Lecture dynamics of mass communication (9th edition) chapter 8 joseph r dominick

Chapter 8Sound Recording  History  Sound Recording in the Digital Age  Defining Features of Sound Recording  Organization of the Recording Industry  Ownership in the Recording Ind

THE DYNAMICS

OF MASS COMMUNCATION

Joseph R Dominick

University of Georgia Athens

Chapter 8

Sound Recording

 History

 Sound Recording in the Digital Age

 Defining Features of Sound Recording

 Organization of the Recording Industry

 Ownership in the Recording Industry

• Record players ubiquitous (1916)

• 107 million records produced (1919)

• Radio’s Impact on Recording Industry  

– Radio cuts record player sales in half (1923) – Electronic recording   radio

– Radio/phonograph combos (1926)

– RCA/Victor merge (1929)

History

• Battle of the Speeds 

– Long­playing record (LP)

• 33­rpm   Columbia Records (1948)– Extended play record

• 45 rpm   RCA– 1947­1949 sales drop due to battle

– HiFi sets appear 1954

– Radio’s Top 40 helps sales of 45s

History

– Chuck Berry

History

• Transitions and Trends 60s­90s

– 1960s:  Freedom, experimentation, innovation

• The Who Blood, Sweat, and Tears– 1970s:  Heavy Metal

– 1980s:  Thriller

– 1990s:  CDs replace tape

History

• Digitally encoded music – easily copied  and shared

Could pirating shut down the recording industry

?

Sound Recording in the Digital Age

?

?

• Four major segments 

– Talent – Production – Distribution – Chain Retail

Organization of the Recording

Industry

Organization of the Recording

Industry

Ownership in the Recording Industry

Table 8-1 Top Five Recording Companies, 2004

• Seven departments

1) Artists and repertoire 2) Sales and distribution 3) Advertising and merchandising 4) Business

5) Promotion  6) Publicity  7) Artist development  

Producing Records

Making a CD

1 Record 4-track demo disc

2 Sell demo with agent

3 Record multitrack master disc

4 Equalize tracks

8 Reproduce on a disk

5 Add special effects

7 Mix down to stereo master

6 Re-record as required

Economics

• Economic Trends

– 2000­2003: recording revenues in a tail spin

– 2000: Peer­to­peer file sharing gained 

popularity– 2002: Consumers buy more blank CDs than 

recorded CDs– 2003­2004: Legal downloading increases thanks 

to iPod– 98% of industry sales still come from CDs

Economics

$0.00 •   Courtney Love’s example– Four­performer band

– 20% royalty + $1 million advance– Recording: $  million

– $150,000 to staff; $170,000 in taxes– $45,000 each for one year

– 1 million copies   $2 million royalties– $1.1 million promotion and tour support

Economics

• Billboard Charts

– Sales and Digital Downloads

• Nielsen SoundScan

• Weekly sales data from 14,000 retail locations– Exposure 

• Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems

• Airplay on 1200 radio stations– Index number is a composite  

Feedback

• 30+ spent 55 cents per dollar spent on prerecorded music

• 19­ declined 11% from 1988

Feedback

• 20,000 people in industry

• Entry­Level

– Engineering

• Recording Institute of America– Creative

• Mass media, business admin, music

• Volunteer at local studio– Business

• Business admin and mass media

• Start at branch office

The Recording Industry

• Upward Mobility

– Audio engineer   

Staff engineer   

Senior supervising engineer – Producer   

Staff producer   

Executive producer – Business 

The Recording Industry