Abstract
A full-fledged music industry boom characterized the immediate post-war years in the United States. From 1945 to 1946, record sales doubled from $109 to $218 million. In 1947, sales reached a new record high at $224 million. In 1948, however, sales declined by 15% to $189 million, and in 1949 by an additional 8% to $173 million.
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- 1.
Edison Co. had already tried in 1925 to develop a long-playing record, but the phonographs used at the time were not made for playing such recordings. In 1931, RCA-Victor, too, produced such an LP, but it failed to prevail as a new recording format during the recession years.
- 2.
Peter Goldmark was a Hungarian-born Jewish emigrant who studied physics at the University of Vienna until 1938. In 1946, he was transferred from CBS's department for TV development to that of Columbia's.
- 3.
AEG presented the Magnetophon in public for the first time in 1935 at a large broadcasting exposition in Berlin.
- 4.
In 1949, only 11 companies participated in the U.S. phonographic industry, whereas in 1954, the number had increased to almost 200 (Peterson 1990).
- 5.
For more on the history of Atlantic, see Gillett (1988) and Wade (1990).
- 6.
For more on the history of Chess, see Collis (1998) and Cohodas (2000).
- 7.
For more on the history of Sun Records, see Escott (1991).
- 8.
RCA-Victor: 11, CBS-Columbia: 8, Decca: 8, Mercury: 7 (Hamm 1983, p. 393).
- 9.
As long as only the majors exerted influence on the Disc Jockey, "Payola” remained unsanctioned. However, once the independents also used this method, the United States House of Representatives initiated an investigating committee that proved in its 1960 report ("Payola and Other Deceptive Practices in the Broadcasting Field") that between 1950 and 1954 bribes were systematically paid to at least 255 DJs in 56 cities and 26 states (Gronow and Saunio 1998, pp. 105–106).
- 10.
Garofalo (1997, pp. 121–131) calls them “Doo Wop Groups”.
- 11.
Al Jarvis was one of the first radio DJs. In 1932, he moderated the “World's Largest Make-Believe Ballroom” for KFWB in Los Angeles. His program consisted exclusively of playing records, yet Jarvis attempted to maintain the illusion of a live dance program. Martin Block was the first DJ who went on the air as animator and entertainer. From 1935 on, he moderated "Make-Believe Ballroom" for WNEW in New York (Wicke 1998, pp. 191–192).
- 12.
Variety speculated that 85% of record sales could be traced back to the free promotion provided by DJs (Sanjek and Sanjek 1991, p. 106). Alan Freed was a DJ who also became known outside of his local region. He first worked for an independent radio station in Akron, Ohio in 1946 but was later hired by WINS in New York. Freed claimed to have been the first to have used the term “Rock ‘n’ Roll” . Indeed, the radio show he started in 1952 was called “Moondog's Rock ‘n' Roll Party.” Garofalo (1997, p. 90) points out, however, that the black community had been using the term much earlier. Freed's contribution, however, ensured the nationwide dissemination of the term.
- 13.
Legend has it that during a bar visit Todd Storz, owner of KOWH in Omaha, Nebraska, and Bill Stewart, his program director, observed how regulars kept selecting the same song from the jukebox and how the waitress also selected this same song while cleaning up after closing, even though she had already listened to it all day long. Storz and Stewart subsequently decided to program their radio shows like a jukebox; they began to play all day long only those forty songs that were most popular with their audience (Garofalo 1997, p. 100). Less prosaic an explanation of the emergence of the top 40 format is the argument that in 1953 Storz had another of his stations, WTIX in New Orleans, play only the 40 most popular songs day in and day out to lower costs. In addition, this format allowed him to eliminate the DJ (Shaw 1974, p. 66).
- 14.
Gronow and Saunio (1998, p. 103) consider this story a PR gag that was later invented, since at this time the Presleys did not even own a record player.
- 15.
In 1951, Little Richard received a record contract with RCA-Victor after he had won a talent competition; however, after he had recorded one single, his contract was not extended. Although Buddy Holly began his recording career at Decca, he was treated so poorly that he moved to the independent label Clovis and, once he had some success, to Decca's autonomous sub-labels Brunswick and Coral. Chuck Berry recorded a demo entitled “Ida Red” and offered it to the majors Capitol and Mercury who, however, rejected the song as being too country-like for a "black" audience. Chess, however, produced the song as “Maybellene” in 1955, which led to Berry's breakthrough.
- 16.
Since 1949, Fats Domino recorded for Imperial, Little Richard for Specialty, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley for Chess, and Buddy Holly for Clovis. In addition to Elvis, Sam Phillips also discovered Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for Sun Records .
- 17.
In 1947, Decca applied the principle of conversion for the first time. They had Gladys Knight cover Paula Watson's “Little Bird Told Me,” which she had recorded for Supreme Records; in response, Supreme filed a lawsuit against Decca, charging copyright violation. In 1951, though, the court decided that Supreme Records was not guilty of any copyright violation, arguing that a cover version represents an arrangement in its own right and thus must be considered a new work (Sanjek and Sanjek 1991, p. 125). This legal decision triggered a wave of cover versions, such as June Vallis' cover of the Orioles' “Crying in the Chapel” (originally released by Jubilee and re-released by RCA); Perry Como's cover of Gene & Eunice's “Ko, Ko, Ko” (originally released by Aladdin and re-released by RCA); Theresa Brewer and the McGuire Sisters'cover (released by Decca's sub-label Coral) of the Moonglows’ “Sincerely”; or Brewer's cover of Fat Domino's “Bo Weevil.”
- 18.
Brunswick was founded in 1957 only in order to record covers of successful R&B titles.
- 19.
Coral was founded in 1949 as Decca's R&B label and until 1956 had success with the McGuire Sisters and Theresa Brewer.
- 20.
Since 1956, Mercury had a second-rate and unimportant Rock ‘n' Roll band under contract with Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys . The Platters, in contrast, had a few hits, but they were only loosely connected to Rock ‘n' Roll. In 1956, Capitol signed Gene Vincent who had won the “Another Presley” competition that the label had organized. MGM entered the Rock ‘n' Roll business only in 1958 when they signed Conway Twitty.
- 21.
Only the Columbia sub-label OKeh Records had a moderately successful Rock ‘n' Roller under contract with Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
- 22.
In 1953, R&B records amounted to a mere 5.7 % of sales on the US-market (Gillett 1971, p. 17).
- 23.
Having founded the Chancellor-label, however, Bob Marcucci did not represent a major label.
- 24.
Among the commercially successful acts, only Connie Francis (first MGM, then Polydor), Neil Sedaka, and Paul Anka (both RCA) were under contract with major labels. Frankie Avalon (Chancellor), Pat Boone (Dot), Chubby Checker (Cameo), and Bobby Rydell (Cameo) had their hits on indie labels.
- 25.
Production for the civilian market could recommence only in 1946.
- 26.
Alfred Clark, who died in 1950, had been the leader of Gramophone since 1905, and Louis Sterling had become the CEO of British Columbia in 1909.
- 27.
New labels that had entered the market included Vox, Concert-Hall, Mercury, and Westminster.
- 28.
The fired members of the Philharmonia Orchestra founded its successor, the New Philharmonia Orchestra.
- 29.
Callas biographies such as Ardoin's (1982) or Lowe's (1987) report with many anecdotal details how Walter Legge had attended in the summer of 1951 at the Roman Opera a performance of Bellini's "Norma" with Callas in the lead; apparently, he was so overwhelmed by her performance that afterwards he hurried backstage to offer her a lucrative recording contract.
- 30.
Together with conductors Victor de Sabata, Herbert von Karajan, and Tulio Serafin, he recorded at the Scala performances of“I Puritani,” “Cavalleria Rusticana,”“Tosca,” “Norma,” “La Forza del Destino,” “Il Turko in Italia,” “Madame Butterfly,” “Rigoletto,” “Il Trovatore,” “La Bohème,” “Un Ballo di Maschera,” “La Somnabula,” and “Manon Lescaut,” with Callas singing all female lead roles.
- 31.
Part of EMI were the HMV, Parlophone, and Columbia labels, and, since 1955, also Capitol Records.
- 32.
Decca-U.K., just like its sister Decca-U.S., operated Brunswick and Coral but also the export label “London” and Vogue, which focused on the market of the West Indies and later merged with Coral.
- 33.
Freddy Quinn and Caterina Valente began their careers with Deutsche Grammophon and Vico Torriani with Telefunken. Edith Piaf and Jacques Brêl were temporarily under contract with Polydor, the export label of Deutsche Grammophon.
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Tschmuck, P. (2012). Rock ‘n’ Roll Revolution. In: Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28430-4_7
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