Chapter 7

Recordings And The Music Industry: Copyright Battles, Format Wars  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Chapter Outline  History  Industry  Controversies

 Early Recording Technology  Thomas Edison made the first recording in 1877, with a Phonograph ▪ A cylinder with grooves cut into it, a horn, and a hand crank.  Victrola discs were introduced in 1906 by the Victor Company. ▪ They were easier to produce and less expensive than cylinders.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Early Recording Technology  Ragtime and Tin Pan Alley made hits that sold well ▪ like Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” favorites like “Alexander’s Ragtime Band  In 1914, music publishers joined together and formed ASCAP to fight for strong copyright laws.  How ASCAP works  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Enter Radio  Commercial radio in the 1920s ▪ Caused major changes in the recording industry.  Radio spurred sales ▪ People wanted higher fidelity recordings of what was on the radio.  Jazz recordings became hot, then big bands, then country music. ▪ Dance crazes would sell records.  What are some dances that have been big over the years?  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Rock and Roll  By 1947, six large record companies controlled the popular music industry: ▪ Columbia, Victor, Decca, Capitol, MGM, and Mercury.  Big labels pushed a mainstream music style epitomized by ▪ Bing Crosby’s crooning, Perry Como and Doris Day.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 In 1954, Memphis disc jockey and label owner Sam Phillips released “That’s All Right Mama” ▪ Elvis Presley.  Presley moved to RCA where he recorded several hits including “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog.” ▪ Defined rock music until the 1960s when the Beatles and other British groups like the Rolling Stones entered the picture.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Presley borrowed many of his songs from the black community.  Proved how successful black music could be with a white artist on the album cover, a practice known as covering. ▪ He added a white hillbilly sound to rhythm and blues and gospel,  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Chuck Berry and Little Richard ▪ Two African Americans who did manage to break through with their own rock and roll acts.  In 1959, on “the day the music died,” ▪ Three of rock and roll’s biggest stars, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper ▪ Killed in a plane crash,  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Rap and Hip-Hop  Rap is speaking in rhythm over drum beats. Hip-hop, is the backing music for rap, ▪ Often composed of a collage of ‘samples’ from other songs. Hip-hop also refers to the culture of rap.  Rap originated in the early 1970s in the boroughs of New York City, especially the Bronx.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Rap and Hip-Hop  The 1 st commercial rap record “Rapper’s Delight” was recorded in 1979 by The Sugar Hill Gang.  In the 1990s, rivalries between east and west coast factions of rappers culminated in the murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Format Wars Intensify  Sony’s Walkman portable audio cassette player, introduced in 1979, ▪ Became wildly successful as joggers and commuters listened to their favorite songs while moving about  Did any in here ever have a Walkman?  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 CDs (compact discs), plastic discs with digitally encoded music that is read by lasers, were introduced in  Format revitalized the industry ▪ Music lovers replaced collections of analog vinyl and cassette tape ▪ CD’s had better sound quality and greater durability of the new high-tech medium. ▪ Minidiscs, a smaller version of the CD, appeared in the late 1990s. ▪ Anyone ever have minidiscs? ▪ Why didn’t the public embrace them?  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Music Downloading  In the 1990s, listeners began copying CDs onto their computers.  In 1999, a college student named Shawn Fanning developed Napster, the first successful free file-sharing program.  The music industry shut down the free version of Napster through legal action, but soon several competitors were developed.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Music Downloading  By 2001, file-sharing and inexpensive CD recorders, or burners, were seriously cutting into music industry profits.  Napster returned in 2004 as a legal, low cost music downloading service.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Music Downloading  In 2006 the head of the Recording Industry Association of America declared ▪ Unauthorized song swapping had been “contained.” ▪ Do you think this is true today?  The industry cannot sue every single infringer, but reasoned ▪ “If the industry makes enough waves in enough countries through legal actions, court cases could have a serious deterrent effect.”

 The Major Labels: Global Goliaths  Five major corporations, Warner, EMI, Sony, Universal, and Bertelsmann, ▪ Collect around 80 percent of recording industry revenues each year.  Until the 1980s, part of a major label’s business was to develop new talent. ▪ Today, artists who don’t sell fast are dropped or not given adequate promotion.  In the 90s, majors signed multi-million dollar deals with superstars ▪ Including Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Motley Crue and Prince. ▪ Most of these projects were artistic and financial disappointments and drained support from developing acts.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

Top Selling Albums of All Time  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Independents: Developing Talent  Independent labels are not owned by one of the four majors. ▪ Industry practice is for the majors to acquire successful independents ▪ What are some independent labels that are now under major labels  Many independents become successful by handling specialized material not profitable for bigger companies, ▪ Such as jazz, classical, religious, or rap.  Priority Records became the largest U.S. independent ▪ Distributing records such as Ice-T’s “Cop Killer” which was too controversial for Warner Brothers.  What Major is priority records associated with  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Players  A&R (artist and repertoire) ▪ Executives discover and develop the groups and performers.  Producers ▪ Oversee the making of a master tape from start to finish, including mixing and editing.  Most artists spend years performing but never get a chance to record for a label. ▪ Overnight success of television programs such as “American Idol” are sensational exceptions.  Some artists become very wealthy but there is also a history of artists, such as Chuck Berry, Mary Wells, TLC ▪ Who were exploited or robbed by managers, promoters and record companies.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Royalties and Performance Rights Organizations  There are two types of royalties: 1.Recording-artist royalties 2.Songwriter/publisher royalties  Recording artists earn royalties from the sale of their recordings on CDs, tapes, vinyl, and legal downloads.  Recording artists don’t earn royalties when their recordings are played on radio or TV.  Songwriters and publishers, do earn royalties on radio play and other public performances, as well as on recording sales.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Promotion  Promoters ▪ Concentrate on getting a cut from the album played on radio stations. ▪ They focus on reporting stations whose playlists determine, along with sales, a song’s placement on the charts in Billboard magazine.  In 1991, Soundscan, ▪ A point-of-sale computer system records the bar codes scanned at thousands of stores, began reporting record sales to Billboard.  Promoters arrange press coverage, lobby for awards, feed tidbits to gossip-hungry Web sites, try to place music videos on MTV, BET, CMT and VH1, ▪ try to get songs on movie and television soundtracks, and in television commercials.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Distribution and Sales  Recordings are distributed & sold through a variety of methods, ▪ Online retailers & outlets such as music stores, bookstores, electronic stores, discount stores, movie stores, and music clubs.  Online distribution can produce a higher profit margin than traditional retailing  Labels ▪ Save the cost of packaging, ▪ Don’t have to worry about losing sales because a title is sold out, ▪ Do not have to absorb the costs of unsold overstock.

 The Audience  Consumers are less loyal to individual groups than in the past.  Some critics say major labels encourage the fickleness of young audiences ▪ Because they can sign young artists to cheap contracts and make big profits with a single album. ▪ What are some of your favorite artists  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Effects  Throughout the 1990s ▪ Sadomasochistic lyrics, gansta rap, and shock rock were linked to youthful crime and decadence.  Several documented cases where teens committed suicide after listening to recordings such as Ozzy Osbourne’s “Suicide Solution” and Judas Priest’s Stained Class album, ▪ Although no court of law has ever found an artist responsible.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Censorship  In 1990, the music industry adopted parental warning labels ▪ After pressure by The Parent’s Music Resource Center (PMRC).  Discount chain Wal-Mart is the largest seller of pop music in the country ▪ But will not carry CDs with parental advisories on them.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Censorship  Most labels will airbrush CD covers, change lyrics or delete entire songs to avoid such bans.  In 2003, Clear Channel Communications, the largest owner of radio stations in the U.S., ▪ Stopped playing the music of the Dixie Chicks after a member of the group criticized President George Bush.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved