6.4 Current Popular Trends in the Music Industry
Learning Objectives
- Describe the influence of television on music popularity and trends
- Assess the influence of the major record labels in the music industry.
- Describe the role played by independent labels in the music industry.
In Weezer’s 2008 song “Pork and Beans,” vocalist Rivers Cuomo sings, “Timbaland knows the way to reach the top of the charts/Maybe if I work with him I can perfect the art (AOL Music Sessions).” The lyrics, a reference to hip-hop producer Timbaland’s multiple high-profile collaborations, are an angry reaction to a meeting between Cuomo and record executives at the band’s Geffen label. During the meeting, the executives told the band members they needed to write more commercial material, prompting a defiant (though commercially successful) response (Reesman, 2008). The incident is a reflection of the balance between commercial success and artistic expression in the music industry. Record labels need artists that inspire the record-buying public, while artists need the financial backing and expertise of record labels and their marketing teams. In recent years, tensions between artists and their labels have been heightened by the cost-cutting measures that have taken place at many companies due to the impact of online file sharing on profits.
Influence of Television on Music Trends and Sales
American Bandstand
American Bandstand became a powerful symbol of American teenage culture with its nearly four-decade look at the ever-changing tastes of the country’s youth. Featuring guest artists who lip-synced to their latest tunes, and a teenage audience whose members danced for the cameras, the show launched a conga line of dance crazes, fashion and hair trends, and sent the latest teen slang expressions echoing from coast to coast.
From its beginning as a local Philadelphia telecast called, simply, Bandstand in 1952, to its 1957 national debut as American Bandstand, and on throughout its run, the show was known for treating teenagers with deference. Congenial host Dick Clark did not pontificate or preach; he instead let the kids and the music do the communicating. Indeed, American Bandstand enjoys a reputation not only as a musical and cultural timeline, but as a fondly remembered part of adolescence for many older Americans.
It was on August 5, 1957 that ABC took Bandstand national. Debuting on 67 stations across the country, the live daily afternoon show was an instantaneous success. Just weeks into its run, American Bandstand was drawing 15,000 letters a week.
As network television’s first show devoted to rock ‘n’ roll, it became requisite for both established and upcoming performers to put in American Bandstand guest appearances. Of the leading rock ‘n’ roll stars of the 1950s and 1960s, only Elvis Presley and Ricky Nelson did not appear. Those artists who made their national debut on the program included Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, the Everly Brothers, Jackie Wilson, Johnny Mathis, Chuck Berry, and the duo of Tom and Jerry—later to be known as Simon and Garfunkel. As an integral force in the rise of the teen idol, American Bandstand also propelled Fabian, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, and other pin-up boys, to prominence. Singer Gene Pitney once estimated that a single American Bandstand appearance could lead to next-day sales of 20,000 to 40,000 records.
The show’s reputation, as well as Clark’s, was briefly jeopardized when the payola scandal broke in November of 1959. By this time, Clark was involved in music publishing, talent management, record pressing, label making, distribution, and more. But, he insisted to a Washington subcommittee that he had never accepted payola for playing or not playing a particular record. He survived the scandal, but ABC made him divest his music-related interests.
During the 1960s, American Bandstand‘s influence was undermined by societal changes, as well as changes in the music world. Los Angeles, home of surf and car-culture music, had become the new heartbeat of the industry. And so, in February 1964 the Philadelphia fixture relocated to Southern California. No longer live, the show was taped; having lost its daily time slot, it aired on Saturday afternoons.
In the 1970s, American Bandstand exploited a new roll call of teen idols, including Bobby Sherman, David Cassidy, and John Travolta. The series also reached into its vaults for a highly rated twentieth-anniversary late night special. Still later in the decade, the show’s dance floor was revitalized by disco. The following decade saw the abandonment of the dress code. But spandex and plunging necklines, and guests as disparate as Madonna, Jon Bon Jovi, Prince, and the Stray Cats, could not offset changing technology. MTV debuted on August 1, 1981; four years later, it spawned the sister network, VH-1, which was aimed at viewers ages twenty-five to forty-nine, a demographic group who had left American Bandstand behind. There was also competition from music-video oriented series, such as NBC’s Friday Night Videos. Finally, after thirty-seven years of catering to and reflecting teenage taste, American Bandstand came to an end in October 1987. Through syndication, The New American Bandstand ran through September 1989. (Adapted from encyclopedia,com)
MTV: The Channel that Shaped Popular Culture as We Know It
MTV’s first broadcast on August 1, 1981, opened with footage of a shuttle launch and the words “ladies and gentleman, rock and roll”. The first song, however, was The Buggles’ distinctly poppy single –appropriately enough, “Video Killed the Radio Star”.
Given the commercial and cultural behemoth it would become, MTV’s launch was inauspicious. It was set up with a view to capitalising on the burgeoning market in cable TV, but parent company Warner Amex was sceptical. The initial broadcasts were to the New Jersey area only, and founding executives recall an uphill battle for approval and resources. Robert Pittman, MTV’s first CEO, notes that Warner Amex initially said no to the idea.
Such scepticism wasn’t entirely unfounded. Although tailor-made promotional clips for pop and rock songs had a history dating back at least as far as the 1960s, and the first “music video” – for Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody – was in 1975, the format was still relatively marginal. As MTV studio producer Robert Morton put it: “We’d explain that we were starting a music channel and we’re gonna play videos, and people didn’t even know what videos were.”
In the intervening 40 years, MTV might not have “killed” the radio star, and its brand salience may be somewhat diluted in the age of YouTube, TikTok and other social media platforms. But from such comparatively meagre beginnings – in corporate terms, anyway – it’s difficult to overstate its effect on popular culture at large.
Reinforcing the visual in pop music
MTV’s effect on record sales was quickly noted. During the channel’s initial rise and 1980s heyday, it helped to kick-start the careers of stars such as Cyndi Lauper, and launched others – like Madonna and Michael Jackson – into the stratosphere.
Its early days, however, were also dogged with accusations of a “colour barrier” that favoured white artists. This echoed what happened in US radio throughout the 50s and 60s, when a segregated system was in place, and some stations are now widely known to have refused to play Black artists. Versions of their songs were often remade, carving out space for white artists they had influenced, such as Elvis Presley.
Indeed, part of the significance of artists like Prince and Michael Jackson lies in the way that they pushed through to mainstream white audiences, using MTV as a significant platform, especially as it expanded beyond its initial primarily rock-oriented base.
Heavy rotation on MTV supercharged the benefits of video as marketing tool, and the widespread success of videos like Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Billy Jean – alongside spiralling budgets – reinforced the visual as a key component of mainstream pop.
This aesthetic convergence of sound and sight was felt beyond music. Cable TV precipitated the decline of the traditional television networks. The televisual monoculture of the post-war era gave way to more diverse content. MTV, through alignment with the music charts, helped to fill a popular cultural gap, especially since it greatly accelerated the trend for cross-marketing of musical acts and songs with major Hollywood productions.
Music videos and the movies were natural partners in selling content like theme songs, soundtracks and music-oriented blockbusters. From Ghostbusters and Flashdance to Top Gun and Beverley Hills Cop, a hit single became an integral part of Hollywood’s promotional strategy. The aesthetic cross-over worked both ways, too. The pathway from directing music videos to films became well-trodden by names whose early work found a home on MTV (like David Fincher, Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze).
New formats
MTV also predicted and encouraged the globalisation of media content and formats. It spawned a host of sister channels in the US and internationally, like MTV Europe and MTV Brasil. Beyond the music videos themselves, its adoption of grunge and, latterly, rap in the 1990s also had an effect on the rise of genres, as well as individual artists. Later the MTVs Video Music Awards became an important indicator of success in the industry and a much anticipated yearly event. Concert series like Unplugged spawned hit live albums in their own right.
MTV also had a hand in shaping the contemporary adult cartoon when it commissioned Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head in the early 90s. Taking the satirical aspects of more family-oriented shows like The Simpsons and adding a sharper edge, the cartoon pushed the boundaries of taste and leaned into the nihilistic Generation X aesthetic.
MTV forged new paths in entertainment by serving third-party produced content like music videos to a wide audience, paving the way for platforms like Netflix, pushing forward formats like reality TV, and yoking popular music and movies closer together. Beyond just hosting some of the key pop moments of the last 40 years, it has had a huge effect on shaping the cultural landscape of today. (Adam Behr, 2021, used under Creative Commons License)
The Influence of Major Record Labels
During the 1990s, the record industry was booming. Music lovers were busy replacing their cassette tapes and vinyl records with CDs, and sales were high. In 1999, the total revenue from music sales and licensing peaked at $14.6 billion (Goldman, 2010). Ten years later, record label executives were not as successful. Revenue had plunged to $6.3 billion, with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reporting declining revenue in nine of the 10 previous years, with album sales dropping an average of 8 percent every year (Goldman, 2010). Why the drastic decline? Experts agree that the primary culprit is the growing popularity of digital music, which initially began through peer-to-peer file sharing—the process of swapping media files over the Internet—such as the Napster service.
Despite a massive loss in profits over the past decade, the global music business still comprises a powerful oligopoly—a market condition in which a few firms dominate most of an industry’s production and distribution. The global reach of these few companies means that they have the promotion and marketing muscle to determine which types of music reach listeners’ ears and which become obsolete. Each of the major record labels has a strong infrastructure that oversees every aspect of the music business, from production, manufacture, and distribution to marketing and promotion.
Between 1950 and 1980, a large number of major record labels and numerous independent labels competed for a share of the musical pie. Gradually, the larger labels began buying up the independent labels, and then started trying to purchase each other. By the late 1990s, only six major labels remained: Warner, Universal, Sony, BMG, EMI, and Polygram. In 1998, Universal acquired Polygram, and 6 years later Sony and BMG merged. Sony later bought out BMG to obtain sole ownership of the company. Currently, the music industry is dominated by the so called Big Four: Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. The Big Four control over 85 percent of the U.S. recording music industry.
Independent Record Labels: A Smaller Share of the Pie
In addition to the four major record labels, independent production companies, or indie record labels, operate without the financial assistance of one of the Big Four (although in recent years, the definition has shifted to incorporate indies that are partially owned by one of the major labels). Ranging from small grassroots or garage labels to large, profitable businesses, indie labels typically produce music that is less commercially viable and more eclectic than the music produced by the larger mainstream companies.
Independent labels have played a small but significant role in the music industry for as long as there has been a market. When patents held on sound recording technologies entered the public market in the 1920s, opportunities arose for small recording companies to enter the business. To avoid competing with larger firms such as RCA and Edison, the new independent companies focused on neglected areas of the music industry, such as folk, gospel, and rural blues. When the major labels decided during World War II to abandon then-unprofitable music recorded by Black artists, the independent labels quickly rushed in to fill the void, enjoying a boom during the rock and roll era when R&B music soared in popularity. Between 1955 and 1959, the U.S. market share of the major companies had dropped from 78 percent to 44 percent, while the market share of independent companies rose from 22 percent to 56 percent (History Of Rock, 2009). Sun Records played a particularly important role in the development of both rock and roll and country music by releasing records by Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison.
During the 1970s punk era, indie labels profited from the antimainstream, anticorporate attitude of many punk rock bands, which disassociated themselves from the major labels. The indie-rock movement grew throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with labels such as Sub Pop, I.R.S., and Epitaph and epitomized by the music of the Smiths, the Stone Roses, R.E.M., and the Jesus and Mary Chain. This movement was known as “college rock,” which would later become alternative rock. However, as alternative rock grew in popularity, grunge bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream. This attracted the attention of major record labels, which began to look at the music with a commercially oriented approach. Many artists found themselves faced with a dilemma: stay true to their indie roots or “sell out” to a major record label in the hope of financial gain.
Advantages of Indie Labels
Although they frequently lose their talent to industry heavyweights, indie labels hold several advantages over major record companies. They are generally smaller, enabling them to respond to changing popular musical tastes more quickly than can large companies with more cumbersome processes and procedures in place. This enables them to pick up on emerging trends and bring them to market quickly. Although unable to compete with the distribution and promotion power of the major labels, indie labels can focus on niche markets, tapping into regional trends. For example, hip-hop’s initial commercial successes in the late 1970s and early 1980s came through small independent labels such as Tommy Boy and Sugar Hill. Realizing that record executives would find the raw street version of hip-hop unworkable, the labels came up with the idea of using house bands to play with emcees to improve the commercial viability of the genre. An early example of this process was Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” which was a worldwide hit (Anderson, 2006).
The nature of the independent production process may also prove advantageous. A shorter path from creation of the music to distribution and promotion makes it easier to maintain the artist’s original vision. For this reason, many artists prefer to work with independent labels, believing the final product to be more authentic. This argument is also used by some fans of independent labels, who trust companies that only produce one brand of music to adhere to a consistent sound and musical style.
Vanity Labels
A popular trend among major record labels is to allow high-profile recording artists to front their own indie labels with the financial backing of the larger company. Frequently referred to as vanity labels, these are spin-offs of the parent company that enable artists to run “a label within a label” and release music by other performers that they admire. Examples include Madonna’s Maverick, Trent Reznor’s Nothing, and Michael Jackson’s MJJ. Allowing an artist to create a vanity label benefits a major record label in several ways: It encourages artists to remain with the parent company for longer than they may have otherwise done, it reduces the amount of promotional effort required by the label because fans are likely to be attracted to new music based on the recommendation of favorite artists, and it increases the likelihood that bands in niche genres will become big money makers for the company.
However, vanity label projects often prove risky and unsuccessful because the label provides all of the money while the proven artist is responsible for developing new acts, and recent losses in the music industry have caused major labels to cut funding for artist-run ventures. For example, Mariah Carey’s label, Crave, ended up dissolving less than a year after it opened. In 2004, Universal Records President Monte Lipman commented, “Back in the day, when the industry was a lot healthier, it was ‘OK, here’s $2–$3million. Go start your label and let us know when you’re ready to start your first act.’ Those days are absolutely over (First Coast News, 2004).”
Key Takeaways
Television shows such as American Bandstand and MTV had a significant impact on the sales, trends and popularity of music
The global music business constitutes a powerful oligopoly—a market condition in which a few firms dominate most of an industry’s production and distribution. Major record labels make up over 85 percent of the music industry. Currently, the four major record labels (known as the Big Four) are EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.
Indie record labels are smaller labels that operate without financial assistance from the Big Four and typically produce less commercially viable music. Although they do not have the marketing and promotional power of the major labels, indies have several advantages. They are smaller and more flexible than major labels, enabling them to respond more quickly to trends in the industry. Indies are also able to tap into niche markets, and their simple structure often means that the music stays closer to the artist’s original vision. Major labels often allow high-profile stars to set up their own indie labels, known as vanity labels because they reflect the personal musical tastes of the high-profile artist.
STUDY GUIDE QUESTION (put answers on the separate form provided)
- (a) Name and explain three ways television shows like American Bandstand and MTV influenced the music industry in a positive way. (b) Name and explain two ways American Bandstand and MTV negatively influenced the music industry.
- (a) What are two advantages and two disadvantages of musicians signing with a major record label? (b) What are two advantages and two disadvantages of musicians using Indie and Vanity labels?