Little Labels--big Sound

Little Labels--big Sound
Author: Rick Kennedy
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 1999
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780253335487

* Stories from the lean early days of American popular music * Ten visionaries who altered the course of popular music * Close-up portraits of risk-taking label owners who often gambled their careers and livelihoods to release music they believed in

American Record Companies and Producers, 1888-1950

American Record Companies and Producers, 1888-1950
Author: Allan Sutton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 760
Release: 2018
Genre:
ISBN: 9780997333336

An encyclopedia of all American producers of sound recordings for the commercial market, from the start of the recording industry in the 1880s to the beginning of the LP era in the early 1950s. Includes more than 1,200 detailed entries, introductory history of the recording industry, company genealogical charts, glossary, extensive source citations, and label and subject indexes. Allan Sutton is the author of numerous award-winnig books on early recordings, and recipient of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections' 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Record Cultures

Record Cultures
Author: Kyle Barnett
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2020-02-20
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0472131036

Record Cultures tells the story of how early U.S. commercial recording companies captured American musical culture in a key period in both music and media history. Amid dramatic technological and cultural changes of the 1920s and 1930s, small recording companies in the United States began to explore the genres that would later be known as jazz, blues, and country. Smaller record labels, many based in rural or out of the way Midwestern and Southern towns, were willing to take risks on the country’s regional vernacular music as a way to compete with more established recording labels. Recording companies’ relationship with radio grew closer as both industries were on the rise, propelled by new technologies. Radio, which had become immensely popular, began broadcasting more recorded music in place of live performances, and this created profitable symbiosis. With the advent of the talkies, the film industry completed the media trifecta. The novelty of recorded sound was replacing film accompanists, and the popularity of movie musicals solidified film’s connections with the radio and recording industries. By the early 1930s, the recording industry had gone from being part of the largely autonomous phonograph industry to being major media industry of its own, albeit deeply tied to—and, in some cases, owned by—the radio and film industries. The triangular relationships between these media industries marked the first major entertainment and media conglomerates in U.S. history. Through an interdisciplinary and intermedial approach to recording industry history, Record Cultures creates new connections between different strands of media research. It will be of interest to scholars of popular music, media studies, sound studies, American culture, and the history of film, television, and radio.

Stacks of Wax

Stacks of Wax
Author: David Bottoms
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2020-09
Genre:
ISBN: 9780578724812

When considering the tapestry of popular-music history that has emerged in the last 40 or so years - a chronicle that shows no signs of abating - there have been critical and enthusiastic studies of not just performers, or the cities in which they arose in any number, but also of the recorded legacy of such cities, i.e. its record labels. Cincinnati, for all its decades of accomplishment in the recorded-music arena, has been heretofore perhaps underserved. Apart from real-time newspaper articles of the 1940s-'70s, a number of fine books have appeared, each of which provides a further tantalizing look at the vast offerings of the Queen City and the Ohio River Valley. This book is the complete document of the subject at hand, and is intended as a bedrock upon which to construct a (hopefully ongoing) library of Cincinnati's record companies, a library that encompasses the aforementioned volumes as well as encourages new efforts from fresh pens. The subject, owing to the stunning breadth and depth of the city's industry and drive, is probably inexhaustible. The book - its targeted collectors and enthusiasts aside - also seeks to advance understanding two specific communities who were substantial parts of the cultural, political and musical milieu of Cincinnati (and indeed, great swaths of the Midwest): African-Americans and Appalachians. The contributions and excitement consistently delivered by these populations greatly enriched the styles and ever-shifting forms of American popular music, especially in the fecund Postwar era, and here the book intends to shed some new light on their conditions, treatment and influence both then and now. Finally, the book is a fond meditation upon a city with strengths and flaws, successes and failures, all of which can be found writ small in the record business of the 20th century. In our accelerating, fraying culture, the analog world of this story is not a lesser place - far from it. That world was one of grit, risk and often-sweet rewards. As it recedes ever further into the past, hopefully the story of its many and varied musical lights will remain engaging and inspiring.

The Label Machine: How to Start, Run and Grow Your Own Independent Music Label

The Label Machine: How to Start, Run and Grow Your Own Independent Music Label
Author: Nick Sadler
Publisher: Velocity Press
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2021-07-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Whether you want to start a record label, self-release your own music, or are just an avid music lover, this book will give you information about the business of music. The Label Machine: How to Start, Run and Grow Your Own Independent Music Label is the first book to give music artists practical step-by-step comprehensive instructions for setting up and running an independent music label to successfully distribute and market their music. You will learn all about the music industry business and how to navigate the tricky dos and don'ts. You will finally understand and take control of your music copyright and get to grips with the legalities involved. You will build your music business effortlessly, learning how to professionally market your music and artists - allowing you to reach thousands of fans. And essentially, you will learn how to create multiple label revenue streams to create an established record label. It features a detailed breakdown of how every part of the industry works together, including copyright in the UK and US, record label set-up, record releases, and royalty collection. It also provides in-depth guides on marketing, covering; traditional PR, Facebook and Instagram advertising, Spotify playlisting, and fan growth. Includes templates for record label and management contracts, marketing and promotion schedules, press releases, and fan email automation.

Our Noise

Our Noise
Author: John Cook
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2009-01-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1565126246

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Merge Records, founders Mac and Laura offer first-person accounts--with the help of their colleagues and Merge artists--of their work, their lives, and the culture of making music. Hundreds of personal photos of the bands, along with album cover art, concert posters, and other memorabilia are included.

The Recording Industry

The Recording Industry
Author: Geoffrey P. Hull
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2004
Genre: Music trade
ISBN: 9780415968034

The Recording Industry presents a brief but comprehensive overview of how records are made, marketed, and sold. Designed for an introductory survey course, but also applicable to the amateur musician, the book opens with an overview of popular music and its place in American society, along with the key players in the recording industry: record companies; music publishers; and performance venues. In the book's second part, the making of a recording is traced from production through marketing and then retail sales. Finally, in part 3, legal issues, including copyright and problems of piracy, are addressed. - BOOK JACKET.

Record Makers and Breakers

Record Makers and Breakers
Author: John Broven
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 642
Release: 2011-08-11
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0252094018

This volume is an engaging and exceptional history of the independent rock 'n' roll record industry from its raw regional beginnings in the 1940s with R & B and hillbilly music through its peak in the 1950s and decline in the 1960s. John Broven combines narrative history with extensive oral history material from numerous recording pioneers including Joe Bihari of Modern Records; Marshall Chess of Chess Records; Jerry Wexler, Ahmet Ertegun, and Miriam Bienstock of Atlantic Records; Sam Phillips of Sun Records; Art Rupe of Specialty Records; and many more.