Sound recordings (mainly music)
HISTORY
. Thomas Edison invents phonograph in 1877 (records on metal cylinder format); earliest
uses thought to be for dictation and other business needs
. Emile Berliner patents gramophone; makes spiral track recordings on flat disc
. nickelodeons: 1890s amusement arcade device that plays back a two-minute recording
for five cents; immensely popular. Demand for “entertainment cylinders” grows
Rivalry
Berliner premiers the Victrola in 1906, the first disc player designed to look like the furniture. He forms the Victor Talking Machine Company (the trademark is the famous picture of a dog peering into the bell of a gramophone with the logo, “His Master’s Voice”). The superiority of his device essentially ends the intense business rivalry going on in the recording industry between him, Edison, and the Columbia Phonograph Company.
Early popular recorded music included sentimental favorites, ragtime, jazz, and film musicals. By 1914 record players and record collections become a household standard, encouraged by a national dance craze that lasts through the World War I years. The boom continued into the 1920s with the dawn of the Jazz Age, the blues and jazz music foundation for the Roaring Twenties era.
The Impact of Radio on the Recording Industry
By 1924 record player sales drop 50 percent from 1923, largely due to the popularity of live music delivered via the new radio medium. Record companies counter in 1926 by introducing electronic recording which much improved sound quality, and the marketing of radio-phonograph combination devices. Audiences soon identify radio as the home of “live” music compared to the “canned” music of records. RCA and Victor merge in 1929 to dominate the radio and recording industry.
The Great Depression
With a hard economy imposing record low profits on the industry, a new coin-operated music device called the juke box helps rescue the industry during the Depression years. Installed in bars, diners, and drugstores, juke boxes help boost record sales nearly 500 percent by 1939.
World War II and After
Shellac, a vital manufacturing ingredient for records, is declared a vital defense commodity by the government during the war, and record making plummets. Adding to industry woes is the American Federation of Musicians' strike, 1942-44, who fear losing jobs from canned music. Capitol records, however, begins novel idea of sending free records to radio stations to promote certain songs; it becomes a practice that soon revolutionizes both mediums.
In 1947 the 3M Company introduces magnetic recording tape (an idea borrowed from wartime Germany) which provides better sound quality, easier editing, reduced costs, and multitrack recording capabilities. In 1948 Columbia Records introduces the 33 1/3 long-playing record (the LP). RCA enters the fray with its 45 rpm record, and the marketing battles of this era soon became known as the "Battle of the Speeds." Soon the 33 1/3 becomes the preferred format for albums, and the 45 remains the choice for single hits; the older 78 rpm format quietly disappears. In the 1950s stereophonic players debut, which quickly double the number of records being sold.
Other events that also help heighten record sales:
. emergence of small independent labels (made possible by lowered manufacturing costs)
. emergence of radio as a promotion device (the "promotion" department now a permanent
fixture in every recording company office )
. the nearly unbreakable new records enabled them to be sent through the mail, thus making
possible the birth of record clubs
. as an emerging TV medium strips radio of its standard formats in the early 1950s, radio
looks to new ways to attract audiences; playing the Top 40 songs becomes one of the most
popular ideas.
The Coming of Rock and Roll
As teenagers in the 1950s began to create their own identifiable, American sub-culture (unique clothes, customized cars, and hair styles), they lack their own brand of music. Rock and roll, with its roots in rhythm and blues, commercial white popular music, country and western, and jazz, quickly fill the void. Rock and roll owed much of its explosive popularity to new singers such as Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Chuck Berry, all of whom brought to rock and roll their own unique styles that helps give even more richness to the emerging music genre.
Rock Goes Commercial
For various reasons (some scandalous, some not), all the original rock stars had left the scene by 1959. The radio-recording payola scandals of the period further blemishes an already suspect image of rock and roll. In the early 1960s the industry counters by cleaning up rock's image with a new wave of wholesome, clean-cut American singers: Ricky Nelson, Bobby Vinton, Paul Anka, Connie Francis, Fabian, the Four Seasons, Annette Funicello, and Brenda Lee to name a few.
The British Invasion
In 1964 the Beatles took rock and roll by storm with a sound that was widely recognized as upbeat and innovative. Many other British groups followed, but not all followed the same music style; the Rolling Stones and the Animals, for example, exemplified a new blues-based, harsher, and slightly more aggressive sound. Both styles merged somewhat with two music genres currently coming of age in the United States: folk (with artists such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Peter, Paul, and Mary) and the Motown sound (with artists such as Diana Ross and the Supremes, and the Jackson Five).
Transitions
Music genres in the late 1960s reflect the social experimentation and cultural transition of the times. Freedom, experimentation, and innovation are in. The group Blood, Sweat, and Tears blend jazz, rock and classical music. The Who record a rock opera, Tommy. By the 1970s rock music becomes synonymous with the counter culture, giving rise to non-mainstream groups who play the brash new heavy metal sounds. Countering heavy metal, a softer rock sound emerges, and a few years later a crossover movement sees both genres merging somewhat with a country western music sound. Often the same top songs are featured on the charts of both rock and country music charts.
Industry Trends 1970-1990s
Profits in the record industry followed several roller coaster trends since the 70s, some of which were due to trends (disco), high profile artists (Michael Jackson), new technologies (CDs), the 80s promotional vehicles of music videos and MTV, and the main stream debut of rap music in the 90s.
More Diversity
The availability of digital music on the Internet direct to the consumer is yet another example of the trend toward disintermediation.
DEFINING FEATURES OF SOUND RECORDING
• Sound recording is a cultural force, characterizing social groups, defining movements, and setting trends in society and, in turn, helps to shape modern culture.
• Second, sound recording is an international enterprise (five record companies dominate the global market, each company headquartered in a different country).
• Third, the recording business is a unique blend of business and talent.
ORGANIZATION OF THE RECORD INDUSTRY
The recording industry can be divided into four major segments:
. talent
. distribution
. production
. retail
Talent
The talent segment of the industry consists of all the singers, musicians, songwriters, arrangers, and lyricists who hope to make money by recording and selling songs, but the road to success is hard and long. Few make it big. A group's first step is usually to perform for local clubs and events; next, if they survive, they'll take their act on the road to gain experience, money, and a little recognition. Traveling acts play in bars and clubs where the band is little more than a human jukebox providing accompaniment or background music. If the talent is lucky, they might be noticed by an A&R (artist and repertoire) scout from a record label. If so, they might be invited to sign a contract.
Production
At a recording studio the group records an album or a few singles. Audio engineers use elaborate sound-mixing systems to perfect the right sound. When the label releases the group's single or album, promotion, publicity, advertising, merchandising, and packaging expertise start in. Though there are dozens of record labels, five firms dominate the industry: Sony, AOL-Time Warner, Bertelsmann, Universal, and EMI.
Distribution There are five main outlets for music distributors:
. direct retail stores (most of which have gone out of business in the past five years)
. rack jobbers they serve department stores and major discount chains (WalMart, Target, etc.)
. one-stops buy CDs from industry, then resell to CD stores and juke box firms
. direct consumer sales (a.k.a. packagers) sales from TV promotions and record clubs
. online sales the consumer deals directly with an online retailer (iTunes, amazon.com, etc.)
Retail
There are two major trends in the retail music segment: consolidation and online selling. Big music chain stores used to dominate, such as Sam Goody, Media Play, Camelot, but brick-and-mortar retailers faced increasing competition from online retailers such as Amazon.com and iTunes (and the general transition to digital music) and most have closed their doors.
WalMart has done well with its music sales (CDs and its online downloads). Today, most music sold comes from either iTunes (digital) or WalMart (CDs).
OWNERSHIP IN THE RECODING INDUSTRY
The recording industry is one of the most concentrated of all media industries, with just FOUR companies accounting for more than 87 percent of all sales. In addition, these companies are multinational conglomerates with interests in many different industries.
Here's a list-- courtesy of the AP-- of the top recording companies and a sampling of the artists they represent:
By The Associated Press
Here's a look at the top record labels, their artists and their U.S. market share as of Oct. 9:
_
UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP: 43.47% percent market share in U.S.
Labels include: Geffen Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Motown Records, Verve Music Group, Decca Music Group.
Artists include: Gwen Stefani, Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, Kanye West, Shania Twain.
Universal Music Group also owns:
_ EMI GROUP PLC
:
Labels include: Capitol Records, Virgin, Blue Note.
Artists include: Coldplay, Katy Perry, The Rolling Stones, Lenny Kravitz.
_ SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT INC.: 22.79 percent market share.
Labels include: Arista Records, Columbia Records, Jive Records, RCA Records.
Artists include: Carrie Underwood, Alicia Keys, Usher, Chris Brown, AC/DC, Leona Lewis.
_ WARNER MUSIC GROUP CORP.: 21.12 percent market share.
Labels include: Atlantic Records, Warner Bros. Records.
Artists include Madonna, R.E.M., Green Day, Eric Clapton.
_ ALL OTHERS: 12.61 percent.
Source: Nielsen SoundScan, company Web sites.
PRODUCING RECORDS
Departments and Staff
There are seven departments within the typical recording company:
. artists and repertoire (A&R) at times industry talent scouts; also administrative duties. YouTube and Vimeo have effectively eliminated A&R departments. While they still exist, their numbers and duties have changed drastically. Today, most artists are 'discovered' online.
. sales and distribution sells products, makes sure inventory gets to targeted markets
. advertising and merchandising aids sales by planning media ad campaigns
. business lawyers, accountants, researchers, financial analysts, secretarial staff
. promotion get releases played on radio stations
. publicity tries to get press coverage and reviews for new performers in trade press
. artist development helps further artist’s career with tours, concerts, and TV appearances
FEEDBACK
Feedback in the record industry is measured by Billboard magazine’s weekly ratings of stars, triangles, and bullets. Stars are “mover” titles, bullets go to one million seller singles, and triangles to the two million single sellers. In general, the Billboard’s “Hot-100 Chart is based on two components: exposure and sales.
For sales figures, Billboard measures the top 50 retail sales markets, subjectively choosing the most influential music outlets; about 185 outlets are surveyed weekly.
To measure exposure, Billboard surveys the play lists of about 240 leading radio stations, all of which are weighted by audience reach (bigger audiences count more than smaller markets). As evidence of their symbiotic relationship, radio stations usually monitor Billboard magazine to see which records they ought to be playing. The magazine then combines the two components to forge a final figure, which is reported as that song’s rating. Billboard publishes a chart for almost all popular music formats. Although sampling numbers may vary, the underlying process remains the same.
Sound-Recording Audiences
Demographic profiles for record audiences are difficult to come by because the recording industry is supported by audience purchases and not by advertising. This means that recording companies concentrate on overall sales figures rather than seeking detailed demographic information about their audiences. What information that does exist centers mainly on estimates of the number and type of playback equipment, CDs, files, etc. in the average household. In terms of music sales, people over 35 now account for more than 60 percent of sales (a 30 percent increase over the past 20 years ), while spending by those 19 and under has decreased from 35 to 15 percent during the same period (which gives us an indication as to how popular file-sharing is among teens).
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Radio
Early Radio Milestones
1873: James Maxwell of Scotland suggests an electromagnetic signal could be sent through
space without using wires
1887: Heinrich Hertz, of Germany, verifies Maxwell's theory in a series of experiments by
sending and detecting radio waves
1896: Guglielmo Marconi sends wireless signal two miles in Morse Code (letters encoded by
a system of dots and dashes); sees promise of "wireless" (radio's first name) as a
ship-to-shore or ship communication medium; starts wireless telegraph company
1906: Reginald Fessenden, with the help of G.E., makes first high-speed continuous-wave
generator that can broadcast the human voice and music; makes first "broadcast" of
music to ships in New York Harbor on Christmas Eve
1908: American Lee de Forest, inventor of vacuum tube which made it much easier to receive
audio waves, broadcasts a classical phonograph concert from the Eiffel Tower
Patent wars between inventors severely hampers early radio’s development; but when the US Navy assumes responsibility for all relevant patents at the outbreak of World War I, the log jam is broken and great technical strides take place.
The Evolution of Radio as a Mass Medium
Big Business
While radio development before World War I had been characterized by individual inventions, during the postwar years it would be characterized by corporate maneuvers. In 1919 the Marconi Company sells its radio rights to General Electric (GE) who, in turn, created the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) to house the new division. Stock would be jointly held by GE, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), and Westinghouse Electric. David Sarnoff, an RCA mid-manager but soon-to-be president of RCA, suggests radio would be a household appliance.
Mass Audience
Shortly before 1920 Frank Conrad, a Westinghouse engineer, begins broadcasting a potpourri of sports scores and music from his garage. A local department store promotes the broadcasts by offering $10 discounts on their ready-built wireless sets. Westinghouse sees opportunity and initiates the first radio station, KDKA of Pittsburgh, on November 20, 1920. RCA begins broadcasting in 1921 and GE in 1922. By 1926 there are over two million sets in operation and climbing rapidly. By discovering that an audience existed for broadcast programs intended for the general public, radio had found the role it was to play for the foreseeable future.
Better Receivers
Early radios were bulky, filled with tubes and batteries, and required lots of patience from users in order to find—and keep—the desired radio signal for which they were looking. In 1925 Gimbel's Department Store displays a bulky radio set in their window ($99, a huge sum in the 20s); that same day they sell 5,300 sets. Radio receivers quickly evolve from a bulky, battery-dependent, one-listener hobby kit into a major piece of fashionable furniture running on household current that everyone could listen to at once. Living room family radio had arrived. Between 1925-1930, some 17 million sets are sold at an average price of $80.
Radio Goes Commercial
Station operating and equipment costs rose steadily along with personnel expenses. Radio needed a steady revenue source to meet expenses. AT&T's radio station begins charging a "toll" to anyone who wished to broadcast a message, and the most logical customers for that service were businesses who had services or products to sell. Almost overnight, advertising becomes the new answer to how stations would make money.
Networks
The fifth element of radio's evolution came about when stations saw they could drastically cut their production costs by sharing program content; this inter-station agreement came to be known as a network. Additionally, if enough stations were networked, an advertiser could reach a much larger audience yet deal with only one network broker. The first network was the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) who went on the air in 1926; actually, NBC opened with two separate networks, one made up of solely owned RCA stations, and another made up of stations originally owned by AT&T.
By 1937 NBC had 111 affiliates and CBS had 105. It wasn’t long before advertisers were spending more than $27 million annually on network advertising.
Government Regulation
As more radio stations came online in the 1920s, interference became a major problem. In response, Congress passes the Radio Act of 1927 and creates the Federal Radio Commission to curtail practices that were causing massive interference problems by using non-authorized frequencies and power levels. The FRC defines the AM band, standardizes channel designations, and abolishes portable stations. Thus by the end of the 1920s the framework for modern radio was in place. It would be a commercially supported medium dominated by networks and regulated by an agency of the federal government.
The Depression 1930-1940
Unlike other industries, radio fared fairly well in the Depression years. Radio revenues tripled and radio’s audience did the same (by 1940, radio was in 81 percent of US homes). But there were also other significant evolutionary events for radio during this period.
. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formed in 1934. President Roosevelt creates a new agency in charge of regulating all types of electronic communications; this seven-
member, appointed-for-life commission remains intact today and generally follows its original mandate
Birth of FM
In the mid-1930s Edwin Howard Armstrong, a noted inventor, demonstrated frequency modulated radio, or FM. Despite FM's obvious superior quality over AM radio, Armstrong's audience, RCA, is not interested, opting instead to concentrate on developing TV as an emerging technology. Though a few companies buy licenses from Armstrong to develop sets, WW II curtails FM's development.
Radio Programs
The gloom of the Depression years meant more people turned to radio for free entertainment, thus popular radio programs of this era reflected a need for diversion and escape. Dramatic programs, such as The Lone Ranger, Gangbusters, The Shadow, Dick Tracy, and Buck Rogers flourished. Then radio created an entirely new dramatic genre, the soap opera; by 1940 there were some 40 different soaps on the air such as Helen Trent, Our Gal Sunday, Backstage Wife, and Clara, Lu 'n' Em.
The 1930s saw network news grow into a serious and highly respected field. News commentator Edward R. Murrow with CBS news quickly becomes one of America's most respected news personalities (another first for radio). President Franklin Roosevelt also finds a new and controversial role for radio, political speeches, with his famous Depression era "Fireside chats."
World War II
Radio thrives during WW II era. Ad revenues double from 1940-1945, outpacing newspapers as the top national advertising vehicle in 1943. In that same year, the Supreme Court forever alters the broadcast landscape by forcing NBC to divest itself of one of its two networks. The new network that emerges, ABC, ends the war years with 195 affiliates, making it a full-fledged competitor with NBC and CBS.
Innovation and Change: 1945-1954
In the nine years following WW II, the growth of television forced radio to abandon its role as a dramatic entertainer and switch instead to a reliance on playing pre-recorded music. The public’s focus on television as the nation’s new entertainment medium also helped delay the widespread acceptance of FM radio.
FM
Although FM sounded better than AM, was static free, and could reproduce a wider range of sound frequencies, a number of pieces of bad fortune hampered FM’s quick development. Initially, of course, World War II froze FM development, but later these problems added to FM’s woes:
. FM was trying to develop simultaneously with television’s evolution
. FM and TV shared nearly the same electromagnetic wave area; in 1945 the FCC gave TV FM’s former bandwidths, moving FM into the 88-108-MHz band where it remains today.
Television
The emergence of TV meant changes in the contents, economics, and functions of radio. Although TV did not have a negative effect on individual station revenues, it did drastically affect network radio. Network affiliations were nearly cut in half; but despite a brief drop in revenues, radio profits continued to steadily increase. To do that, radio stations turned less to network-based advertising and more to local advertisers for support. Local stations created new formats (music, talk and news) to help fill the now vacated network program airtime.
Specialized Formats
More than anything these changes allowed local radio to adopt specialized formats, sounds that had distinctive appeal to a certain segment of the audience. One highly successful format, the Top-40, soon became indistinguishable from any other Top-40 station—until, that is, the advent of the radio DJ, a home-grown personality in his own right that gave a station a distinctive edge over any other competition. The clock hour, a program scheduling tool that specified every element of a station’s programming within a given time frame, soon emerged as a way to keep order within a program.
Growth and Stabilization: 1955-1990
Radio stations more than doubled during this period, and the Top-40 format became popular enough to tempt record promoters to bribe DJs to play selected music (an illegal practice known as payola). The idea that prompted payola was that the more a record was played on air, the more that record would sell. Format specialization continued to grow even into the network level. ABC, which was imitated by the other networks, soon splintered into four different formats for its 1300 affiliate stations.
The most significant development to radio, however, happened in 1970 with the final emergence of FM as a mass medium. FM licenses were easier to get than AM, and in 1965 the FCC passed the nonduplication rule, which prevented AM-FM sister stations from duplicating more than 50 percent of the AM content to its sister FM station. Faced with these factors, and the fact that FM had a much better sound quality, FM stations became an attractive commodity. By 1990, FM had captured over 70 percent of the national radio audience.
Country music became the most popular radio format, followed by adult contemporary, while AM became the home to news-talk, oldies, and religious stations. National Public Radio (NPR) went on the air in the early 1970s as the country’s first non-commercial network; by 1980 it had over 160 affiliates and was reaching five million people weekly. Its two most successful offerings are its daily news programs, “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.”
The Volatile 1990s
An unprecedented era of station consolidation began in 1994 when an FCC ruling upped the number of stations a company could own to 20 AM and 20 FM stations, and also allowing holdings of up to four stations in a single market. Congress later passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which completely eliminated the number of stations a company could own and also upped the number of allowable single-owned stations within a single market to eight.
The overall philosophy that first guided the development of radio was localism. Radio stations were, in principle, licensed primarily to serve the public interest of those within the listening area of the station. Today, however, continuing station mergers and acquisitions by large corporations has greatly diminished the localist philosophy. A corporatist view now commands center stage, which essentially advocates the idea that the public interest is whatever interests the public the most.
DEFINING FEATURES OF RADIO
portable – small and convenient enough to go anywhere, anytime
supplemental – most listening occurs while doing something else: driving, working, studying
universal -- most homes have six radios with one in almost every car; 75% of us listen daily
selective – radio is a niche medium, with specialized formats attracting narrowly defined audiences; only 2 or 3 % of the available audience is usually sufficient to generate a profit
ORGANIZATION OF THE RADIO INDUSTRY
There are about 12,500 radio stations in the United States, many of which use network programming (wherein all affiliates carry the same program at the same time) and/or syndication services (stations decide themselves when to use program content); in practice, however, most radio stations broadcast whatever content they get whenever it suits them best.
Local Stations, Nets, and Syndicators
Network radio, a dominant force in the 1930-42, has greatly diminished in its role as a content provider. Today the leading networks (ABC, Westwood, and Premiere) generally limit what they offer to news and public affairs programming, and, of course, limited national advertising.
By contrast, syndicated shows now enjoy an all-time demand, such as the programs based on “stars” such as Rush Limbaugh, John Tesh, Ryan Seacrest, Zac Sang and the Gang, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Glenn Beck, etc. Other, more specialized, syndicated shows also enjoy a niche market such as the Comedy Network and NASCAR.
AM and FM Stations
Everything being equal, AM (amplitude modulation) signals travel further than FM (frequency modulation) signals, especially at night. With AM listenership on decline, FM radio commands about 75 percent of the total audience.
AM radio has three channel classifications:
. clear -- a single dominant station designed to provide service over a wide area, almost
always urban, and broadcasting with 50,000 watts of power
. regional -- a channel shared by many stations that serve fairly large areas
. local -- a channel designed to be shared by a large number of stations that broadcast only
to their local communities
FM, though not as powerful as AM, does have these significant technical advantages:
. superior sound quality
. less likely to be affected by outside interferences (storms)
Like AM, FM stations are also organized by classes in a descending order of output power--
an FM class “C” station (100,000 watts), for example, has more power than a class “B” or “A” station.
