CHAPTER ESSENTIALS

• In the development stage of sound recording, early inventors experimented with sound technology; in the entrepreneurial stage, people sought to make money from this technology; finally, in the mass medium stage, entrepreneurs learned how they could cheaply produce and distribute recorded music to large audiences (pp. 129–131).
• The introduction of magnetic audiotape (which made possible sound editing and multiple-track mixing, with vocals or instrumentals recorded at one location and later mixed onto a master recording in a studio) and tape players in the 1940s paved the way for innovations such as cassettes in the mid-1960s; the commercial use in the 1950s of stereo (more specifically, stereophonic sound, which created a more natural sound by improving on this 1930s invention); and digital recording in the 1970s, which stands in contrast to analog recording. Using digital technology, the first compact discs (CDs)—produced more cheaply than vinyl and audiocassettes—were first sold in 1983 (pp. 131–132).
• In 1992, the MP3 file format was developed as part of a video compression standard, enabling sound to be compressed into small, manageable digital files. This allowed people to easily download music, thereby reducing sales of CDs and other physical formats, revolutionizing the sound recording industry, and shifting the rocky relationship between record labels and radio stations (pp. 132– 134).

• As sound recording became a mass medium, it fueled the growth of pop music, which arose out of sheet-music sales. Pop music became a major enterprise with numerous genres evolving from a common foundation, the first of which were blues and jazz (whose early artists often performed cover music) (pp. 135, 138).
• Pop music’s appeal grew quickly, ushering in rock and roll in the mid-1950s. Rock’s strongest influences can be traced back to blues (whose roots come from African American songs from the rural South) and rhythm and blues, or R&B (blues-based urban black music that emerged with the introduction of the electric guitar) (pp. 138–139).
• Rock both reflected and shaped powerful social forces, such as blacks’ migration from South to North and the growth of youth culture. It also blurred the boundaries between black and white, and broke down divisions between high and low culture, masculinity and femininity, country and city (white rockers combined country or hillbilly music, southern gospel, and Mississippi delta blues to create a sound called rockabilly), North and South, and the sacred and the secular (pp. 139–141).
• Due to rock’s social and cultural influence, it stirred controversies that eroded its acceptance. These controversies included black artists’ frustration with being undermined by white cover music and censorship by officials who thought rock turned young people into delinquents (pp. 141–142).

• Despite authorities’ attempts to “tame” rock, it would continue to grow even across national borders, influenced by the emergence of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles in the 1960s, all the while reflecting social, cultural, and political shifts of the time (pp. 143–144).
• As pop adapted to the times, it led to the creation of numerous genres over the next few decades, including soul, folk music, psychedelic music, and eventually punk rock, grunge, alternative rock, indie rock, hip-hop, gangster rap, and country (pp. 144–149).

• Over the years, the recording industry has undergone a shift in its power structure—from numerous competing labels and independent production houses, or indies, to a few major labels swallowing up the indies and buying each other out (pp. 151–152).
• The recording industry makes money through music sales, though selling music has become increasingly challenging in the digital age as file-sharing has undercut CD sales and online retailers and digital downloading has undermined music stores and cut into the sale of CDs (pp. 152–153).
• Recording-industry executives and workforce spend money on producing music (including the employment of people and the investment in equipment and other resources to get the job done). The process begins with A&R (artist & repertoire) agents, who are the talent scouts of the business (p. 153).
• Artists and businesspeople divide profits based on CD prices, manufacturing costs, CD packaging and design, advertising and promotion, and royalties. As of 2008, the rules for dividing digital download profits became more standardized (pp. 153–154).

1. Popular music has raised many questions about music’s role in our democracy, such as what people should be allowed to say in a song and whether or not they are protected under the First Amendment (p. 155).
2. The challenge becomes how to support freedom of expression while resisting powerful control by companies whose profit motives are usually paramount (p. 155).