Converging Media Chapter 4

1. CONVERGING MEDIA:
A NEW INTRODUCTION TO MASS
COMMUNICATION
5th edition
John V Pavlik & Shawn McIntosh
Chapter 4:
Audio Media: Music Recordings, Radio

2. DISTINCTIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE RECORDED-
MUSIC INDUSTRY
 Primarily entertainment and cultural transmission
 Children listen to recorded music, often
repetitively, and learn vocabulary, musical
rhythms, and the pleasure of dancing.
 1981 launch of MTV: visual components of music
became increasingly important

3. HISTORY OF RECORDED MUSIC
 Recorded music developed
in the 1870s; the first mass
medium not based on print
 Early recording devices:
phonograph, graphophone,
gramophone
 1950s: development of vinyl
LP records; 1960s:
development of
electromagnetic tape; 1980s:
development of CD
technology

4. HISTORY OF RECORDED MUSIC
Tin Pan Alley
 Site of early music recording
 Popular music producer & promoter
 George & Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter and
Irving Berlin recorded at Tin Pan Alley
Roots of Rock & Roll
 Grows from blues, gospel, R&B
 1954-1959: popularization of rock music
 Motown Record Company: Motor City,
Detroit; Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross &
The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie
Wonder and the Jackson 5 all recorded
with Berry Gordy
Redefining Rock
 “British Invasion” in 1960s: The Beatles, the
Who, the Rolling Stones
 1970s known for glam rock and punk rock;
1980s for heavy metal, pop and rap; 1990s
for alternative/progressive rock

5. THE RECORDED-MUSIC INDUSTRY TODAY
 1998: six major recording labels
 2004: five major recording labels,
including Bertelsmann Music
Group (BMG) and EMI
 2012: three major recording labels,
Sony Music Entertainment, Warner
Music Group, and Universal Music
Group (UMG)
 In the United States, 49 percent of
music sales were digital in 2010;
expectation that digital sales will
exceed CD sales in the United
States by the end of 2013

6. RECORDING-INDUSTRY BUSINESS
MODEL
 Creation
 Promotion
 Distribution
 Pricing structure

7. OUTLOOK FOR THE RECORDING
INDUSTRY
Digital rights management
and illegal file sharing
 Music industry & major record
labels resisted change in a
number of ways that proved
futile
Restricts the types of devices
that can play the
downloaded song, the length
of time the song can be
played, or limits access
New business models
emerging
Downloads
Subscription services

8. RADIO
 Most widely available mass
medium around the world; most
heavily used medium in the United
States
 Radio is less expensive to
produce, transmit, and receive
than television; radio receivers are
highly portable—even wearable—
and radio doesn’t require literacy
to understand
 Three types of radio broadcasting:
AM (amplitude modulation), FM
(frequency modulation), and
satellite (different broadcast
format)

9. DISTINCTIVE FUNCTIONS OF RADIO
 Medium of news and
entertainment
 In remote rural areas, radio
disseminates important
information, such as
agricultural instructions for
easy, cheap, and rapid farming
 Radio used globally as an
emergency broadcast system
for events like severe storms,
natural disasters, or military
conflict, largely because of its
portability and flexible power
source

10. HISTORY OF RADIO
 Wireless
telegraphy
 Radio’s early
potential
 Voice
transmission

11. HISTORY OF RADIO
WWI
 U.S. government either took over or completely shut down all radio stations
Widespread public adoption
 July 2, 1921 Dempsey-Carpentier boxing match broadcast by a temporary long-wave
station, WJY, broadcast the bout live
FM Radio
 1934: Edwin Howard Armstrong and John Bose invent FM radio stereo FM radio
Viable business model
 Privately owned stations with on-air advertising
Rise of radio networks
 1926: NBC the first radio network; 1927: CBS the second; 1940s: ABC becomes third
radio network

12. THE RADIO INDUSTRY TODAY
 2006-2010: Decline in
radio revenue; 2010
turnaround from digital
revenue
 With rise of TV, radio
adapted through
specialization: program
formats, time of day for
certain formats, and
audience demographics

13. OUTLOOK FOR THE RADIO INDUSTRY
Cautious optimism for growth because of digital revenue
Personal radio stations – such as Slacker, Pandora, and Spotify – where
users create and save their own playlists in “My Stations” or
“Channels,” names that evoke radio
Podcasting
 Episodic or a series of related content such as a news program or
investigative reports; easy to get and download
 Podcasts popular for talk-based radio, sports and music
Satellite Radio
 Uses digital signals broadcast from a satellite, beaming the same
programming across a wide territory