The Payola Effect: Beginning In The 1950's

Even if the 1920’s seem affluent and prosperous on the surface, the realities of time contradicted such notions; in fact, it can be clearly stated that this decade should not be judged as an era of wealth. Inequality was rampant in society at this time, especially when it comes to stark income differences between the upper, middle and lower classes. While it can be said that the upper classes, who make up a mere 1% of the population enjoyed most of these materialistic luxuries, the vast majority of the American population was barely getting by.

Imagine the number one song of the year with the most downloads, streaming numbers and views on Youtube could not be nominated for a Grammy. Up until June 2014, artists could not be nominated for such an award unless the song was completely their own, meaning there was no sampling of past music. This may not sound like a big deal until songs like “SOS” by Rihanna or “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice became chart topping tracks, and are both derived from older songs. Mark Ronson, music producer and DJ, speaks about how sampled music has changed the way generations discover music, as well as how creative ideas flourish from sampling other artist’s music. In this TED talk “How sampling transformed music,” Ronson gives his opinion on how artists transform

Both the radio and records have had significant impact on the development on rock n’ roll. Similarly, the radio and records gave musical artists an extended ability to stretch their audiences. Strongly intertwined, while they both gave listeners the ability to find artists they like, there are some clear differences between each the developments of the radio and that of records. In the years prior, the music industry was built on the “Tin Pan Alley” system that strictly controlled musicians and popular music (Schloss, Starr, and Waterman, p. 2-7). And much like the spirit of rock n’ roll itself, people within the industry eventually grew tired of conformity and no longer felt the need to follow the rules. Radio stations started forming separate licensing companies (BMI), which allowed them to play what they want (Schloss, Starr, and Waterman, p. 7). With an “open door” policy that allowed broadcasters to play music they wanted, radio stations had the important job of sharing a variety of music that could be heard all across the country. The radio began to function as a way of transporting records and genres of music all over the country from the traditional cultures they formed, which includes R&B, blues, and country. This reshaped the music industry by expanding its reach to new audiences. This, “allowed songwriters working outside of mainstream pop to claim royalties on the use of their songs on broadcasted

Rap evolved and gained in popularity in the 1960's when a few revolutionary "DJ's," including Kool DJ Herc, DJ Lovebug Starski, and DJ Hollywood, began to work block parties in the Bronx. They would bring in large speakers, hook them up to a turntable and play two of the same record at the same time, repeating the same section of the vinyl over and over by scratching it. Other performers would chant and yell

In the 1920’s the United States government implemented a new and radical legislation referred to as prohibition that changed the lives of american adults. This new bill consisted of outlawing intoxicating beverages throughout the United States and having them regulated by the Federal Government. In every community the response to this new bill varied. For instance, in 1920 I believe the individuals who resided in my hometown Yardley, Pennsylvania would have been able to obtain alcohol illegally through operations known as saloons. Similar to society today, “stratification”, is extremely important social factor and truly affects the amount of law one may receive (Black, 11) .

Rap and hip-hop first started to come together in the 1970 's, but didn 't really materialize and become popular until the 1990 's. With a huge surge in popularity and growth in the 1990 's, it seemed that rap and hip-hop had started a cultural phenomenon that still has noticeable effects easily seen today in music and also in pop culture. A cultural phenomenon is an idea, trend, or movement that shapes and defines that time period. During the 1990 's, rap and hip-hop spread like wild fire across the nation, from the inner cities to the suburbs to anywhere where you can find a radio. Rap and hip-hop brought a different kind of lyrical rhythms and upbeat, energetic music that most people weren’t too familiar with. This cultural

Frank Sinatra contributed to the popularization of the pop music style. Pop music, short for “popular music,” is a category of music that always existed, but became a more developed, funded and controlled by large record companies in the early 1940s (Berg). “During the late 1940s and early 1950s, smooth singers, or crooners, such as Frank Sinatra…, Tony Bennett (1926–), and Patti Page (1927–) dominated the pop charts” (Berg). Like Frank Sinatra, musicians with smooth voices often hit the charts, increasing pop music’s popularity with music that invited larger audiences and encouraged artists with their

The ways in which intellectual property has been exploited through public performance over the past 50 years have significantly changed. During the 1960s, the BBC monopolized the radio industry with national and regional programs, until the emergence of offshore pirate radio. This caused the BBC to rename its stations and reintroduce local radio in order to counter the success of the illegal stations. 1973 introduced commercial radio, which saw a large increase of stations and shows available. This had a big impact on music publishing companies, as they could access a much wider audience through the larger range of outlets to exploit their songs, and subsequently receive performance royalties. Radio expansion has increased throughout the years with the introduction of DAB radio, and internet radio stations.

Music has become a center piece of life; however it comes with a vigorous price unknown to most of the public. The music industry is littered with corruption. My proposed research problem focuses on the manipulation and control the music industry has upon its artists through an unescapable 360 deal, which in and of itself is not only reducing an artist to almost indentured servitude, but also cripples record labels themselves. The 360 deal is a common mandatory contract record labels utilize to financially support an artist. This includes advances and funds for promotion, touring, and marketing, all which the artist has to pay back to the label. I believe this problem is significant and warrants further research because the record labels are unconstitutionally taking away artists rights in favor of their own greed, in turn, leaving the artist without ownership of their own songs, money, and rights to royalties.

If the United States is an equal country, then why are men and women still paid different salaries? The U.S. is said to be a country of freedom and equality, but the crucial part of every individual’s life, getting a job and working, is not equal. Men and women in America are separated by a long-existing wage gap. Though the gap may only be a few cents difference, over time, it adds up to a large amount of money. Education seems like a solution to the problem, but it does not help. Also, the gap can hurt young girl’s self-esteem as well as making it harder for single mothers to care for themselves and their children. To achieve a truly equal country, the pay gap

Since the music industry is quite diverse it is consequently impacted by a great number of ethical issues. The issues span across the production side to the consumptions side of music. They issues deal with things as inconsequential as lip syncing to the breaking of laws when stealing music. Although there are a lot of different areas that can be examined within the industry, the most important ethical issues fall under the category of compensation.

“Before the days of YouTube and the Internet, a band 's chances of striking it big depended on record companies. If a band was lucky enough to get a record deal, it gained access to a label 's vast resources and connections. The company paid for the band 's studio time, … and got its music played on the radio, reaching millions of record buying Americans” (Majerol, 1). Now, anyone with talent can post a video of themselves and become an internet sensation, only to then receive a deal with a label to continue growing their career. The issue is, with the Internet came digital downloading, and with the growing popularity of digital downloading came illegal downloading, known as Digital Piracy, which has affected the music industry greatly. This issue affects everyone involved in the Music Industry. From the small CD store owner to the Artist on stage, everyone has and continues to be affected by the growing popularity of digital downloading services. Artists, producers, and songwriters lose an estimated 12.5 Billion USD every year to illegal digital music services. Further, the economic impact from [digital downloading] is an estimated loss of 2+ Billion USD (Storrs, 1). This money affects the “little guys” in the industry and the average worker within the industry.

Producers are in the same situation. Inside producers only receive salary plus some royalties as compensation. While outside producers received a production fee and negotiated a royalty of 1% to 5%of the suggested retail price. Production fee varied dramatically, which means the production fee producers received depends most on the level of the producers themselves and the level of the artists they helped. However, they were only about 20 to 30 top producers who may receive so high production fee that they would like to pay for Hit Song Science. Other producers with low or relatively low production fee may not be willing to pay for Hit Song Science out of their slender income. It makes sense that famous artists prefer top producers who can help them make a hit and in turn, receive benefit from the hit. If artists, unsigned artists and producers only received a small portion of income from music, the biggest winner in the process of recording activity is record company. Managers and talent agents alone extract between 25% and 40% of a performer’s income. Record labels have the ability to pay for Hit Song Science. More importantly, they want to forecast sales levels for the titles in their portfolios.

Some artists such as Hootie and the Blowfish never accept money for their music to be

Polyphonic HMI is preparing to launch Hit Song Science, which analyzes the mathematical characteristics of music compared to past music hits, making it possible to determine a song’s hit potential. Music characteristics can be analyzed by math such as melody, tempo, pitch, rhythm, etc. because hit songs have common mathematical properties. Polyphonic’s Hit Song Science could be valuable for three target markets: record labels, producers, and unsigned artists. There are benefits to marketing HSS to all