entirely on their own. Chance the Rapper is among the top recording stars of his

generation, and he helped reshape the industry by refusing to sell his music to any label and

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remaining independent. He has demonstrated that artists can create successful careers without the

help of a major corporation.

I. The Development of Sound Recording

A. From Cylinders to Disks: Sound Recording Becomes a Mass Medium

B. From Phonographs to CDs: Analog Goes Digital

C. Convergence: Sound Recording in the Internet Age

1. MP3s and File-Sharing

2. The Next Big Thing: Streaming Music

D. The Rocky Relationship between Records and Radio

II. U.S. Popular Music and the Formation of Rock

A. The Rise of Pop Music

B. Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay

C. Rock Muddies the Waters

1. High and Low Culture

2. Masculinity and Femininity

3. The Country and the City

4. The North and the South

5. The Sacred and the Secular

D. Battles in Rock and Roll

1. White Cover Music Undermines Black Artists

2. Payola Scandals Tarnish Rock and Roll

3. Fears of Corruption Lead to Censorship

III. A Changing Industry: Reformations in Popular Music

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A. The British Are Coming!

B. Motor City Music: Detroit Gives America Soul

C. Folk and Psychedelic Music Reflect the Times

1. Folk Inspires Protest

2. Rock Turns Psychedelic

D. Punk, Grunge, and Indie Respond to Mainstream Rock

1. Punk Revives Rock’s Rebelliousness

2. Indie Groups Reinterpret Rock

E. Hip-Hop Redraws Musical Lines

F. The Reemergence of Pop

IV. The Business of Sound Recording

A. Music Labels Influence the Industry

1. Fewer Major Labels and Falling Market Share

2. The Indies Grow with Digital Music

B. Making, Selling, and Profiting from Music

1. Making the Music

2. Selling the Music

3. Dividing the Profits

C. Alternative Voices

V. Sound Recording, Free Expression, and Democracy

Media Literacy and the Critical Process: Music Preferences across Generations

Global Village: Latin Pop Goes Mainstream

Examining Ethics: The Music Industry’s Day of Reckoning

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LECTURE IDEAS

I. The Development of Sound Recording

• Discuss the novelty, entrepreneurial, and mass medium phases of sound recording. It helps to

bring in examples of old records (78s, 33s, and 45s) to pass around. See

http://www.recording–history.org for websites that show good illustrations of early sound-

recording equipment and formats. You may want to demonstrate stereo separation by playing

a Beatles record.

• The invention of the CD was both a blessing and a curse for the music industry. At first, fans

flocked to the music stores to replace their records with CDs, and by the early 1990s, hit

albums on CD were selling in greater numbers than were hit albums on vinyl. CDs also

turned out to be a brilliant way of repackaging a label’s “catalogue”—that is, all the

recordings no longer in production on vinyl. CDs spawned record executives whose skill was

in putting together compilations of existing music rather than in discovering new artists. CDs

also made it a lot easier to copy music and gave rise to a flourishing piracy industry.

(Adapted from John Seabrook, “The Money Note: Can the Record Business Survive?” New

Yorker, July 7, 2003, p. 42.)

• Discuss the potential of streaming music as the future of music distribution. Take a poll in

class to find out how your students access music. Do they download songs or albums, or do

they stream music? What service do they use to stream music? Discuss the pros and cons of

downloading versus streaming music.

• Compare and contrast the recording industry’s reactions to the coming of radio with the

threats it is facing in the Internet age (e.g., album leaks and online piracy). Explain the

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defensive strategy of the industry. Look at the possible consequences of alienating consumers

(e.g., by suing them).

• Radio stations currently enjoy a federal exemption from paying royalties to artists. (Radio

stations do, however, pay small royalty sums to composers and publishers.) Repealing the

exemption could generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually in new royalties for

songwriters, but it would deliver a severe blow to the radio industry. Debates also continue

about whether web-based offshoots of traditional radio stations should pay royalties.

Streaming services are making deals to pay reduced royalties for streaming music. The music

industry is having numerous debates about royalties and fair compensation for artists as

streaming becomes more and more popular.

II. U.S. Popular Music and the Formation of Rock

• Explore the “muddied” history of rock and roll by sampling early rock songs in class. Playing

original hits by black artists and then their white cover versions is particularly illuminating.

For example, Fats Domino, a black artist, was tremendously successful on the R&B charts

and even crossed over to the pop charts. A white musician’s cover of one of his songs hit No.

1, but Domino never had a No. 1 single himself. His biggest hit was “Blueberry Hill,” which

reached No. 2 in 1956.

• Elvis Presley entered the rock–and–roll scene at a time when the median marriage age was

20.5 years for women and 22.5 years for men; it was the youngest median age of marriage

for Americans in the twentieth century. Once young women, many of them teenagers,

married, they were expected to start a family, fulfill the domestic role of homemaker, and

take their place in society as the chief household consumer. With feminine success defined as

a marriage of appropriate status and then motherhood, teen girls had to constantly negotiate

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the difficult role of keeping marriageable boys sexually interested while preserving their

virginity until marriage.

In much the same way that African American women in the 1920s used the blues to reclaim

control of their own sexuality, white middle-class teenage girls of the 1950s found rock-and–

roll music to be a medium through which they could begin resisting the limiting structure of

sexual roles that confronted them in post–World War II America. To the horror of political

leaders and “the social order,” Elvis provided a stage for girls to safely experience and

express sexual pleasure and freedom without being branded as “bad girls.” The recording

industry responded to the parental and political concern over girls acting out at rock concerts

by bringing in clean–cut singers like the very white, already married Pat Boone as an antidote

to stars like Elvis, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis (see Martin, 1995).

III. A Changing Industry: Reformations in Popular Music

• Draw parallels between early punk and post-punk by playing samples of the Sex Pistols or

Patti Smith from the 1970s and then Green Day, Nirvana, the Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails,

or Hole from the 1990s. Draw similar parallels between early rappers like the Sugarhill

Gang, Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, or Kurtis Blow, and more recent hip-hop

acts like Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Rihanna, Eminem, and Drake. In both cases, define how

the lyrics and styles are socially resistant to status quo values, but also discuss how these

lyrics and styles have changed. For this lecture, tap into your students’ expertise: have them

suggest their favorite recordings.

• The Sex Pistols made their impact with an act that expressed anger, energy, humor, nihilism,

and rhythm, and even though it shook up the social order in Britain, it energized a whole new

trend in music. The Sex Pistols were actually very much a manufactured band in the same

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way the Monkees were created to capitalize on the success of male rock groups in the 1960s.

British entrepreneur Malcolm McLaren almost single-handedly masterminded the punk-rock

music genre, rightly thinking that a new musical style would be profitable. He began with

John Lydon, a janitor with no musical experience but the right sort of charisma. Lydon

became “Johnny Rotten” and the lead singer of the band. McLaren added Glen Matlock, who

worked in a clothing store, and Paul Cook and Steve Jones, both of whom were professional

rock musicians. The Sex Pistols’ first single, “Anarchy in the U.K.” (with its first line, “I am

an Antichrist”), sent shock waves through Britain. Soon Glen Matlock quit the band and was

replaced by Sid Vicious. The group’s next single, “God Save the Queen,” was so heavy-

handedly antimonarchy that it was banned all over Britain.

The movie Sid and Nancy (1986), directed by Alex Cox and starring Gary Oldman and Chloe

Webb, reconstructs the love story of Sid Vicious and American Sex Pistol groupie Nancy

Spungen. (Look for 1990s rock star Courtney Love making her first acting appearance in a

small part as Nancy’s friend.)

IV. The Business of Sound Recording

• Music formats have been in a state of flux. Record labels were slow to produce their own

legal digital downloads but saw a boom in that business via iTunes. Many music listeners

now turn to streaming, which doesn’t involve owning individual albums or songs but rather

access to a large collection of music. If streaming replaces digital downloading and physical

ownership of music, the music industry and listeners will have to decide whether they are

willing to shift to an indirect payment model (with “free” music streaming supported by

advertising) or pay directly for premium streaming services.

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Despite the digital turn in the recording industry, some listeners continue to buy physical

vinyl records. Even in 2016, “sales of vinyl LPs have come to represent an increasingly

important chunk” of the incomes of artists who time digital releases to coincide with special

offers accompanying the purchase of vinyl copies of their music (Ben Sisario, “With Vinyl,

Creating a Physical Presence,” New York Times, October 3, 2016. B2.)

• Discuss the implications of music sold as singles rather than as albums (see the Common

Threads discussion at the end of Chapter 4). It is possible to trace the idea of pop music

singles back to individual songs sold as sheet music from the Tin Pan Alley era, through the

era of 45s, then albums and CDs, and now back to singles again (this time in a digital

format). Explore why each format might have been successful in turn. Discuss the cultural

implications of each form.

• Point out the differences and similarities between the music industry and the motion–picture

industry. Should the major music labels still try to sign artists to long–term contracts (as the

film industry once did in its studio system days, as Chapter 7 notes)? Some artists, such as

Prince and George Michael, fought the long-term contract system. Or should artists work

with labels on an individual recording basis (as movie stars now change studios, based on

their current projects)? Which system is better for the artists? Which is better for the labels?

• Prince constantly defied the typical way music labels and artists promote and sell their music.

In 1996, he broke with Warner Brothers Records, his label of twenty years. The fallout was

highly publicized: Prince appeared with the word Slave painted on his face and made it clear

that his label was limiting his creativity. He became a successful self–promoter. He was an

early adopter of the Internet, believing that music should be free to be heard, and found ways

to upload his music and distribute his albums digitally. He also kept up a vigorous touring

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schedule and performed to a variety of crowds at a range of venues, from the mass audience

of the Super Bowl to elite audiences at a famous Hollywood hotel and even at Macy’s in

Minneapolis. Prince also worked with the British newspaper the Daily Mail to include CDs

of his 2007 release, Planet Earth, in its Sunday edition (the newspaper paid him the

equivalent of what he would have earned had he sold individual copies). As Jon Pareles

summed it up in the New York Times, “With a sponsorship deal here and an exclusive show

there, worldwide television appearances and music given away, Prince has remade himself as

a twenty–first–century pop star” (“The Once and Future Prince,” New York Times, July 22,

2007).

• Paul McCartney released his album Memory Almost Full in June 2007. Abandoning his

longtime record label EMI, McCartney decided on a new arrangement with Starbucks.

Starbucks distributed and sold Memory Almost Full in regular music-retail shops but also

acted much like a radio station, playing the album repeatedly in thousands of its coffee shops

in more than two dozen countries on the day of its release. McCartney also premiered the

first music video from the album on YouTube. McCartney, in announcing his deal with

Starbucks, described his rationale simply: “It’s a new world.”

• The relationship between artists and streaming services has become increasingly

complicated. In 2014, Taylor Swift removed her music from Spotify. In 2015, she refused to

allow Apple Music to offer her music until Apple modified its view on payment to artists.

Adele followed Swift’s example, deciding that her 2015 album 25 would not be available on

streaming music services. In an interview with Time, she said “I don’t use streaming. . . . I

buy my music. I download it, and I buy a physical [copy] just to make up for the fact that

someone else somewhere isn’t. It’s a bit disposable, streaming. . . . I know that streaming

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music is the future, but it’s not the only way to consume music”

(http://time.com/4155801/adele–story). This decision did not harm the success of the album.

Nielsen began its 2015 U.S. Music Year-End Report by stating, “Despite being released just

six weeks before the end of 2015, Adele’s 25 was the story of the year in the music industry”

(http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2016/2015-music–us-year-end-report.html).

The album was released in November 2015 and sold well over seven million copies in its

first seven weeks (twice the number as the best-selling album of 2014, Taylor Swift’s 1989).

According to Billboard, Adele’s “Hello” single from 25 had nearly one billion views on

YouTube by the beginning of 2016.

• The healthiest sector of the music business at the moment is music publishing, in which a

company represents a number of songwriters (who may or may not also be performers) who

earn money when their songs are used in TV commercials, video games, or other media. The

publishing arm collects royalties when a track by one of the firm’s artists is played live, on

the radio, or via any other medium, offering private equity a reliable stream of revenue. In

2014, income for the music copyright industry (publishing, songwriting, and recorded music

income) reached $25 billion worldwide. Of this total, more than $11 billion was for

publishing/songwriting. (Source: http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/25-billion-the-

best-number-to–happen–to-the-music-business.)

• There are two great pop-music dreams, according to New York Times music writer Neil

Strauss. The first one is to start a band in a garage, write songs, perform in local clubs, and

get discovered by a major label that provides limo rides, arena shows, parties, and a big

house. The second dream is about independence—breaking away from the record label and

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going it alone. The dream is closer to a reality with social media platforms like SoundCloud,

which anyone can use to create or share sound.

Major labels routinely reject the new material of their recording artists in the nonstop search

for a sure hit. The bureaucratic and demanding relationship between label and artist often

stifles creativity and breeds resentment.

V. Sound Recording, Free Expression, and Democracy

• Discuss the relationship between music and politics. Ask students to come up with examples

from the past or present to illustrate how music (genres, songs, or artists) has challenged or

reinforced that status quo.

MEDIA LITERACY DISCUSSIONS AND EXERCISES

HOW DO YOU GET YOUR MUSIC?

Conduct an anonymous survey of the class to discover how many students purchase music (and

in what form?), stream music (and from what platform/service?), and/or illegally download

copyrighted digital audio files from the Internet (and from what sites?). When and where do they

access music?

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of ownership vs. streaming music?

2. Even though the unauthorized downloading of copyrighted music is inherently unethical,

why are many people doing it? How much does illegal downloading harm artists?

3. What role/function does music play in students’ lives? Do they believe the role/function of

music in our culture has changed? Remained the same? How? and Why?

4. Have students speculate about the future of music (artists, recording, ownership, listening,

etc.).

THE PERVASIVENESS OF ROCK MUSIC

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This Critical Process exercise explores the role of rock and roll in American society.

Pre–Exercise Questions: What are some of the images that come to mind when you think of

rock and roll? What might the American society (e.g., media institutions) and American culture

(e.g., values) be like without rock and roll?

1. Description. List five to ten ways in which rock and roll has had a positive impact on

American society since the 1950s. In a second column, list five to ten ways in which rock

and roll has had a negative impact on American society.

2. Analysis. What sorts of patterns emerge from these lists? Are some of the positives and

negatives related to the same themes or issues?

3. Interpretation. Can negative influences be reinterpreted as positive, or vice versa, depending

on one’s cultural or political perspective? How would another generation interpret these

influences?

4. Evaluation. Do you think rock has been more of a negative or a positive force in American

culture?

If you reconsider both lists, are there some significant elements of rock and roll that you

might have overlooked? How do you think people will interpret rock in another twenty

years?

5. Engagement. Have students bring samples of music they think are socially positive or

negative, and play the music for the class. Enjoy and discuss.

SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE ASSIGNMENT

Choose five—and only five—single songs to include on the “Soundtrack of Your Life.” They

may be from any genre of music and may be chosen for any reason (meaningful lyrics, memories

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associated with the song, favorite artist, etc.). Write a one-page essay listing the songs and

describing why you picked them.

—Developed by James Douglas, Valparaiso University

INVESTIGATING THE INDIES

This Critical Process exercise takes a deeper look at indie labels.

In small groups, investigate a small, independent recording company (of which there are tens

of thousands throughout the United States and the world). Visit its website, and e-mail or

telephone the company. In your investigation, try to proceed through the five steps of the critical

process:

1. Description. What kind of music does this label specialize in? Is the label limited to only one

genre? What are some of the groups the label produces? Where and how does the label

identify its musical artists? How does the label describe itself? How does the label distribute

its recordings to consumers?

2. Analysis. Look at the variety of groups the label produces. What kind of fan is the label

trying to target? How does this label promote its artists and get a recording to the consumer?

What obstacles does the label face in popularizing its artists? Is the label fiercely

independent, or is its goal to sell to a major label? Is the label struggling, or is it financially

viable?

3. Interpretation. From what you’ve gathered so far from your research, what major problems

do independent recording labels face? Do you see independent labels overcoming these

problems? How?

4. Evaluation. What is the value of small independent recording companies to the entire

recording industry? What would be different about the recording industry as a whole if small

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independent labels didn’t exist? Add other questions and information as you go along. Meet

with the members of your group to discuss your findings. Your group might want to prepare

a chart or provide information about your label that can be shared with the rest of the class.

5. Engagement. Now that you know about indies, give some a try. Also request that local radio

stations play quality local independent artists so that other people can hear them. (This

strategy will be more effective if several people make requests over a sustained period of

time.) (Note: This assignment can be adapted to other media industries covered in the text.)

TRACKING RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SOUND RECORDING INDUSTRY:

A SEMESTER–LONG CRITICAL PROCESS EXERCISE AND PAPER

In this exercise students discover the most recent developments in the industry, and they become

familiar with industry trade sources. The paper they produce is due in sections, which

correspond with the steps in the Critical Process.

1. Description. Read industry trade sources to get a sense of the main issues affecting the sound

recording industry. Look at the websites of industry trade associations and professional

societies. (Links to websites of some industry trade sources are given in the Classroom

Media Sources below.) Take notes on topics that have multiple stories or mentions in the

current year. What issues or developments in the industry have received a lot of recent

attention, discussion, or commentary in industry sources? (Only focus on information from

the current year—and only from trade sources.) Write a one-page synopsis of the information

you found about current topics in the industry. Cite your sources properly.

2. Analysis. Look for one development or pattern that has received significant attention on trade

sites and from trade journalists in the current year. Choose one specific trend, and write one

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or two pages with details about the information you found about that trend. Continue to track

news about your topic as the semester progresses. Cite sources properly.

3. Interpretation. What does the trend mean for the state of the industry? Is it evolving? How?

What does it tell you about media in general at the current time? What might it say about our

culture or our society? Can your information help us interpret the role of the industry in our

lives? Write up your interpretation in a five-page paper. (The first page should be a synopsis

of the trend, with proper citations.) You might not have to provide information from your

sources for the next four pages because this section is your interpretation of the trend. (Save

any ideas you have about whether the trend is “good” or “bad” for the Evaluation step of the

Critical Process.) Cite any sources properly.

4. Evaluation. Is the trend “good” or “bad?” For the industry? society? culture? democracy? us?

What do you think might happen in the future?

5. Engagement. Are there any actions you can take (related to your trend and the industry)?

Possibilities include posting your views on social media, creating a petition, contacting

people in the industry to see what they think of your interpretation and evaluation, or going

to an industry event if any are held nearby. (This step need not be required if students are not

motivated to take action.)

Note: This exercise works well if each step of the Critical Process is due two weeks after the

prior step is due. Limiting students to only trade sources and only information from the current

year helps keep them on track. Your institution’s librarians should be able to provide students

with information on how to access industry trade sources.

CLASSROOM MEDIA RESOURCES

LAUNCHPAD FOR MEDIA & CULTURE: launchpadworks.com

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Alternative Strategies for Music Marketing (2009, 3:42 minutes). This video explores how music

marketing is evolving and the strategies independent artists and marketers now employ to reach

audiences, including the Internet and video games. Featuring Richard Campbell, Scott Dugdale,

David Gale, Gina Mendello, and Mike Molenda.

Recording Music Today (2009, 2:32 minutes). Composer Scott Dugdale discusses how

technological innovations have changed modern music recording.

VIDEOS/DVDS/CDS

Almost Famous (2000, 122 minutes). Cameron Crowe’s fictionalized story of his own work as a

teenage correspondent for Rolling Stone.

First Sounds: Humanity’s First Recordings of Its Own Voice (2009, 55:21). Recordings and

commentary on the history of sound recording; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75UrxueiP-4

A Hard Day’s Night (1964, 90 minutes). The first film starring the Beatles, this

pseudodocumentary follows the Fab Four during an average “day in the life.”

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes (2006, 61 minutes). This documentary, produced by Byron

Hurt, examines representations of gender roles in hip-hop and rap music.

The History of Audio Recordings (1997, 30 minutes). A history of the sound-recording industry

and a look at the connections among technology, business, artistry, and social dynamics when

producing an audio recording. Distributed by RMI Media, 847-297-8680;

http://www.rmimedia.com.

How Chance the Rapper’s Manager, Pat Corcoran, Reimagined the Music Business (October 9,

2017, 46.53 minutes). A COMPLEX documentary on how Chance the Rapper and his manager

set the bar for independent artists. Available online at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHMXA_o26Wc.

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This Is Spinal Tap (1984, 87 minutes). A hilarious “fake” documentary about a British rock

group on tour in the United States.

WEB SITES

The All–Music Database: http://www.allmusic.com

Billboard Magazine: http://www.billboard.com

COMPLEX: http://www.complex.com

The History of Sound Recording: http://www.recording-history.org

Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison

Companies: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml

Music Business Journal: http://www.thembj.org/

The Music Trades: http://www.musictrades.com

Music Week: http://www.musicweek.com/

Nielsen: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2017/time–with-tunes-how-technology-is–

driving-music-consumption.html

Pitchfork: http://www.pitchfork.com

The Recording Industry Association of America: http://www.riaa.com

Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music

Spin: http://www.spin.com/