History of the Record Industry, 1920-1950s
Part Two: Independent labels, Radio, and the Battle of the Speeds
https://medium.com/@Vinylmint/history-of-the-record-industry-1920-1950s-6d491d7cb606
Intro to the Music Industry: Course Readings
Dr. Stan Renard | Fall 2019
Jazz music became more pronounced in the 20’s, known as the Roaring 20’s. The era was known as the cultural movement towards music. What I grasped interesting is that in the article, jazz music was the key element of change. People were not used to jazz music but they found the style of music different but in a good way. Soon enough, producers and artist’s started to make new styles of music based on jazz.
Here’s a link of the history of Jazz Music
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/a-culture-of-change/
One of the interesting facts about this article was that in 1934 RCA Victor would spend money on new technology to help expand the life of the record company. That new technology would be known as the Duo Jr, the first component record player which had to be plugged into a radio speaker to hear it. RCA Victor would also aim this device to a younger audience which accounted for 40% of their sales. Another amazing fact was the jukebox and how popular the machine got after the year 1927 all thanks to letting the listener choose from 20 records instead of just one cycled song. Lastly, I also wanted to mention Peter Goldmark the man behind the LP, color television, condenser microphones, and even made the modern speaker. Peter Goldmark would use a engineering approach which he analyzed every component of the sound reproduction system by considering all materials such as the needle and tonearm to the speakers and amps to the record itself.
Here’s an interesting link about the history of the Jukebox
https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/computers-and-electrical-engineering/computers-and-computing/jukebox
I noticed that this article mentioned the American Federation of Musicians Strike of 1942-1944. What is interesting about this strike is that it is known as the longest strike in entertainment history and led to the improvement of labor standards in the music industry. This strike happened due to many employees in the AFM being underpaid or even losing their jobs after the Great Depression. The article also mentioned that this strike was met with public disapproval since the United States was currently fighting in World War II. You can learn more about the AFM Strike at https://www.afm.org/about/history-2/.
In the music industry, radio has been a major threat since the beginning. A lot of musicians and artists feared that listeners would become so accustomed to radio that they would stop buying records and they wouldn’t make any money. Which was true, to a certain extent. There was a way for artist to still make money off of radio listens, but just not as much. Even today radio is also a threat. A lot of people today discover a song first from radio; this makes it hard for platforms like Youtube to get the streams and views that they need.
Here’s a link on the three roles radio plays as being a threat in the music industry for other platforms.
https://www.integr8research.com/blog/the-three-threats-to-radios-role-in-new-music-discovery
Radio was the first major platform for entertainment. Not only was it great for music, it opened opened up opportunities for talk shows. Being on the radio back then and to this day is symbolic for “making it”.
Here’s a link on how famous singer Frank Sinatra grew in popularity due to his radio show.
https://www.npr.org/2015/11/25/457260737/an-artist-grows-into-his-talent-revisiting-sinatras-radio-years
I do agree that the radio has opened many doors to other opportunities and benefits that it has to offer. Back in the 1920’s it was being used for more than just music. That was their source of news, TV shows, and talk shows as well. Now today we are using it for same thing but with more. We can now listen to podcast, we have ads, there are so many different ways the radio is being used for.
This article was another interesting read! One thing that peaked my interest in particular was the progression of legality for music. The string of lawsuits happening right before the 1940s showed a great insight on the argument of whether or not an artist maintains ownership after their content has been bought by a consumer. Personally, I find this argument a bit tough to side with. Especially since many artists were claiming to make the industry better “for other artists,” when in actuality they were more interested in personal gain. It is always intriguing to see how our free market system does tend to lead to monopolies and seemingly unfair competition.
Another thing I found interesting was the relationship between the music industry and war. Between the technological advancements and the economic boom after world war two, I would argue that both WWI and WWII mainly shaped the modern music industry.
I wanted to look more into music during WWII, here is a link with some more information:
https://www.vpr.org/post/timeline-world-war-ii-musical-propaganda#stream/0
WOW! In only a decade pushing into the 1930’s, the regulations and banning did not have any breaks whatsoever back then; specially with the great depression occurring at that time. In the matter of the degradation in music, I agree and understand with what should and shouldn’t be broadcasting through the public use of radio. Since we can all relate today when there is a need to change a station if the content is inappropriate or no suitable in a restaurant, store, or with the family. Although we would all love to be a “pancake turner”, I find the role to be important in the aspect of respect due to what I have just mentioned. Joking aside, I’m happy that Jazz was a suitable content and was not inappropriate and could broadcast through the radio. All rise for Jazz! It is almost as if it was meant to wait until the 1930’s instead of the 1920’s. Oh music during The Great Depression…
https://musicduringthegreatdepression.blogspot.com/p/musicof-great-depression-when-stock.html
I honestly get blown away on reading these articles. They fill me in with even the little details about the industry. The one thing that stood out to me was about Sarnoff and his development of the wireless telegraphy in the 1900’s. In the early 1900’s Sarnoff was assigned to manage Marconi wireless station witch Marconi technically invented the radio. Just the fact that he was on duty receiving messages when the Titanic sank in 1912 and a little after all that he became famous. He changed life as we know it and we still use the ”radio” today.
This article I found tells all about Sarnoff sending messages on the Titanic
https://davidsarnoff.tcnj.edu/2013/08/30/radio-to-the-rescue-david-sarnoff-and-the-titanic-disaster/
The radio and record industry has had ongoing competition for many years, along with World War ll having a huge impact on declining marketing. I am astonished at the many lawsuits that were made in regards to ownership and property rights, especially the scenario where an individual can buy an artist’s record and despite the artist selling it or giving it away, they still “own” the record. Individuals who bought records are unable to edit or use the record, until they passed the law. In addition, I found it interesting how RCA spent over $2 million in the first 6 months promoting their new format of the LP record.
Here’s a link I found interesting of an article describing in more detail how LPs are made. :
https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/record-player3.htm
Enrico Caruso raised the reputation of recorded music and was paid fairly well for the time; Considering he made $5 million in record sales in 16 years. This convinced performers that records could be profitable, but the only way for it to pay off is if the popular, respected performer demanded to be paid royalties. When the copyright law was passed in1909, royalties were enforced, but not to the performers, only to the songwriters and publishers. This made me think about how fair or unfair the music royalties laws are now.
Here’s a link I found detailing how music royalties work in the music industry: https://iconcollective.com/how-music-royalties-work/
I found that with the invention of jazz/country and the portable disk player we see the first label A&R’s. Mayo Williams and A.C. Speir were two of the best-known scouts often looking on streets and front porches for interesting amateurs to sell to labels. Another interesting fact is that the developer of the radio, David Sarnoff, as we know it had an epiphany well working a 70 hour shift on the sinking Titanic. He had a vision that the wireless telegraph could be used to play music through the airwaves directly to people’s homes. Also learning of the negative stigma disk jockeys had in its inception being called “pancake turner” while slowly gaining more respect and responsibility at radio stations.
Interesting article on the origin of DJing –> https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/the-art-of-turntablism/
I really enjoyed reading this article which helped me understand the process of creating the music industry we are currently in today with radio, tours and massive record labels. I found it very interesting that the idea of radio was almost seen unnecessary in past decades where Hoover created a ban stating that radio waves did not need to be used for music. In contrast to this you can see how important music is in our current generation where it presents many job opportunities and is a huge part of our culture. I think the invention of the jukebox really ties into our current culture as well because now we use speakers as well as radio in group settings to listen to music when in groups and that really promotes the work of new artist. I have included an article that goes more in detail about the invention of the jukebox and its impacts on the music industry. https://www.artisticechoes.co.uk/index.php/2018/05/04/the-rise-of-jukebox-and-its-impact-on-the-music-industry/
This article, along with the last one really opened my eyes to just how influential the creation of records were. In the industry today, an artists will record a single, EP, or album and then play live shows based on that album. If the recording process is taken out of the picture all the artist would do is tour. How is the audience supposed to know if they like the artist, and how would they be familiar with any of the songs? In fact, they wouldn’t. An artist’s success was based mostly on their musical talent and their ability to travel to different places and play well known songs. The pre-recording industry had a lot to do with talent and convenience rather than popularity and quality of songs. I also was very interested to hear how new genres were more likely to grow in popularity when there was an abundance of indie labels. The diversity of labels consistently led to the diversity of popular music, which I feel is a wonderful thing for the musical world as a whole.
Here is an article that briefly discusses the origins of some of the most popular musical genres:
https://twilitebroadcasters.com/top-music-genres-and-their-origins/
I think it’s crazy how a war had such an impact on the music industry and how records were super popular at that time. It was also surprising how they had such limited selection of music at that time. Recording had its difficulties, especially getting good sounds from different instruments. These are a couple of songs that were famous around WW1. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/07/the-10-best-first-world-war-music
I found it interesting that the article brought up so called “Race Records” and the idea of a musical class system. I believe (and the article backs up) that greed within record companies pre-WWII is very like the current situation within the industry. Buy outs and direct licenses have pushed creative music to the fringes of the industry. Creative musicians have to struggle to be heard vs. musicians that are playing music that is equivalent to “canned” music. Average listeners are not challenged to understand more than the lowest common denominator and because of that their tastes remain relatively simple. I believe that is the main factor in why one’s social class can be determined by our taste in music. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150603124545.htm
I am very surprised on how much a competition there was for the 45s and the 78s. What stood out the most is that Columbia was willing to help out a fellow competitor (Victor) in with the device that goes along side with the LP but Victor turned it down because they wanted all the glory. What if David Sarnoff were to take the offer? Do you think the evolution of the 45s would’ve came to mind a lot quicker if they were to be working together, or do you think that the 45 wouldn’t have came to mind since It was a rival move?
Something else that peaked my interest was where some of the ideas came from. For instance the “ffrr” and how the British Navy used wider-frequency recording machines which sparked up Decca to use and market that technology. Also the V-discs to help keep the troops entertained with four hours of material.
Heres some more information on how Decca came into play as well as how the “ffrr” came about:
https://ethw.org/Decca_Records
I think it’s very interesting to see how the dynamics and relationship between radio and the labels have changed. It’s important to recognize how far they come and what they mean to independent artist that want their records played. the comparison from then and now is light and day. Being that payola runs the industry now, these two separate entities are very much dependent on each other.
I found an article/podcast that really shows how both industries are each others best and worst friend: https://www.npr.org/2017/01/17/509851163/in-an-ever-changing-music-industry-cash-for-hits-remains-a-constant
My favorite part of the article was the section about jazz music and how it affected musicians during that time period. Because the style became popular when records were more easily accessible, musicians were able to listen to jazz records and learn the music from that. Not only was the music being spread by records but it was now being copied and spread by musicians who had learned it.
Because of its rising popularity, bands or musicians who normally wouldn’t have played that particular style of music started to because they knew those records would sell. I found it very fascinating that because of this, from then on whenever more obscure styles of music would come around, its popularity would spread rather quickly.
Here’s an article about how jazz music came to be and the effect it had on the country.
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/in-depth-features/when-jazz-ruled-the-world/
Thats amazing how much they used to sell records for I could buy a whole bunch of records for just “$1 or $1.50” states the authors at A voice, nowadays. Now its almost $10 $20 dollars just for one album. During WW1 why was there such a big mark up on recorded sales? New Orleans is where jazz music was born and will always have the best jazz music hands down in my opinion.
Here is a link to a video I came across of one of Americas first love jazz music. https://youtu.be/BMgKXbtQwoo
The article was very interesting and insightful on the history of the music industry. In this article I found it really interesting that the radio played a huge role in the downfall of the record industry. Before reading this article, I would have never thought that the radio would have a negative affect on the music industry. The radio hurt a lot of record sales and musicians live shows that brought them revenue because they were playing all the songs so there was no need to buy records and since the radio played live shows as well, musicians were losing ticket sales. Later on when the jukebox came out, it hurt a lot of the live musicians but would be beneficial to record companies and the record companies only. The record labels would make sure that they were making the profits off of the jukeboxes without having to pay royalties to the artist. It was eye opening to see that there would be some cons that came from radios and Jukeboxes in earlier years and their effects on musicians and society as a whole. Here’s a link about the effects the radio had on society. http://www.americanradioworks.org/segments/radio-the-internet-of-the-1930s/
I really enjoyed this article, it was filled with so much interesting and valuable information that really painted the picture of the evolution of the music and recording industry. I found it so interesting how much the major labels (specifically Columbia and RCA) went back and forth developing LPs and 45s and 78s, I just can’t imagine all of the hard work that went into innovating these new ways of listening to music. I was also very surprised at how much jukeboxes played a huge part in the industry as well. It’s so fascinating how jukeboxes became the primary source for marketing new music and how much labels relied on them for a period of time. The amount of innovation and trailblazing in music and recording that went on throughout the 20s, 30, 40s, and 50s is just insane, but one thing I did need to do some extra reading about was the difference between LPs 45s and 78s. So here is an article I read to better understand that.. https://classic45s.com/why45s/45sound.html
One of the things I found interesting about this article is how the changing and advancing of technology went hand in hand with the evolution and formation of the music genres along the years, jazz music in particular. An example of this would be how in the late 40s, big band swing split into 2 separate genres, vocal pop, and bebop, both taking characteristics from big band jazz. Certain indie labels helped spur and diversify the bebop genre, (such as the blue note) while the commercial labels favored what sold the most records to the masses. As the genres split off and became more distinct as time went on, labels died and more came into play, and shady independent labels cashed in on street musicians and covers of old hits. Here is a link I found that has to do with jazz genres and when they started.
https://medium.com/@jimlecinski/the-ten-main-classic-jazz-styles-from-1917-to-1967-166c0ee1040f
I was not aware no how much profit one record company can make off of vinyl especially for that time period. I also found how even in those times much like as of today music industry that their were about 3 major companies running the music scene. It amazed me how much money can grow and destroy the kind of influences that are going on in the music world. Once everyone saw were their money was coming from they opened record labels and copied jazz music they heard to turn a quick profit.
Here is a link that shows a quick sweep of the record labels of different periods.
https://www.playlistresearch.com/history/labels1920s.htm
Even through problems eras such as the Great Depression and World War I music is prominent. This article makes it apparent how music continues to spread. As music continues to spread the recording industry to grow.
Here is link to an article explaining the theory of music distribution https://mn2s.com/news/label-services/the-history-of-music-distribution/
When reading this article, I found it really unsurprising how in the 1920’s, the music industry was dominated more by song publishers, big vaudeville, and theater concerns instead of what most people in today’s society are mostly informed about when it comes to the music business which are record labels. Now when labels become a little more relevant in the society of that time, jazz coincides with that popularity and begins to inspire other performers and musicians to evolve around the style and sell records they thought they would never accomplish. Another point I found interesting in this article is the effect which the second world war seemed to have on the music industry. How the millions of soldiers who did make it back home after the war fueled a huge economic boom which boosted the fortunes of the music industry.
Here’s is an article discussing the further importance of how jazz became a hit in the culture of America.
http://www.jazzstandards.com/history/history-2.htm
Here is an article discussing how influential music post World War II.
https://www.vpr.org/post/timeline-world-war-ii-musical-propaganda#stream/0
This article over the recording industry during the 1920s-1950s explains the obstacles the industry overcame to grow. Music even stayed prominent during problem eras such as the Great Depression and World War I. This just goes to show how even major problems could not stop the distribution of music.
Here is a link to an article explaining music distribution. https://mn2s.com/news/label-services/the-history-of-music-distribution/
This article mentioned that many of the labels then (and now) weren’t about rewarding talent or helping the creativity of artists spread. Labels were all about quickly creating easy records so they can sell and make easy money. I also believe that because labels were purposely catering music to the upper class during the war, it created a chain reaction on how the general public’s taste in music is today. This article also jogged my memory about the roots of R&B, from an american music course I took, and how they used to call it “race music.” It made me sad reading how scouts would take advantage of rural artist by omitting information on royalties or buying their music for dirt cheap to give to labels to make more money off of their music. Reading things like this makes me eager to try and fix the way smaller artists are being treated by labels and streaming services today!
This link is to an article that talks about how major labels are making millions from streaming platforms while their artists don’t get paid enough: https://www.google.com/amp/s/mashable.com/article/major-music-labels-19-million-per-day-streaming.amp
It comes to no surprise that only big stars of the 1900s were given royalties while others were given flat fees for their works. I find it interesting that by 1909 US Congress forced royalties from record sales. My guess is many saw this as an issue and a hardship for artist to make money in the music industry. Many of these royalties were paid during the uproar of Jazz music with companies signing their own blues artist. Moreover, when it came to scouting new content many companies used the strategy to never explaining the concept to artist and made money from royalties, taking advantage of artist. With so many types of royalties to offer it unfair and disrespectful in my view to make more money than the actual artist.
Within this article it explains more on what kind of royalties there are.
https://iconcollective.com/how-music-royalties-work/
Prior to reading this article, I never realized how influential jazz music was in the 1920’s to other musicians and the music industry as a whole. Jazz music became so popular that other artists who would’ve never originally played jazz began to learn because they knew they would be able to sell records. Its really interesting to see that even in the early stages of the music industry, people were still very much concerned about turning a profit from their music and would figure out the easiest ways to make money. One cool thing about the “jazz craze” was that it allowed a style of music to spread to people who would’ve never had a chance to hear the music live prior to hearing the record because of where jazz was typically played.
This link has an article that talks a little bit more about this period of music, and it also has links to listen to some of the popular jazz songs from the time period:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=13&smtID=6
I find it really hilarious how in 1909 the industry was so resistant to the new copyright law that was introduced. The law forced the payout of royalties to artists, where as before the artists didn’t get any of the royalties unless they had enough pull to be able to bargain it. That situation parallels how resistant labels are to the most recent change in the industry, music streaming services. Here is a link of an example of such rejection: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spotify-is-on-a-road-to-collision-with-the-record-industry-heres-why/
I found it very interesting how the transition into radio broadcasting became so controversial amongst the music industry. This fear is caused by the fact that people could now potentially listen to all music for free and there would no longer be a need for material records. People have a hard time adapting to change. Later on in time people would believe that “video would kill the radio star”. The effect of WWII on the music industry was also very profound. Just as wars stimulate an economy, WWII revitalized the music world. This link shows how music changed after the war ——–> https://ourpastimes.com/music-types-after-world-war-ii-12534506.html
One thing that stood out to me in this article was the concept of 78 RPM records, as I have only know 45 and 33 RPM, as a record collector myself. They apparently had 78s that were popular, due to the fact that the average consumer did not necessarily have the longest attention span, which is quite ironic I believe considering today’s popular music. I also did not know that it was Columbia that came out and popularized the standard LP.
Here’s a video about playing records at the wrong speed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxVmU-_MjKw
Your post suggests that either 78’s were long, or that the average listener was capable of focus longer than the average adult today. They were rough discs that could only hold roughly 5 minutes of play time and were only widely produced for just over a decade. These would force the listener to either constantly change records between almost each song or give up. Outside of classical music, most popular music still remains in the 3 to 5 minute range, which begs the questions: why hasn’t play time changed, and has there been any shift in adult attention span over the years?
Here’s is an (overly technical, for our use) experimental study on attention span and brain activity in adults.
https://login.aclibproxy.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.aclibproxy.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pbh&AN=21460194&site=ehost-live
In one of my public relations classes I learned a term from France that translates to “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. I find this applicable for our second reading because we’re able to learn that one of the biggest struggles for musicians to get discovered because there’s such a small amount that end up getting a domination of record sales and airplay. Musicians come off as greedy when, they’ve been struggling to make a profit, even when they make it big. Something that really interested me from this reading was learning about some of the first DJs and how they came across as simple disk flippers at the beginning. Now most night life and many performers at music festivals consist of DJs with a big reputation. I learned that Martin Block made his listeners believe that he was broadcasting from a ballroom with live top tier dancers performing. He struggled to find a sponsor because the station’s sale staff didn’t find it realistic. He got a sponsor from pills called “Retardo” and within the week of him doing so, there were over 3,000 responses to the ad on his show. One of the reasons for his success was how personable he was to his audience.
Fascinating is an understatement when it comes to the history of the music industry. Something that intrigued me was that sheet music would outsell records! It seems to me that many people knew how to play instruments if that is the case. John Philip Sousa was convinced that records would be a threat to musicians and there is some truth to that. From here, musicians were learning music off records and spreading the love of music to others.
Here is a link that contains a letter from John Philip Sousa and how he believed that the music at the time lacked true inspiration: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/content/john-philip-sousa-critiques-modern-music-1930
The recording industry has seen its ups and downs, but never has it experienced a hardship as that of the 1930s and the Great Depression. I find this article very interesting as it continues on the development of the music business and how it has evolved through its music and through the instruments used to listen to this music such as the evolution from the record player, to the radio, and so on. But what I find most interesting about this article is the section that covers the hardships the industry faced during the Great Depression, and how this need to evolve came the emergence of a new style of music. Swing. Records weren’t selling in the beginning of the depression and many record labels were being bought out and it was obvious there was a need for change in the industry. This led to the use of jukeboxes being used to promote songs and bands of the popular new style of music Swing. This emergence of using jukeboxes for self promotion, and a new style of music that excited younger audiences led to a boom in the industry that revived it from the near collapse it faced in the depression. This fascinates me as I find the swing era of music to be one of the most entertaining eras with its loud up tempo tunes, and I’m glad to see one of my favorite styles is what saved the industry from its collapse.
Here is a link to an article about the swing era and some of the most influential artists and band leaders that the world has seen including my personal favorite, Duke Ellington:
https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/musical-styles-and-venues-in-america/big-bands-and-the-swing-era/
During the war, people of the armed forces used radio technology like Hi-Fi audio to analyze and pin-point enemy submarines and V-Discs that could hold almost 4 hours of content. After the war, the return of soldiers lead to an boom in the economy, especially in the sale of records. After reading this article, I have a new found appreciation for the armed forces and how what they’ve done has somehow aided in the advancement of the music industry.
Here is an article I found about the technology used during World War 2.
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/historical-sheets/science
This article was very informative and I especially enjoyed how the Blues made its emergence in the music industry. I started to do more research on Mamie Smith, the first person to record a blues record, and how she impacted the African- American community with her exceptional talent. In the following link, the article states how her jazz record skyrocketed her life and who she was as an influential entertainer. Here is the link https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/smith-mamie-1883-1946/
This article was revealing and yet very similar as to what I know about the music industry. Before, film and records were considered novelty items, but with growing popularity, became their own respective fields. As the record industry grew, musicians detested the “generic pop music” that played from these phonograph parlors, believing the coin operated machines and automated player pianos were cheap outputs of a an up-and-coming industry of mass production. From this reading I learned that the same complaints of musicians today are plain reiterations of those a century ago, history repeating it’s patterns. https://www.funktasy.com/mass-produced-music-recording-software-killed-music-business/
According to the article the beginning of an era for Jazz music was known as the roaring 20’s. Not only a tile for change within the US, but within the realm of music.
This article is a good insight on how business intertwines with music when it comes record label deals, sales, and royalties. In the 1900s only the biggest stars got paid royalties from their original sheet music. I disagree with this, I definitely believe that all composers, songwriters, producers, and singers should get a share of the royalties. Caruso was the first star to sign a record deal and earned 5 million dollars from record sales. This convinced other performers that record deals are a profitable business which then set the trend. This link posted goes into details about the history of record deals and focuses on Caruso as well.
https://www.awal.com/blog/history-of-record-deals
This article was very detailed on the direction music went within the last century. It amazes me that we’ve come from listening to music on Phonographs to the way that we listen to music today. Its no surprise that even back in the early 1900s big record labels had the same strategy and we do today which was only focus put out music that people with the most disposable income enjoy. This article really went over tons of things that i never knew about the evolution of the music industry. I found an article that discuss more about the history of the record industry but in a more summarized way
https://www.iasa-web.org/sound-archives/brief-history-record-industry
For me, the most compelling discussion in this article was the effects of the Great Depression on the recording industry. It’s a perfect testament to the influence that listeners hold over the markets that make money and those that do not. In this case the radio companies were coming out on top while the independent labels were downright being put to rest or having to sell. I have attached a blog post explaining what the listeners were getting by to while money was too tight for purchasing records.
https://musicduringthegreatdepression.blogspot.com/p/musicof-great-depression-when-stock.html
As recording music began becoming widespread it brought up many issues as to where the money should go. This was such an early era that it wasn’t like today when 2 or 3 people can make an album. They had to figure out how to pay everyone fairly in a new rapidly growing business that was unlike anything people had seen before. It also probably led to the massive revolutions that have happened in music the past 100 years. With more music readily available in the home gave more people inspiration to pick up an instrument. Jazz also offered young people a way to rebel against the standard norms. Many of the artists active today can trace back their roots to the musicians in the 1920’s.
https://musicedmasters.kent.edu/americas-music-history-the-jazz-age/
As the record business continued to grow, so did the record labels. During the 1900’s in North America, there just 3 dominant labels, Victor, which was the biggest, Edison’s National Phonograph company, and Columbia. The thing I learned from this label actually comes from this section, I did not know Edison had a record label of that he developed the “diamond disk”. With the production of records, the performers were able to listen and learn different styles by listening to the records instead of the musician. The first types of records to come out were jazz, then the blues, then after that everything started being released which consisted of mostly black singers. These records were known as “race” records. A label was created known as Race Records. With the development of these labels, radio became the new thing until the Great Depression when record sales dropped drastically. As the industry started to grow again, jukeboxes became very popular and this started the revolution for wireless music. Another interesting fact is how Hi-Fi audio gets its start from the British Navy. Once the war was over and the soldiers came home, this was when the record labels started selling again. Then came the battle for the speed of the record, 78 RPM in the 1900’s and 80 or 100 RPM’s. While RCA developed different colors for different categories. Today there are more smaller labels making success in the recording business and fighting for acknowledgement from the three larger labels today.
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-a-record-label-2460614