American Popular Music Chapter 15
In which year did online digital sales of music in the United States surpassed physical sales for the first time?
2011
Nickelback
A Canadian rock band formed in 1995 in Hann, Alberta, Canada. Chad Kroegar, lead vocalist
Streaming
A method of sending audio and video files over the Internet in such a way that the user can view the file while it is being transferred.
Filmography
All You Need Is Love (1976-1980): British documentary series exploring the history and legacy of popular music. Before the Music Dies (2006): Film taking a critical look at the "corporatization" of contemporary popular music. Cadillac Records (2008): Film starring Beyoncé as soul singer Etta James. Skyfall (2013): James Bond film for which Adele's song "Skyfall" won an Oscar for Best Original Song. Walk on By: The Story of Popular Song (2001): Documentary series covering one hundred years of popular song history.
Which television show created by Simon Fuller blends the talent contest and so-called "reality television?"
American Idol.
auto-tune
An electronic device used in recording studios to correct and manipulate the pitches sung by a vocalist. to "auto tune" is to change the vocalists original pitch to the correct one after the recording has been made. Can create an effect that can be described as hearing the voice leap from note to note stepwise, like a keyboard synthesizer. (It can also create what has been characterized as a "robotic" or "alien" vocal timbre.) Pioneered by the Florida-born rapper T-Pain on singles like ''I'm Sprung" (2005) and "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')"
Who became the top music retailer in the United States in 2008?
Apple's itunes store.
Jay-Z
As one of the leading figures in hip-hop in the new millennium, it is not surprising that Shawn "jay Z" Carter (b. 1969) embodied the role of the "hustler" more thoroughly, and in more diverse venues, than any other figure "Hard Knock Life", "Reasonable Doubt" Magna Carta Holy Grail (2013), featuring duets with Justin Timberlake and Beyonce
Radiohead
Band who began their career firmly within the boundaries of alternative rock, but subsequently experimented not only with diverse musical influences but also with varied approaches to marketing and distribution of their music. (Alternative/Art Rock, 1992) their message was very subtle and confusing. Words and music of alienation. The conflicts within the music and lyrics force the listener to engage the song in a much more intense way reminiscent of the Beatles. October 2007, they made their album In Rainbows available on the Internet, asking fans to pay whatever they wanted. More than a million copies were downloaded, and the average price paid was $2.26 an album, making the band $2.7 million in direct profits. "Bodysnatchers."
"peer-to-peer" (p2p)
Computer file sharing networks in which users share files containing audio, video, data or anything in digital format. Several p2p file-sharing networks were established in the wake of Napster's closure, including Grokster, Morpheus, and Kazaa. Their claim of exemption from copyright law was based on the fact that in a p2p network there is no central server on which files are even temporarily stored thus there is no "place" in cyberspace to which the act of copyright violation can be traced, apart from the millions of computers of the network's users. P2p was the ultimate realization of musical democracy, a decentralized system made up of millions of individuals exercising free choice. RIAA saw it as mass theft, a maddeningly complex cybernetwork that challenged the ability of corporations to apply traditional conceptions of music as a form of property. 2005 US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Grokster, Morpheus, and Kazaa had violated copyright "on a massive scale," and within months the online firms stopped distributing their file-sharing software
In what ways have digital technologies impacted the production, distribution, and consumption of popular music since the year 2000?
Developments in sound recording technology and software have exerted a transformational the impact on popular music since the late 1990s Pro Tools-Virtual recording board designed to run on personal computers, permitting musicians working on a limited budget to set up a basic home studio at relatively little expense. Auto Tune- An electronic device used in recording studios to correct and manipulate the pitches sung by a vocalist. To auto-tune is to change the vocalist's original pitch to the correct one after the recording has been made. MP3 -A variant of the MPEG compression system that allows files to be compressed to as little as one-twelfth of their original size. Napster- Internet based software program that allowed computer users to share and swap files through a centralized file server. RIAA - Trade association representing the major lables that controlled the sale and distribution of approximately 90 percent of the offline music in the United States. iPod- 2001 Apple Computer introduced the first-generation player, which could store up to one thousand CD-quality tracks on its internal hard drive. iTunes- Fee-based music downloading service launched in 2001, designed to supply content to the then-new iPod. Streaming- Providers sell users access to music through a subscription model.(Spotify, YouTube)
Why has live concert performance become increasingly important in the popular music economy of the twenty-first century?
Digital streaming is usually referred to as the "wave of the future" in the music business, yet in 2015 live concerts generated nearly six times as much revenue as streaming!
How has globalization affected American popular music? What impacts has American popular music exerted around the world?
During the 1980s the boundary between mainstream and marginal music became fuzzier, and the twin pressures to expand the global market for American popular music and create new alternative genres and audiences with in the American market grew ever stronger. One of the most interesting results of these processes was the emergence of a category called world music. The term was first systematically used in the late 1980s by independent record label owners and concert promoters, and it entered the popular music marketplace as a replacement for longer-standing categories such as "traditional music," "international music," and "ethnic music." These sorts of records were traditionally positioned in the very back of record stores, in bins containing low turnover items such as Irish folk song collections, Scottish bagpipe samplers, German polka records, recordings by tourist bands from the Caribbean and Hawaii, and perhaps a few scholarly recordings of so-called primitive music from Africa, Native America, or Asia. International records were generally purchased by immigrants hungry for a taste of home, cross-cultural music scholars such as ethnomusicologists, and a handful of aficionados. In general, while transnational entertainment corporations became ever more successful at marketing American pop music around the globe, most of the world's music continued to have little or no direct influence on the American marketplace Enrich Your Music with a Global Texture. As borders dissolve, traditions are shared. And this sharing of cultures is most powerful in the richness of music. ... E-mu has gathered these sounds and more-192 in all. Use them to emulate traditional world instruments or as raw material for creating one-of-a-kind synthesized sounds of your own.(Theberge1997,201)
Adele Adkins
English song writer, Alternative Pop/Rock singer, "Home Town Glory", "Rolling in the Deep", "Someone like You", "Set Fire to the Rain", "Skyfall", recorded for the James Bond film.
Arcade Fire
First "alternative" rock band to win Grammy best album of the year (The Suburbs, 2011) Musically eclectic EX. "Wake Up," from Funeral (2004)
How have changes in the relationships between musicians, their audiences, and the music business affected rock music in the 2000s?
First and foremost, the rise of digital production and distribution has irrevocably altered the process of creating rock music. Under the old system, almost every practical aspect of creating a commercially viable product was beyond the means of the average musician. The recording process required a specially designed studio staffed by professionals. Production required pressing plants to physically create the record, designers to make the album cover, and commercial printers to print it. And distribution (actually delivering the record to stores) required elaborate commercial networks, warehouses, trucks, and so on. The expense and organizational difficulties made it so that musicians almost always had to rely on a record company to facilitate them. Now, by contrast, virtually anyone can create music with inexpensive recording software and then distribute it as digital sound files via the Internet. A recording is no longer a physical object, and thus no longer requires the whole chain of materials and labor associated with producing physical products. After all, you don't need a truck driver to deliver an MP3! In essence, the music business as it had existed for almost a half-century had become obsolete almost overnight. Initially, most musicians simply shifted their focus to fit the new circumstances, but it soon became clear that many of the deeper connections between commerce and art that at rock's foundation were wearing away
TIDAL
First music service with High Fidelity sound and quality. High definition music videos and curated editorial. Expertly crafted music. High-definition online streaming service that started in Sweden; acquired by hip-hop musician and businessman Jay-Z in 2015.
Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean (Christopher Edwin Breaux, b. 1987), whose idiosyncratic style straddles hip-hop and contemporary R&B. Raised in New Orleans, Ocean began his career as a "ghostwriter" (anonymous composer) of songs for Beyonce and Justin Bieber, the first publicly bisexual figure in the hiphop world
Outkast
Georgia duo of Andre "Andre 3000" and Antwan "Big Boi" Patton who cameto prominence in 1994 with the release of their album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Outkast have sold over 25 million albums and are regarded as among the most influential artists of the early 2000s
Mainstream and the margins
Has become increasingly difficult to sustain the distinction that we initially drew between the mainstream and its margins. In part this is because at the outset we were able to conflate two quite different concepts: on the one hand, the idea of a musical mainstream and margins, involving cultural and stylistic distinctions that have grown more and more blurry over time; and on the other hand, the idea that the market for popular music has an economic and institutional center and periphery.
Beyonce Knowles
Houston, TX singer; She rose to fame in the late 1990s as lead singer of R&B girl-group Destiny's Child. embarked on a solo career, she did so conscious of this parallel and has carefully crafted her image to recall the R&B divas of the past; *Lemonade*, "Formation", *Dangerously in Love* "Crazy in Love", "Baby Boy", *I Am... Sasha Fierce* "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
iTunes
In 2001 Steve Jobs, the president of Apple Computers, launched a fee-based music downloading service called iTunes, which was designed to supply content for the then-new iPod
Napster
Internet-based software program that enabled computer users to share and swap files, specifically music, through a centralized file server. A federal court injunction forced Napster to shut down operations in February 2001. 1999, 18 year-old college dropout Shawn Fanning developed Napster. RIAA charged Napster with tributary copyright infringement (charged for contributing to and facilitating other people's violation of the law). Countersuit argued that because the actual files were not permanently stored on its servers but were rather transferred from user to user, Napster wasn't acting illegally. Federal court injunction financially forced Napster to shut down operations, with users exchanging some 2.79 billion files in the closing days of Napster's existence as a free service. After an unsuccessful purchase bid by multinational media conglomerate BMG in 2002, Napster was placed in receivership.
iPod
Introduced in 2001 by Apple Computer; an MP3 player that can store up to 1,000 CD-quality songs on its internal hard drive. The iPod and other MP3 players enable listeners to build unique libraries of music reflecting their personal tastes ("playlists"). The ability of the iPod to "shuffle" music exerted an influence on personal listening habits but also provides a metaphor for the contemporary state of consumer culture.
Which of the following is true about "Auto-Tune?"
It is software is used to correct a singer's pitch and create interesting effects.
Which companies merged in February 2009 combining the biggest concert promoter in the world with the leading ticketing and artist-management company?
Live Nation and Ticketmaster Entertainment.
Eminem
Marshall "Eminem" Mathers-artist who embodied the increasingly blurred line between rock and hip-hop His lyrics that have at times evoked violent, sexist, and homophobic images and sentiments, and massively successful in the commercial arena A unique figure in the history of rap music. He is not the only white performer to achieve commercial success in the genre
Pro-Tools
Music software program designed to run on personal computers. This software enabled recording engineers and musicians to gain even more control over every parameter of musical sound, including not only pitch and tempo but also the quality of a singer's voice or an instrumentalist's timbre. One of the most obvious examples of ProTools' potential for altering the sound of the human voice was Cher's number 1 hit "Believe" (1998) which featured a highly processed vocal sound, courtesy of a newly introduced audio processor plug-in called Auto-Tune, and a variety of postproduction effects. Complaint is that it allows the correction of musical errors - including the erasure and substitution of individual notes and phrases and the alteration of a musician's sonic identity, the very aspect of his or her sound that makes him or her recognizable and unique.
YouTube
Online video website that launched in 2005; in 2006 Warner made a deal with YouTube to make its entire music video catalog available online. Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.
Clear Channel
Publicly traded corporation that owns more than 1,200 radio stations, 39 television stations, 100,000 advertising billboards, and 100 live performance venues, ranging from huge amphitheaters to dance clubs, enabling them to present more than 70 percent of all live events nationwide. Strategy known as "vertical integration," in which a corporation gains control over all aspects of the production of a commodity and its promotion and delivery to consumers. Critics assert that Clear Channel's use of its radio stations and billboards to advertise their booked shows at their venues was in essence a monopoly. Received criticism for using "voice tracking," a practice in which DJs at the company's headquarters in Texas record radio shows that are played on stations nationwide but are presented as though being broadcast locally. 2010 announce plans to lay off more local employees and further centralize its broadcast operations. Their dominance declined as outside forces, including 2008 crash, impinged on their attempt to build a vertically integrated business. Now owns only 850 outlets and has divested itself of its TV and live concert operations.
Which band recorded the song "Bodysnatchers" which begins with a "bone- crunching" electric guitar riff?
Radiohead
Alesis ADAT
Recording system introduced in 1992 that consisted of an eight-track digital synthesizer/recorder that could be expanded to 128 tracks with the addition of units. With the ADAT, consumers could set up basic home studios inexpensively, while professionals could use the same technology to build highly sophisticated digital sound facilities. Alesis Digital Audio Tape.
Creed
Rock band that aimed to spread their message through mainstream channels, promoting themselves as a rock band that dealt with Christian themes, rather than a "Christian Rock" band. Scott Stapp's hard rock band's soaring hooks and quest for spiritual meaning made them rulers of the post-grunge universe. 199-2009. From Tallahassee, Florida.
Nickelback's traditional approach to music
Some artists, such as Nickelback, have continued to embrace a traditional approach to the music and business of rock. Formed in 1995 in Vancouver, Canada, Nickel back came to prominence in the United States in 2000 with their album, The State. Mixing a midtempo post-grunge sound with country influences, particularly in their vocals and use of acoustic guitars. The success of Nickel back demonstrates that the traditional approach to rock music (albums promoted and sold to rock audiences via radio and television) is far from dead. While this approach is clearly still viable for some artists, it is available to fewer of them every year. The trend toward increasing conservatism on the part of record labels-a process that had started in the early 1980s-accelerated rapidly in the new millennium. Major labels increasingly directed their resources toward a smaller number of bands that they felt sure about, rather than spreading their investment out over a broad range of artists, in hopes that some of them would be successful. While such conservative investing strategies on the part of the industry may make sense from an economic standpoint, by definition they tend to discourage innovation and experimentation.
Spotify
Streaming service launched in Europe in 2008, and in the United States in 2011; allows listeners to pick and choose the tracks they want to listen to, and like Pandora, offers both a free and a paid "premium" service.
No signature style of music in the 2000s
The 2000s there is no signature or dominant style, or with radical transformations in the sound of music, but rather an interlinked set of changes in the technologies used to produce, record, distribute and experience music, and in the structure of the music business.
Which of the following is true about the music business in the 2010s?
The U.S. market no longer dominates global sales.
The music business is still adapting, and although it is still early in the process to speculate, two major trends have become apparent.
The first trend, is a renewed focus on the baby-boom generation as a primary source of revenue. as they age, baby boomers have more income to spend on high-end offerings such as elaborately packaged boxed sets and expensive concert tickets. the most significant factor in the baby boomers' appeal to the music industry is their perceived unwillingness (or inability!) to illegally download music files. In other words, they are an important market simply because they're the only ones who are still buying music at all. A secondary effect of this trend has been the establishment of rock culture of the 1960s and 1970a as the definitive model of rock in general, even for younger listeners. The second trend is a search on the part of record companies for sources of income that do not rely on actually selling records. On the sales end, this often involves placing songs in movies, television shows, commercials, and as cell phone ringtones Touring has become an increasingly important component of the total profits generated by the music business.
What strategies have hip-hop artists adopted to maintain the rebellious spirit of the genre while increasing its mainstream appeal?
The first was to emphasize the character of the "hustler," a person who works hard to become successful in an underground economy (legal, illegal, or somewhere in between). The hustler concept combined the outlaw appeal and street credibility of the gangster with the materialism and work ethic of the self. made millionaire. Conveniently, it also made the issue of" selling out" moot. If the main theme of your music was entrepreneurialism, then getting rich was not a betrayal of your principles but a fulfillment of them. This theme soon became more than a subject for lyrics: as a philosophy, it opened the door for rappers to develop clothing lines, video games, energy drinks, and even signature brands of liquor at the exact moment when recording income was plummeting across the music industry. Leading proponents of this approach included Shawn "Jay Z" Carter, and the previously mentioned Marion "Suge" Knight and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. A second answer to hip-hop's dilemma was to embrace the rock star-as-artist paradigm in much the same way that the original rockers had: to accept the idea that economic success was a key to creative freedom (see Chapter 8). Eminem and Kanye West can be seen as exponents of this school of thought. A third approach was essentially to ignore the boundaries between hip-hop, rock, and pop music, an approach that became increasingly relevant as the previous economic and marketing pressures that had maintained those boundaries began to break down. Outkast is a good example of this approach.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
The tradition of best-selling white artists in hip-hop was continued by the Seattle-based duo Macklemore (Ben Haggerty, b. 1983) I( Ryan Lewis (b. 1988), who were nominated for seven Grammy awards in 2014, winning Best New Artist, Best Rap Album (The Heist), Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance ("Thrift Shop") They are the first duo in the Billboard Hot 100 chart's history to have their first two singles both reach the peak position.
Which of the following is true about Peer-to-peer (p2p) file-sharing networks?
They allow users to share music files.
Recording Industry Association of America - RIAA
Trade association representing the major labels that controlled the sale and distribution of approximately90 percent of the offline music in the United States. Group that works to reduce illegal copying of music.
MP3
Variant of MPEG; MP3 enables sound files to be compressed to as little as one-twelfth of their original size. In musical terms, the most influential medium associated with the internet. MPEG is a digital file compression system that was originally used to develop digital video discs (DVDs). Spurred a series of bitter struggles between entertainment corporations and small-scale entrepreneurs. 1997, MP3.com founded by Michael Robertson, who started his enterprise by making 3,000 songs available over the Internet for free downloading. By 2000 it had become the most successful music site. MP3 files not illegal, but the practice of digitally reproducing music and giving it away for free with the artist's or record company's permission arguably is illegal. 2000 lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the trade association whose member companies controlled the sale and distribution of about 90% of the offline music in US. Charged Robertson with copying 45,000 compact discs produced by these companies and making them available for free. MP3 made a countersuit against RIAA, but a court injunction forced the company to remove all files owned by the corporations.
Hey VA
Written and produced by Andre 3000; performed by Outkast; released 2003- "Hey Ya" is based on an unusual six-measure line, comprising three measures of four beats each, followed by one measure with two beats, followed by another two measures of four beats. Each verse is twenty-four measures long, consisting of four of these six-measure lines. The choruses and break are also twenty-four measures long and are based on the same metric and chord structure.
Bodysnatchers
Written by Colin Charles Greenwood, Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood, Edward John O'Brien, Philip James Selway, and Thomas Edward Yorke; performed by Radio head; released 2007-- (number eight rock, 2008) is in a sense a song about the music industry and also serves as an example of Radiohead's creative extension of the basic formula of alternative rock. Like other "alt rock" bands, Radiohead has drawn upon the nihilistic sensibility of hardcore punk rock and the thick, guitar-dominated textures of arena rock and heavy metal. (The band even upped the ante by using three, rather than the usual one or two, electric guitars!) At the same time, they have also brought into play a wide range of musical influences, from progressive rock and electronic dance music to orchestral music, flamenco, jazz, and the singer-songwriter tradition
Drake
a Canadian artist whose work combines egocentric, abrasive rapping and R&B influenced singing and features collaborations with British, African, and Caribbean artists, recorded a series of best-selling albums and in 2016 charted the first number one single ("One Dance") to surpass one billion streams on Spotify's playlist
To Pimp a Butterfly
a concept album written and performed by Kendrick Lamar; executive producers Anthony "Top Dawg"Tiffith and Dr. Ore; recorded 2015 "i" (single and album versions), written and performed by Kendrick Lamar; recorded 2015- To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), is a play on the phrase Tu Pimp a Caterpillar (Tu.P.A.C.), an acronym for the 1990s rap artist Tupac Shakur (1971-1996). It is also the title of a poem that appears at the very end of the album. The poem presents the caterpillar as a creature whose "only job is to eat or consume everything around it." This is in contrast to the butterfly that "represents the talent, the thoughtfulness, and the beauty within the caterpillar/But having a harsh outlook on life the caterpillar sees the butterfly as weak and figures out a way to pimp it to his own benefits .... "
Voice Tracking
a practice in which DJs at the Clear Channel Communications company's headquarters in TX record radio shows that are played on stations nationwide but are presented as though they were being broadcast locally.
Linkin Park
have worked within a framework that is fundamentally rock-based, but which integrates other influences, such as hip-hop. Blending traditional rock instrumentation with turntables and other electronic instruments, Linkin Park exemplifies the decreasing significance of genre boundaries in the new millennium. their music is more a reflection of individuals with diverse musical influences bringing them together into a whole that collectively represents their wide-ranging musical sensibilities. Are also an example of how contemporary rock reflects the changing demographics of youth in the United States, in that the band notably features two Asian American members
Kanye West
he developed a signature sound based largely on sampling soul hits of the 1960s and 1970s, an approach that had fallen out of favor in the mid-1990s. In that sense, West's style was itself an indicator of hip-hop's longevity; it was widely viewed as having a "retro" element in both its sound and its style. West produced many of the biggest hits of the early 2000s, including Jay Z's "Takeover," and "Izzo," Alicia Keys's "You Don't Know My Name," Talib Kweli's "Get By," Beyonce's '"03 Bonnie & Clyde," and Ludacris's "Stand Up. "gold digger", "Heartless"
Pandora
music streaming program, Pandora let you type in a song or artist you like and instantly find other music that might fit your taste. Pandora relies on a Music Genome that consists of 400 musical attributes covering the qualities of melody, harmony, rhythm, form, composition and lyrics. It's a project that began in January 2000 and took 30 experts in music theory five years to complete.
retro impulse
musicians have always reached into the past to excavate and rework older songs and styles, dressing them up with contemporary references in order to create something novel. But the frequency and intensity of references to past decades do seem to have intensified in the years since 2000.
OLD SCHOOL MEDIA IN THE NEW MILLENIUM:
resurgence of radio and vinyl Despite the rise of digital downloading and streaming, radio keeps chugging away. The latter half of the 2000s saw a gradual reawakening of interest in the format-a "vinyl revival"- fueled by baby boomer nostalgia for music of the 1960s and 1970s, and by a new generation of listeners (dubbed "Millennials" by the media), interested in analog audio technology and genres of popular music that had originally been released on vinyl discs. 70 percent of vinyl LP sales in 2015 fell under the heading of rock music
Taylor Swift
shift in musical style from country- a booklet was included with physical and digital albums featuring photos of Swift with long straight hair, blunt bangs, bright red lips, and vintage fashion-a far cry from the "girl next door" portrayed on her first three albums. Instagram has 90 million followers
Kendrick Lamar
started his musical career as a teenager under the stage name K Dot, Lamar has created concept albums that are cinematic in scope, drawing in a vast range of musical references, and dealing with topics seldom if ever addressed within the tough-guy framework of rap music, including depression, the fear of failure, and what he has called "survivor's guilt."
Nicki Minaj
the Trinidadian-born, New York City-raised rap diva and fashion icon whose animated, word-play-filled performances incorporate a cast of colorful alter egos (including Roman Zolansky, whom she has referred to as her gay Cockney twin brother). Minaj's hit singles range from pop-rap songs like "Super Bass" (number two rap/number three pop, 2012), with its catchy refrain and sexy, pink-infused music video, to 2015's "Anaconda" (number one R&B hip-hop and number two pop), which digitally sampled the fundamental theme of Sir Mix-A-Lot's 1992 hit single "Baby Got Back."
Process of creating rock music
the rise of digital production and distribution has irrevocably altered the process of creating rock music Today, virtually anyone can create music with inexpensive recording software and then distribute it as digital sound files via the Internet. A recording is no longer a physical object, and thus no longer requires the whole chain of materials and labor associated with producing physical products. In essence, the music business as it had existed for almost a half-century had become obsolete almost overnight. Initially, most musicians simply shifted their focus to fit the new circumstances, but it soon became clear that many of the deeper connections between commerce and art that sat at rock's foundation were wearing away
