8.4-6

TEN BEST-SELLING ALBUMS OF ALL TIME IN THE UNITED STATES

1) Michael Jackson Thriller 1982 Pop, rock, R&B 51-65 2) AC/DC Back in Black 1980 Hard rock 50 3) Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon 1973 Progressive rock 45 4) Whitney Houston/Various Artists The Bodyguard 1992 Soundtrack/R&B, soul, pop 44 5) Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell 1977 Hard rock, progressive rock 43 6) Eagles Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) 1976 Rock, soft rock, folk rock 43 7) Bee Gees/Various Artists Saturday Night Fever 1977 Disco 40 8) Fleetwood Mac Rumours 1977 Soft rock 40 9) Shania Twain Come On Over 1997 Country, pop 39 10) Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV 1971 Hard rock, heavy metal 37

#1 SONGS BY DECADE

1900s Sousa's Band "Stars & Stripes Forever" 1901 1910s Sophie Tucker "Some of These Days" 1911 1920s Al Jolson "Swanee" 1920 1930s Judy Garland "Over the Rainbow" 1939 1940s Bing Crosby "White Christmas" 1942 1950s Bill Haley & His Comets "Rock Around the Clock" 1955 1960s The Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" 1965 1970s Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive" 1978 1980s Irene Cara "Flashdance . . . What a Feeling" 1983 1990s Bryan Adams "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" 1991 2000s Eminem "Lose Yourself" 2002 Billboard rates the top ten songs for each decade as the best-selling and most-played songs, which actually results in a totally different list from the 1960s on: 1960s The Beatles "I Want to Hold Your Hand" 1963 1970s Debby Boone "You Light Up My Life" 1977 1980s Olivia Newton-John "Physical" 1981 1990s Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men "One Sweet Day" 1995 2000s Mariah Carey "We Belong Together" 2005 the best singles in the United Kingdom were during the same period, after "Rock Around the Clock" (which is the best-selling single world-wide of all time) you once again get a totally different list: 1950s Bill Haley & His Comets "Rock Around the Clock" 1955 1960s The Beatles "She Loves You" 1963 1970s Wings "Mull of Kintyre" 1977 1980s Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas?" 1984 1990s Elton John "Candle in the Wind 1997" 1997 2000s Will Young "Evergreen" 2002

TECHNICAL PERSONNEL

Record Producer. Record producers provide creative expertise that allows artists to come up with the signature sound for an album of single, while record labels count on their business savvy to ensure an album is completed on time and under budget. They collaborate with the artist on selecting songs for the album and can be involved in the rehearsal process, selecting the studio and an engineer, negotiating recording time, and hire session musicians or background vocalists as required. When the album is completed, they are also responsible for business matters like paying studios and contract talent, and providing expense reports and receipts to the label. There are no specific college requirements for record producers, but most of them have experience as a musician and/or recording engineer, and have taken courses in music business so they understand copyright, music publishing, and entertainment law. Studio Manager. The manager of a recording studio could be the owner of the company, a partial owner, or someone hired to manage the studio staff and run the day-to-day operations of the business. They are usually responsible for hiring engineers and other creative and technical staff, selecting and purchasing new equipment, as well as assigning recording and remixing engineers to specific client projects (although those selections could be up to the producer and artist). Studio Technician. Recording studios have stockpiled a large inventory of audio equipment to meet the needs of their clients and the studio manager is the person who keeps it all in good working condition. Equally important, they are trained to be able to diagnose and fix any problems with equipment. In addition to training in the field, they usually have a college degree in recording arts, electrical engineering, or music production. Gopher. The lowest engineer position (called a runner in the United Kingdom), this is the person responsible for doing everything that no one else wants to do, such as getting the sandwiches. But this is also an entry position where a lot of people start in the industry to learn the music business from the ground up. Recording Engineer. This is the person responsible for recording and mixing the tracks. They know the techniques for microphone placement and how to record different types of instruments, from guitars to drums. The recording engineer prepares the studio for recording sessions and operates the mixing console. Mix Engineer. The individual instruments and vocals are recorded independently, delivered to the mix engineer as DVD or virtual files, transferred to a mixing console, and then mixed together to create one track on an album. It usually takes an experienced mixing engineer four to 6 hours to mix one song. Mastering Engineer. The mastering engineer takes the final mixed production and transfers it to either CD, cassette, vinyl, or digital. They are hired by the artist, record producer, or a record label representative to complete the audio mastering process during post-production. Their primary job is to ensure each track is balanced, set to the optimum volume, and free of distracting interferences. Assistant Engineer. Responsible for setting up and doing whatever they can to help the engineer, assistant engineers basically serve as apprentices to the mastering engineer.

PROTEST SONGS

Campaign Songs. The political nature of songs in the United States began with campaign songs, used in presidential contests, beginning with "The Hunters of Kentucky," used for candidate Andrew Jackson in 1824 and 1828. In 1840, Alexander Coffman Ross, wrote new lyrics for the minstrel song "Little Pigs" to create "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" for the Whig candidates William Henry Harrison, hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe, and John Tyler. Setting new words to established melodies like "Yankee Doodle" or "O Tannenbaum" became a standard practice. Civil War Songs. During the Civil War both sides had their own patriotic songs. The Union had "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (whose music was taken from "John Brown's Body"), "Battle Cry of Freedom," "The First Gun is Fired," and "We Are Coming Father Abra'am." The Confederacy had different lyrics for their own version of "Battle Cry of Freedom," as well as "The Bonnie Blue Flag," "Dixie," "Stonewall Jackson's Way," and, after the war, "The Conquered Banner." But there were also sentimental songs soldiers on both sides sang: "Just Before the Battle, Mother," "Lorena," "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground," and "Kathleen Mavourneen." Labor Songs: Swedish immigrant Joel Hägglund became a labor activist in America, better known as Joe Hill. A popular songwriter for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, also known as the "Wobblies"), his most famous songs included a parody of the hymn "In the Sweet By-and-By" entitled "The Preacher and the Slave" (1911), "Casey Jones—the Union Scab" (1911), "The Rebel Girl" (1911), and "There is Power in a Union" (1913). Following Hill's controversial execution in 1915 for murder, a poem entitled "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night" was turned into a song known simply as "The Ballad of Joe Hill" (1936), famously sung by Joan Baez at Woodstock. Songs of the Great Depression: Woody Guthrie sang hundreds of political songs dealing with his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression, when he traveled with displaced farmers from Oklahoma to California, earning himself the nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour." His Dust Bowl Ballads (1940) collection included "I Ain't Got No Home in This World Anymore," "Vigilante Man," "Pretty Boy Floyd," "Blowin' Down This Road," "Dust Bowl Refugee," and the two-part "Tom Joad" based on John Ford's movie version of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Guthrie warned migrants they would not survive unless they had the "Do Re Mi" (1940). Civil Rights Freedom Songs: Fats Waller's "(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue" (1929) and Lead Belly's "The Bourgeois Blues" (1930) were some of the first examples of songs protesting racial discrimination. While earlier songs had hinted at the lynching of blacks in the South, Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" (1939) brought the subject into the light, setting a poem written by Abel Meeropol to music: "Southern trees bear a strange fruit/Blood on the leaves and blood at the root." Marian Anderson sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee" in an open-air concert on Easter Sunday on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 at the invitation of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused Anderson permission to perform before an integrated audience in Washington DC's Constitution Hall.

ARTISTIC PERSONNEL

Composer. Creates musical scores for film, television, and computer games. They write music, score, program, and conform music to picture edits. Lyricist. Writes song lyrics for performance in songs. They can work both freelance and on staffs at a publishing company. Usually, they collaborate with composers, songwriters, recording artists, and even other lyricists. Songwriter. Songwriters craft songs for other artists, which is distinct from artists who write their own songs. Songwriters both compose the music and write the lyrics for their songs (although this can be done in collaboration with others). Arranger. In the recording industry an arranger is a freelance artist who works to retool an existing piece of music for a particular artist's style and genre. They arrange many parts of a musical composition, taking into consideration voice, harmonic structure, instrument, tempo, rhythm, and tone balance. The arranger has to transcribe their composition for the band, orchestra, choral group, or artist to transform the song from its original style into another. Song Plugger. Pitches a songwriter's composition to producers, A&R reps, managers, and music supervisors. They can represent several songwriters or be in-house at a publishing company, as well as being independent contractors. An independent song plugger represents songwriters who have not assigned the rights to their songs to a publishing company. Music Supervisor. Primarily concerned with selecting songs to be placed in a film or on the soundtrack of a television show. They are familiar with the licensing process necessary to clear the rights and can help a director select the right song for a particular scene. Often in post production the music supervisor puts placeholder songs, called the temp track, into the film. Then, when the director falls in love with songs for which the production cannot afford to pay the rights, then find appropriate (and affordable) replacements.

Business Model

Creation. Traditionally, major record labels sign artists and then back them financially in creating and recording their music. You got a sense of how this process works in the previous section looking at the personnel making up the music industry. Because of that financial investment, the record labels have historically received the majority of the financial rewards, while the artists receive royalty payments of approximately 10 percent of gross (overall) sales. Promotion. To make money, albums have to be bought by customers, so promoting artists and their music are the crucial part of the second stage. Being played on the radio has been the primary way of promoting music, which is one of the reasons major labels have enjoyed a huge advantage over the indie labels in getting their artists airplay (we will talk about the dark side of getting music played on the radio in the next chapter when we cover the payola scandal of the 1950s). Distribution. Whatever the dominant format has been, record labels have made copies of the music and sent albums or CDs to local retail outlets that sell them to consumers. There are also online stores, such as Amazon, that can ship CDs to the customer's home (and many artists have websites where they can do the exact same thing, cutting out the middleman). Of course now you can immediately download an album from these websites and not have to wait for a physical copy of the album to arrive in the mail.

10 INFLUENTIAL SINGERS

Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). Italian operatic tenor who sang to great acclaim in major opera houses in Europe and the Americas. In the infancy of sound recordings when such devices were available primarily to the elite, it was not surprising that an opera singer was the best known singer in the United States. Caruso made almost 300 recordings, the first of which helped to spread his fame throughout the English-speaking world. In the United States he signed, a lucrative financial deal with the Victor Talking Machine Company. Because of his "phonogenic" voice, "manly and powerful, yet sweet and lyrical," and the tremendous popularity of his phonograph records, Caruso became one of the first examples of a global media celebrity, whose name and fame have endured to the present day. Bing Crosby (1903-1977). A crooner with a trademark warm bass-baritone voice, Crosby became the best-selling recording artist of the twentieth century, having sold over one billion recordings. Crosby has two of the best-selling singles of all-time: #1 "White Christmas" (50 million copies sold) and #3 "Silent Night" (30 million). As a multimedia star, from 1934-1954 Crosby was the top earner in record sales, radio ratings, and motion pictures, arguably making him the greatest entertainer in American history. As a crooner, Crosby was able to take advantage of the recording innovation of the microphone, which allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that would influence many of the popular singers that followed in his wake. Crosby won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role of Father Chuck O'Malley in the 1944 film Going My Way. He was also the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape, using the same tools and craftsmanship--editing, retaking, rehearsal, time shifting--used in motion picture production. Best Known Songs: "White Christmas," "Pennies From Heaven," "Swinging on a Star," "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?" Frank Sinatra (1915-1998). "Ol' Blue Eyes" began his music career in the swing era as a boy singer with big bands and the idol of "bobby soxers," the first modern pop superstar. Sinatra then evolved from the idealistic crooner of the early 1940's to the sophisticated swinger of the 1950s and 1960s, and ended his career as the most respected pop singer of his generation, known for his ability to phrase a lyric of a song for optimum impact on the listener. Best Known Songs: "Fly Me to the Moon," "One for My Baby (And One More for the Road"), "Strangers in the Night," "My Way," "New York, New York." Ray Charles (1930-2004). Nicknamed "The High Priest of Soul," Charles pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s by combining gospel, blues, and rhythm and blues. He was so successful he became one of the first African-American musicians to be granted artistic control by a major record company. Rolling Stone ranked Charles as #10 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time," and #2 on their list of the "100 Greatest Singers of Al-Time." Best Known Songs: "What'd I Say, Pts. 1 & 2," "I Got a Woman," "Hit the Road Jack," "You Don't Know Me," "Georgia on My Mind." Elvis Presley (1935-1977). One of the biggest cultural icons of the twentieth century, Elvis was called "the King of Rock and Roll," and then, more simply, "the King." Sam Phillips, the boss of Sun Records, had been saying for years, "If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars." Philips wanted a singer who could bring to a broader audience the sound of the black musicians who were the main focus on the Sun label. Presley had that sound, and eventually the door would be opened for black music to thrive on its own terms. Presley had ten #1 albums and 18 #1 singles, including 11 in a row in 1956 starting with "Heartbreak Hotel." Best Known Songs: "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "It's Now or Never," "Are You Lonesome Tonight," and "Suspicious Minds." Bob Dylan (1941-). Bono laid out the case as to why Dylan was number 7 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest singers: "Bob Dylan did what very, very few singers ever do. He changed popular singing. And we have been living in a world shaped by Dylan's singing ever since. Almost no one sings like Elvis Presley anymore. Hundreds try to sing like Dylan. When Sam Cooke played Dylan for the young Bobby Womack, Womack said he didn't understand it. Cooke explained that from now on, it's not going to be about how pretty the voice is. It's going to be about believing that the voice is telling the truth."13 Barbra Streisand (1942-). The best-selling female artist of all time (the only female in the top ten and the only non-rock 'n' roll artist), with 33 top-ten albums (including a number-one album in each of the last six decades), Streisand achieved an unmatched level of artistry as a singer. Whitney Balliett of The New Yorker describes her as "a contralto with a couple of octaves at her command, and she wows her listeners with her shrewd dynamics (in-your-ear soft here, elbowing-loud there), her bravura climbs, her rolling vibrato, and the singular Streisand-from-Brooklyn nasal quality of her voice-a voice as immediately recognizable in its way as Louis Armstrong's."14 Best Known Songs: "Happy Days are Here Again," "People," "Don't Rain on My Parade," "The Way We Were," "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" Aretha Franklin (1942-2018). "The Queen of Soul" began her career singing gospel at her father's church. After singing with Atlantic Records in 1967, she became the most charted female artist in Billboard history. Rolling Stone magazine put her at the top of its list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Best Known Songs: "Respect," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," "Think," "Chain of Fools." Michael Jackson (1958-2009). Jackson became "The King of Pop" in the early 1980s, driven in part by his use of music videos for his songs. Thriller is the best-selling album of all time and the winner of a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year. Seven on the nine tracks on the album were released as singles, all of which reached the Top 10. Best Known Songs: "Beat It," "Billie Jean," "Thriller," "Bad," "Man in the Mirror." Madonna (1958-). "Queen of Pop" With more than 300 million records sold worldwide, Madonna is listed by Guinness World Records as the best-selling female recording artist of all time. Madonna did not originate the theatrical concert experience, which goes back at least to Alice Cooper, but Madonna can probably receive the credit for making it the norm; each of her concert tours were major operations. She also receives credit for constantly re-inventing herself, keeping her music relevant for a longer time than another other female pop artist. Best Known Songs: "Like a Virgin," "Into the Groove," "Papa Don't Preach," "Like a Prayer," "Vogue."

Music Royalties

Performance Royalties These are the fees music users pay when music is performed publicly. This includes not only concert performances but also playing music over the radio, in a restaurant or bar, or over an online service like Pandora or Spotify. Performance rights organizations (PROs) such as Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), American Society of Composers, Artists and Producers (ASCAP), and Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC), collect songwriting performance royalties from music users and then pay the publishers (songwriters and rights holders). Songwriters and rights holders can be two separate entities. For example, Michael Jackson bought the Beatles catalog. So while Paul McCartney and the estate of John Lennon receive performance royalties as the songwriters, the estate of Michael Jackson would receive the performance royalties as rights holders. Mechanical Royalties These are the fees paid to songwriters and artists when their music is licensed to appear on a CD or vinyl record, but also when music is streamed on-demand on providers like Spotify. Master Royalties Record labels collect royalties from the use of a specific recording of a song that is used in a film, television program, advertisement, streaming service, or other medium. Radio stations do not typically pay master royalties because playing a song over the radio has traditionally been viewed as free advertising for a recording.

freedom songs

Songs sung by those in the Civil Rights Movement. Also called Civil Rights anthems.

Topical Songs

Vietnam Protest Songs. Some of the most famous antiwar songs of the 60s were actually released before President Lyndon Johnson sent US combat forces to Vietnam in March of 1965. "Masters of War" (1963) is an unrelenting screed attacking the military-industrial complex and all others responsible for the Cold War arms race. It ends with Dylan hoping that all the masters of war die, die soon, and promising "I'll stand over your grave / 'Til I'm sure that you're dead." Donovan's "Universal Soldier" (1965), a cover of a Buffy Saint-Marie song, and "I Ain't Marching Anymore" (1965) by Phil Ochs, argued against old men sending young men off to die in war, without specifically mentioning Vietnam. Child Abuse and Domestic Violence. Both Pat Benatar's "Hell is For Children" (1980) and Suzanne Vega's "Luka" (1987) addressed the issue of child abuse, although Vega's approach, using lighter music as an ironic counterpoint to the subject matter saw her song getting far more credit than Benatar received. Joni Mitchell's "Not to Blame" (1994) told the story of a woman who committed suicide because of abuse, while Tracy Chapman's "Behind the Wall" (1988), sung without instrumentation condemned people who feel they cannot get involved in domestic disputes. "Goodbye Earl" (1999) by the Dixie Chicks was about spousal abuse, but critics were troubled by its using murder as the solution. Arrowsmith's "Janie's Got a Gun" (1989) covered similar territory, with a young girl who shoots her father because of sexual abuse. Hip-Hop Music. More recently, several critics have observed that all music is protest. "The Message" (1982) by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five was about the struggle of living in the Bronx during the administration of Ronald Reagan. The 32 hip-hop group N. W. A., one of the earliest and most significant gangsta rap groups, reflected the rising anger of urban youth in their Straight Outta Compton album. Their controversial song "**** tha Police" (1988) protested racial profiling and police brutality with an abrasive intensity never heard before in a song, while "Gangsta Gangsta" (1988) presented the worldview of inner-city youth. Public Enemy's anthem "Fight the Power" (1989) explicitly rejects racial integration. 2 Live Crew's "Banned in the USA" (1990) made them unlikely champions of free speech. Rage Against the Machine's debut single "Killing in the Name" (1992), uses a fusion of rap and rock in a song that rages on about racism, police brutality, and defiance. Protest Songs in The Twenty-First Century. Bruce Springsteen has written about those in the armed services, especially those who served in Vietnam—"Born in the U.S.A." (1984) and it's B-side "Shut Out the Light" (1984)—and Iraq—"Gypsy Biker" (2007), "Last to Die" (2007) which asked "Who'll be the last to die for a mistake?"—in songs focusing on the aftermath. But in "Devils & Dust" (2005) he sets his song on Middle Eastern battlefield, asking "What if what you do to survive kills the things you love?"

major music labels

Universal Music Group: The largest music corporation in the world, UMG operates as a subsidiary of Vivendi, a Paris-based French media conglomerate. Major labels: Interscope-Geffen-A&M, Capitol Music Group, Republic Records, Def Jam Recordings, Universal Music Group Nashville, Universal Music Latin Entertainment, the Verve Music Group, Universal Music Classical, Universal Music Enterprises, Show Dog-Universal Music, Eagle Rock Entertainment, and Universal Music UK. Sony Music Entertainment: A subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony Corporation, and the world's second largest music company having merged with Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) in 2004. Main labels: Columbia Records, RCA Records, Epic Records, and RED Associated Labels. Warner Music Group: The largest American-owned music conglomerate worldwide, WMG is the third largest in the global music industry. Originally owned by Warner Bros., today WMG is owned by Access Industries. Main labels: Atlantic Records Group, Warner Bros. Records, Parlophone Label Group, Rhino Entertainment, Warner Music Nashville, and Warner Classics.

business model

describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value, in economic, social, cultural or other contexts.

"protest songs"

is basically used to cover songs that have a rhetorical dimension: that seem to persuade, and not simply to entertain.

crooner

name given to male singers of jazz standards, mostly from the Great American Songbook, usually backed by a full orchestra, big band, or piano. This term was originally meant ironically, denoting an emphatically sentimental and often emotional singing style made possible by the use of microphones.