This document provides an overview of the evolution of popular music and its relationship with culture and technology. It discusses the emergence of genres like jazz, blues, country, rock and roll, and hip hop. It also examines how new technologies have disrupted the music industry, from the invention of the phonograph to digital music and file sharing. Cultural movements like the Great Migration, civil rights movement, and youth culture are also reviewed in terms of their influence on music trends.

1. Mass Media and Society
Chapter 6: Music
Feb. 3, 2014

2. Chapter 6:
Music
• Popular music’s evolution
• Reciprocal nature of
music and culture
• Current trends in the
music industry
• Influence of new
technology

3. Evolution of
popular music
• Phonograph and
gramophone
• Tin Pan Alley and
vaudeville
• Electrical recording and
the rise of radio

4. Jazz, blues, country
/folk, rock and roll
• Jazz emerges in 1930s
New Orleans
• Country/Western arises
from folk traditions in ’20s
• Blues spreads north in
late 1930s and 1940s
• Rock and roll rises in ’50s

5. Rock and roll
• Early pioneers: Little
Richard, Chuck Berry
• Elvis Presley combines
R&B of blues artists with
country-western tradition
• Elvis is “the first true rock
and roll icon”

6. The Beatles arrive
• 1964 “Ed Sullivan Show”:
one in three Americans
(74 million) tuned in
• British Invasion: Rolling
Stones, other artists
• Beatles’ melodic pop
sound contrasts with
bluesy Stones

7. Other musical
genres emerge
• Folk, soul
(Motown), surf, folk, folk
rock, glam
rock, disco, punk, and on
to rap, alternative, grunge
• Protest music in 1960s is
closely linked with hippie
culture

8. Hip-hop
• Emerges in 1970s and
1980s
• Urban culture includes
graffiti art, breakdancing,
rap music (MC and DJ,
sampling, scratching,
sampling)

9. Hip-hop’s rise
• From underground to
mainstream
• Starts as voice of
disaffected
• Spreads among cultures
and influences/is
influenced by culture
• Its rise mirrors that of
other genres

10. Music and culture
• Great Migration: Between
1915 and 1920, as many
as 1 million African
Americans moved north
• Migrant blues artists
brought music to Chicago,
other cities

11. Music and culture
• Following World War II,
youth culture coheres
• Between 1950 and 1959,
music sales rocket from
$189 million to nearly
$600 million
• Morality debates seen in
every generation

12. Music and culture
• Civil Rights Movement:
Segregation starts to
crumble; African American
artists gain mainstream
popularity: Motown’s
Supremes, Temptations,
Four Tops, Vandellas

13. Ethnicity and the
music business
• White artists “hijack” hits,
recording cover versions
that gained popularity
• African-American artists
lost out on royalties
• Long history of tension
and exploitation

14. Current music
industry trends
• Record sales plunge in
late 1990s amid filesharing
• A few big firms continue to
dominate:
Sony, EMI, Universal, War
ner
• Digital sales, streaming

15. Technology and
the music industry
• File sharing: RIAA cracks
down, sues violators
• MP3 players replace CDs
• Digital music sales grow
from 20% in 2007 to more
than 50% in 2012

16. Total full album
sales breakdown
• Digital (iTunes, Amazon,
etc.): 37 percent
• Mass merchants
(Walmart, etc.): 29%
• Best Buy-type chains:
15%
• Mail order, venue: 10%
• Independent stories: 7%