Chapter Review
COMMON THREADS
One of the Common Threads discussed in Chapter 1 is about the developmental stages of the mass media. But as new audio and sound recording technologies evolve, do they drive the kind of music we hear?
In the recent history of the music industry, it would seem as if technology has been the driving force behind the kind of music we hear. Case in point: The advent of the MP3 file as a new format in 1999 has led to a new emphasis on single songs as the primary unit of music sales. The Recording Industry Association of America reports that there were more than 1.3 billion downloads of digital singles in 2011. In that year, digital singles outsold physical CD albums more than 5 to 1, digital albums 12 to 1, and vinyl LP/EPs 237 to 1. In the past decade, we have come to live in a music business dominated by digital singles.
What have we gained by this transition? Thankfully, there are fewer CD jewel boxes (which always shattered with the greatest of ease). And there is no requirement to buy the lackluster “filler” songs that often come with the price of an album, when all we want are the two or three hit songs. But what have we lost culturally in the transition away from albums?
First, there is no album art for digital singles (although department stores now sell frames to turn vintage 12-inch album covers into art). And second, we have lost the concept of an album as a thematic collection of music, and a medium that provides a much broader canvas to a talented musical artist. Consider this: How would the Beatles’ The White Album have been created in a business dominated by singles? A look at Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums and Time magazine’s All-Time 100 Albums indicates the apex of album creativity in earlier decades, with selections such as Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced (1967), the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust (1972), Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988), and Radiohead’s OK Computer (1997). Has the movement away from albums changed possibilities for musical artists? That is, if an artist is to be commercially successful, is there more pressure just to generate hit singles instead of larger bodies of work that constitute the album? Have the styles of artists like Ke$ha, Nicki Minaj, One Republic, and Lil Wayne been shaped by the predominance of the single?
Still, there is a clear case against technological determinism—the idea that technological innovations determine the direction of the culture. Back in the 1950s, the vinyl album caught on despite there having been no album format prior to it and despite the popularity of the 45-rpm single format, which competed with it at the same time. When the MP3 single format emerged in the late 1990s, the music industry had just rolled out two formats of advanced album discs that were technological improvements on the CD. Neither caught on. Of course, music fans may have been lured by the ease of acquiring music digitally via the Internet, and by the price—usually free (but illegal).
So, if it isn’t technological determinism, why doesn’t a strong digital album market coexist with the digital singles today? Can you think of any albums of the past few years that merit being listed with the greatest albums of all time?
KEY TERMS
The definitions for the terms listed below can be found in the glossary at the end of the book. The page numbers listed with the terms indicate where the term is highlighted in the chapter.
For review quizzes, chapter summaries, links to media-related Web sites, and more, go to bedfordstmartins.com/mediaculture.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
The Development of Sound Recording
- The technological configuration of a particular medium sometimes elevates it to mass market status. Why did Emile Berliner’s flat disk replace the wax cylinder, and why did this reconfiguration of records matter in the history of the mass media? Can you think of other mass media examples in which the size and shape of the technology have made a difference?
- How did sound recording survive the advent of radio?
- How did the music industry attempt to curb illegal downloading and file-sharing?
U.S. Popular Music and the Formation of Rock
- How did rock and roll significantly influence two mass media industries?
- Although many rock-and-roll lyrics from the 1950s are tame by today’s standards, this new musical development represented a threat to many parents and adults at that time. Why?
- What moral and cultural boundaries were blurred by rock and roll in the 1950s?
- Why did cover music figure so prominently in the development of rock and roll and the record industry in the 1950s?
A Changing Industry: Reformations in Popular Music
- Explain the British invasion. What was its impact on the recording industry?
- What were the major influences of folk music on the recording industry?
- Why did hip-hop and punk rock emerge as significant musical forms in the late 1970s and 1980s? What do their developments have in common, and how are they different?
- Why does pop music continue to remain powerful today?
The Business of Sound Recording
- What companies control the bulk of worldwide music production and distribution?
- Why are independent labels so important to the music industry?
- Who are the major parties who receive profits when a digital download, music stream, or physical CD is sold?
- How is a mechanical royalty different from a performance royalty?
Sound Recording, Free Expression, and Democracy
- Why is it ironic that so many forms of alternative music become commercially successful?
QUESTIONING THE MEDIA
- If you ran a noncommercial campus radio station, what kind of music would you play and why?
- Think about the role of the 1960s drug culture in rock’s history. How are drugs and alcohol treated in contemporary and alternative forms of rock and hip-hop today?
- Is it healthy for, or detrimental to, the music business that so much of the recording industry is controlled by just a few large international companies? Explain.
- Do you think the Internet as a technology helps or hurts musical artists? Why do so many contemporary musical performers differ in their opinions about the Internet?
- How has the Internet changed your musical tastes? Has it exposed you to more global music? Do you listen to a wider range of music because of the Internet?
ADDITIONAL VIDEOS
Visit the 
VideoCentral: Mass Communication section at bedfordstmartins.com/mediaculture for additional exclusive videos related to Chapter 4.