The History of the

Music IndustryElliot Laville

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t of t

he

Music

Indu

stry The 1940’s was the start

of the music industry. This was when music could be made to sell not just to be played.

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The 1940’s was the decade of the crooner. Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Perry Como all made a very good living in this decade.

The Jazz was dominated by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.Jazz became the first

music for dancing.

1950

’s

There were huge improvements in sound quality of the new vinyl.

It encouraged recording companies to embrace the new technology.

This marks the beginning of the end for the shellac 78rpm disc.

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The 1950’s was the start of the Rock & Roll era.

Elvis Presley first song recorded is played by a DJ from Memphis. Older generations felt

threatened by it and worried about the effect it might have on the morality of children.

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In the early 1950s the big five major

record labels were Columbia, RCA

Victor, Decca, Capitol and Mercury.

Capitol had risen to being the fourth

biggest label in 1955 when EMI, the

biggest UK record operation, bought

Capitol for $8.5 million. From 1954-

1958 independent labels issuing rock

and roll and r&b recordings dominated

the charts as the market share for

major labels fell dramatically.

In 1955 Liberty Records was founded

by Al Bennett, Sy Waronker, Ted Keep

and David Seville. A few years later

Liberty acquired Pacific Records

because of its successful jazz

catalogue.

1960

’s

Rock and Roll decade. Rock

n roll thrived in 1962.1963 was the year that audio cassettes were put on

the market for the first time.

This was originally intended

as a way of playing music in

cars to American car owners. Cassettes were quickly developed into a popular format for listening

to music.

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The Beatles, who had already

been a phenomenon in their

homeland of Great Britain for a

few years, began topping the

American charts starting with "I

Want to Hold Your Hand" in

Febraury 1964. Their success

created a wave called the British

Invasion in which several British

acts began to overshadow and

outdate the American doo-wop

and Tin Pan Alley sound.1969 Woodstock Festival in New

York.

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Colpix Records was established in

1960 as the record division of

Columbia Pictures, although it had

no association with Columbia

Records. In 1964 Colpix acquired the

Bell/Amy/Mala group. A few years

later the pop acts on the label's

roster were issued on the Bell label.

Colpix became Colgems and began

issuing records by the Monkees.

By the end of the 1960s the top

major labels were CBS, Warner

Brothers, RCA Victor, Capitol-EMI,

PolyGram and MCA. The most

successful independent label of the

decade was Tamla/Motown.

1970

’s This was the decade of happy, optimistic disco music.There were progressions

in rock and also in punk.

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There was rebellious angry punk

movement with bands such as The

Ramones, The Clash, The Sex

Pistols and Blondie. The feeling of

disconnect from the 1960s spilled

into the 1970s and punk bands

sang about crime, girls and sniffing

glue. Fast and frantic music, tough

and gritty. The Sex Pistols were described as

being ‘the definitive English punk

rock band’ by the BBC. Their anger

at the world was shown through

the lyrics and they attacked the

government and the establishment.

They were singing about anarchy.

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WEA was formed in 1970 under

Warner Communications between the

three labels Warner, Elektra and

Atlantic to create a huge distribution

operation. Philadelphia International Records was

started in 1971 by Kenny Gamble and

Leon Huff.EMI launched EMI Records in 1972.

Sugar Hill Records was set up by Joe

and Sylvia Robinson in 1974 to be the

first label issuing exclusively rap

music.By the end of the 1970s the top major

labels were CBS, EMI, Warner,

PolyGram and MCA.

1980

’s

Philips and Sony teamed up and

unveiled their creation of the

compact disc in 1981 and began

making CDs and players commercially available in 1982.

MTV was launched as the first

ever non-stop music video

channel.Music videos has become a

necessary element to create a

band’s success.Recordable cassettes made it

possible to record vinyl records

onto tape.

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Start of the Pop Music era.Madonna, Michael Jackson, Duran Duran and

Adam and the Ants.Madonna was the first artist to succeed at selling

the ideas of ‘girl power’.Michael Jackson was leading the way as the top male solo artist of the

decade.

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IRS Records was formed in the

early eighties by Miles Copeland, the brother of Police

drummer Stewart Copeland.

Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons set up Def Jam, the

first definitive rap label in 1984.

In 1987 Sony purchased Columbia for $2 billion.

By the end of the eighties the

top major labels were Sony,

Warner, PolyGram, BMG, EMI

and MCA.

1990

’s

Discman was the portable music

machine up until the release of the

first MP3 in 1998. most homes had

home-computers by mid-90s. For

the music industry it meant that

music could be copied from CD onto

the hard drive. This meant that

royalties that might have come from

the legal sale of copyrighted music

wasn’t going to the artists or the

record companies. The cassette surpassed vinyl as the

most popular configuration in the

mid-eighties. CDs finally became the

most popular configuration in 1992.

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In this decade, techno and hip-

hop genres were a popular

surge at the start. However, the

general music of the 90s was

extremely diverse.Nirvana was reaching fame in

America along with Pearl Jam,

Metallica and Guns N’ Roses.

However, in the UK, was the rise

of Britpop which was British-

produced rock created by bands

such as Blur, Pulp, Oasis and

Suede. Britpop was perhaps the

biggest phenomenon of the 90s.

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Jimmy Iovine and Ted Fields

launched Interscope Records.

PolyGram acquired A&M Records in 1991. EMI Music purchased Virgin

Records in 1992. New record labels launched

in 1992 included Madonna's

Maverick Records and the

Beastie Boys' Grand Royal.EMI acquired Priority Records

in 1998.

2000

’s

In 2001, iTunes was introduced by Apple. This

meant that the world of music changed forever. iPod

was released in the same

year.In 2003, it was the introduction of iTunes store.

In February 2006 Apple reported that it had sold its

billionth song on iTunes.

2000

’s

Blogs, websites, forums, Facebook an Twitter on the

Internet allowed fans to get

closer to their favourite bands

and artists than before. The

creation of MySpace as a forum for showcasing and

accessing musical acts offered

artists yet to be signed by

record companies the opportunity to have their music heard and to create a

fan base without actually releasing a record.

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Hip-hop and rap dominated UK

and USA popular music. Artists such as 50 Cent, Eminem, Kanye West, Dizzee

Rascal and Lil Wayne. This genre still remained as very

male-dominated, performed

mainly by male artists.‘Indie’ rock remained popular

with bands such as Muse, Kings

of Leon and the Artic Monkeys.

Hard rock or metal punk rock

also had popularity.

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The record industry faced a crisis.

CD sales fell and illegal downloads

meant that people who might have

brought the music on CD were able

to get it free on illegal download

websites. The record industry was

threatened as there was less

money available to invest in new

and existing artists.Record labels profited from the TV

reality talent shows such as Pop

Idol and The X Factor. In 2009, for the first time in history,

more Grammy awards went to

independent artists than major

label artists.