SOCY 122 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Federal Communications Commission, African-American Music, Transistor Radio
15 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
The growth of popular culture
November 21, 2016
From 78s to 33 1/3 and 45s
- Copyright law (1909)
o No real incentive for musicians to produce new music
o No copyright laws so they could copy others
- American Society of composers, authors and publishers (ASCAP) (1914)
o Collected the royalties from the copyright law
o The ASCAP only featured songs that appealed to white middle class—this
excluded race music
- Near monopoly control – Broadway, movies, radio
o Could force Broadway and radio producers to play music that the ASCAP
approved
- 1939 Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI)
o Inspired by radio producers that felt too constrained by the ASCAP
- Federal Communications Commission regulating radio licenses
- NBC, CBS, Mutual Broadcasting System, one or two locals
o These were the three dominant stations
o The local stations would replicate what the three dominate stations played
o Middle class, white American tastes
o Tin Pan Alley sound
- Post-WWII shift to television
o The three dominant stations put resources in television and out of radio
▪ They then moved to records – couldn’t afford to keep the live music on the
radio
- Small radio stations began to focus on different genres of music
o This appealed to various audiences
o People selling products could figure out which station to air their ads on in order
to appeal to specific audiences
- Disk Jockeys selling the station and new sounds
o Used different stations to sell and promote products
o The radio DJs use their personalities to attract viewers
▪ They would do things to create controversy and to get people to listen
• Prank phone calls
- 78 was the record prior to 1948 when Columbia developed the vinyl record
o The vinyl was a long playing record
▪ Sound was better
- Te 45 record had qualities that were essential to the media
o Durable
▪ Could be mailed
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Document Summary
Copyright law (1909: no real incentive for musicians to produce new music, no copyright laws so they could copy others. American society of composers, authors and publishers (ascap) (1914: collected the royalties from the copyright law, the ascap only featured songs that appealed to white middle class this excluded race music. Near monopoly control broadway, movies, radio: could force broadway and radio producers to play music that the ascap approved. 1939 broadcast music incorporated (bmi: inspired by radio producers that felt too constrained by the ascap. Nbc, cbs, mutual broadcasting system, one or two locals: these were the three dominant stations, the local stations would replicate what the three dominate stations played, middle class, white american tastes, tin pan alley sound. Post-wwii shift to television: the three dominant stations put resources in television and out of radio, they then moved to records couldn"t afford to keep the live music on the radio.
