Glossary

The music industry	Music is big business, one of the largest and most complex businesses in the United States. The music industry consists of selling products and live and recorded music. It can be broken down into five overlapping categories. These categories are manufacturing, publishing, merchandising, performance, and management.



Manufacturing	The making of good includes research, design, and development. There are many manufactured goods that are used in the music industry including musical instruments, audio equipment, and uniforms and robes.



Publishing	The heart of the music publishing industry is the popular song in its recorded (not printed) form. Everything is related to making a hit and realizing the full commercial potential of a song. By 1900, with the establishment of large publishing houses and the development of sophisticated merchandising methods, the music industry was a big business. The primary means of disseminating a song and determining its level of popularity was the sale of sheet music. With the establishment of the copyright law in 1909, composers, lyricists, and publishers became the copyright owners of popular songs and were able to make a profit from the royalties earned when these songs were performed live and in recordings. Copyright holders were granted exclusive rights to authorize the use of their music for a limited time and to collect fees for such use. Anyone performing copyrighted material had to obtain performance rights by paying for a license or by paying a royalty. Anyone recording copyrighted material had to obtain mechanical rights and pay the established fees. Anyone using copyrighted material in a film had to obtain synchronization rights and pay the appropriate fees. Licensing agencies, such as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music, Incorporated (BMI) have been established to collect these fees and distribute them to the copyright holders. Publishers build catalogs of music with the greatest commercial potential. They seek out composers and songwriters, negotiate and obtain rights for their music, manage and promote their music to realize maximum profit, and negotiate contracts for producing, manufacturing, distributing, and selling recordings. Finally they release a song, usually after it has become a hit, in sheet music or songbooks (folios). Some publishers specialize in printed music for churches, schools, and colleges-the Christian, educational, and concert music markets. Another market for printed music is the large group of amateur music makers who buy pianos, organs, electronic keyboards, and guitars for home use and who also need to buy sheet music, folios, and instructional “how to” books. One area of music publishing that is very large but typically is not included as part of the music industry is the music book industry, including textbooks and magazines about music. Usually, these materials are published by houses that specialize in writing, producing, and distributing books and other materials in more than one discipline.



Merchandising	Music merchandising is the pricing, distribution, promotion, retailing, and servicing of music and music-related products. For the most part, it is ultimately the exchange between the music store retailer and the consumer. Consumers include music teachers buying band or choral music, instruments, or instruction books; professional musicians who are always on the lookout for a better instrument or new music; parents supporting their children’s interest in music; teenagers checking out the latest in electric guitars; adult amateurs who keep active musically as an avocation; and people adding to their record or tape library. Such merchandising exchanges may be with a local or a mail-order music store, but they will also be found at concerts where consumers can buy merchandising “tie-ins” (posters, tote bags, T-shirts, recordings) that identity an artist or music organization. Such merchandising is common for performers of all types of music. Recorded music is sold mostly in stores specializing in the sale of CDs and tapes, but it is also sold in department stores and bookstores, in discount houses, through record clubs, and from direct offers on television. Inventories of large record stores are usually maintained by the retailer, who purchases directly from record distributors associates exclusively with a major label or distributors handling many labels. The inventory of nonspecialized stores (department stores, discount houses, and perhaps bookstores) or any store that maintains racks of records and tapes is supplied and controlled by the “rack jobber.” Music stores range from small “mom and pop,” family-owned shops to large mail-order house3s with a national market. Most of the national stores now offer Internet sales. The largest market for music stores is the amateur market, including more than 100,000 school music ensembles with millions of members altogether and a vast amount of music making that takes place in communities, churches, and homes.



Performance	Performance permeates every aspect of the music industry and indeed of society. Music is performed live in concert halls, gymnasiums, parks, fairgrounds, and hotel lounges. It is recorded on discs or tapes, distributed, and sold to consumers; broadcast on radio or television; downloaded; used in films and commercials; and played in elevators, offices, and department stores. The business of music begins with a creative work, whether composed in notated form, created spontaneously through improvisation, or composed orally as a means of expression by someone who has no thought of writing it down. The concept of “making a hit” means commercially exploiting a song-from creating it to getting it recorded, distributed, played on the air, and sold. The biggest “buyers” of musicians include community arts organizations and colleges and universities who organize “artist series” sold preferably as packages of concerts (commonly known as subscription series or season tickets) with considerable savings over the cost of individual concerts. One way many communities and colleges reduce costs is by block booking-artists who can play several concerts in a region with minimal travel between locations will perform for reduced fees. This concept saves the artists time and energy because it allows a more efficient travel schedule, and it earns them more money, even with reduced fees, because it allows more concerts in less time. Most communities offer their own local music performances in every conceivable style, depending upon the size and population mix of the area. Large cities with a diverse ethnic makeup can offer a tremendous diversity of live music performances to appeal to every taste.



Management	Virtually no professional musician can succeed without the assistance of people other than a paying audience. The performer needs help in finding jobs, negotiating contracts, hiring attorneys, handling the intricacies of the copyright law, creating an image, designing and writing publicity materials, organizing publicity campaigns, stimulating media coverage, obtaining recording or publishing contracts, organizing concerts and tours, and managing finances. An aspiring professional with limited funds begins with an agent whose responsibility is to find jobs for the performer and to exploit the performer’s talent. The second step would be to hire a personal manager who will be responsible for handling the artist’s money as well as every aspect of the artist’s career. As the performer achieves financial success, these specialized functions may be assigned to more specialized people or to people who are put on the performer’s payroll. The performer may establish a corporation, perhaps a publishing company, to handle the business and keep expensive fees and commissions in-house. In the classical field, careers typically are handled by representatives of artist management firms who serve the dual roles of personal manager and booking agent for concert artists.



Music and the media	The media most closely aligned with musical life in our society are the mass media, those that reach the largest number of people-radio, television, and newsprint. Of these, perhaps radio has had the greatest impact on music, particularly in making a hit tune in the entertainment or popular music industry. In the 1980s, however, music videos began to change the relationship of radio to music in our society. Other relationships between music and the media are music in advertising and music in newspapers and magazines-the music journalist and the music critic.



Radio	Music is at the core of the programming in radio. Music is part of virtually all advertising. Airplay promotes the sale of recorded music. Airplay provides income from royalties for jingle writers, songwriters, publishers, and other holders of copyrighted music used by stations in advertising or programming. Musicians are hired for the production of some commercials and recorded program material. Soon after it began, radio was found to be a medium for reaching large numbers of people, and the best format for reaching that goal was popular music. Another common format for live programming, common through the 1940s, included comedy, drama, variety, swing music, and opera. In the 1950s, responding to television, radio settled on a format of music, news, and weather reports. The music was recorded, and the programs were hosted by disc jockeys. Typically, programming was in one-hour blocks, with news at the top followed by music and an abundance of commercials and chitchat by the DJ. Promotions, contests, gimmicks, interviews, or remotes were common. Most radio shows were local, and the personality of the DJ was a valued commodity, particularly when rapport with the audience was established. Because of the importance of the music to programming and the importance of airplay to the success of songs and their performers, music publishers were highly competitive and assertive in encouraging DJs to air their clients’ latest songs. The competition was fierce, for there was only so much broadcast time available for new releases. In the 1980s, two related factors have modified if not completely changed the format of radio broadcasting, particularly programming: automation and increased syndication. Computer technology has allowed radio stations to be partially or totally automated. Stations can program equipment to air-taped music, commercials, and station identifications or logos on reels or carts (broadcast cartridges) automatically, without the need for a disc jockey or an engineer. Production companies (syndicators) develop prepackaged programs or “canned” material compatible with a station’s programming policy and format. Many of the top-40-type shows are now syndicated as are many news and sports programs. This minimizes spontaneity and local color, since the traditional DJ has become less of a factor in local radio and in the promotion and sales of recordings. Paid advertising is the primary source of income for commercial radio, but most regions of the United States are also served by public or noncommercial radio. Such stations, funded by grants and contributions, can program less popular material such as jazz, classical, and folk music; extended news programs; and special features that appeal to a more sophisticated audience. Many public radio stations are affiliated with colleges and universities.



Music in advertising	Virtually all commercials on radio and television use music. That music has to be created and performed, and so it provides jobs for musicians and jingle writers (composers). Many commercials use electronic instruments only, and the creator frequently is also the performer. Music in advertising can be in the foreground, can accompany dancing and other activities, and can serve as background for spoken material. It can create an image or a mood, establish an association, and enhance the positive and minimize the negative attributes of a product or service. The music can be catchy, simple, and repetitive, and it can serve as a catalyst for an entire ad campaign. Music for an ad may be derived from a popular song, or it may be converted into a popular song.



Music videos	A music video is a commercial for recordings, a tool for promoting a song and its performers, and another method of getting a performer before the public. Part of the attraction of music videos, in addition to the music itself, is the innovative production techniques and the imaginative visual creativity. Many videos incorporate dance, movement, dramatic action, montages, graphics, and other special effects. Such effects might be produced by means of editing techniques but also might be computer generated. Music videos at first were distributed free to nightclubs, discos, and other places that would expose them to potential buys of recordings. With their success and with rising production and performance costs, they are now sold not only to commercial establishments but also to the public. The originally promoted rock music and became prominent on cable television, notable MTV and VH-1, and were aired usually to coincide with the release of a commercial recording.



Music, computer, and the Internet	Music students can learn to read, hear, and analyze music better by means of computer-assisted instruction. Composers, theorists, teachers, and students can use highly sophisticated computer programs that, with an appropriate printer, provide published-quality notation for anything from a homework assignment to a symphony. The Internet has high-speed access; streaming radio and video, including thousands of stations worldwide; downloading of music and photographs, with cataloging and storage capabilities-including recording your own CDs; sophisticated search mechanisms; email, Instant Messenger, chat rooms, and listservs; individual bidding, and selling-and so on. Composers create computer music by manipulating sampled sound or creating new, electronically generated sounds. CD-ROM programs have largely given way to similar resources easily available on the Internet. This includes bibliographic information, encyclopedias, and other reference works that help researchers at all levels. Biographical information, reviews of music, and recorded repertoire in every genre are easily available. It is significant that the practice of downloading music files and the creation of Internet record labels are having considerable impact on the way recorded music is marketed and distributed.



Newsprint	The relationship between music and the newsprint media involve two styles of writing. Music journalism presents information about coming musical events and feature articles about artists and artistic developments-local, regional, or national. Music criticism present reviews of newly released recordings and commentary, interpretation, and criticism of musical events that have just occurred. Music journalism typically refers to the reporting of information without personal commentary or interpretation. By contrast, music criticism, presented in a signed column or article (the author’s last name is identified), informs but also entertains and editorializes with the interest of the public (perhaps more than the artist) in mind. Reviews of jazz, popular music, rock, and classical music are found regularly in music magazines and in newspapers, particularly in metropolitan areas.



Music in our communities	Making music, listening to music, and learning about music are favorite pastimes for large numbers of Americans. Most of these musical activities take place outside the formal music education programs in schools and colleges. Instead they take place in the community.



A diverse musical life	Outside formal education, musical activities take place in such diverse locations as streets, malls, playgrounds, civic auditoriums, community music schools, senior centers, prisons, mental health clinics, and private homes. The extent and nature of musical activities in these contexts reflect the vast amount of amateur music making in our society. Considering the extent to which Americans attend live concerts and buy radios, stereos, cassettes, albums, and compact discs, listening to music as well as making music is a valued activity in our society. It is easy to document the variety of musical styles people listen to by examining the programming of various radio stations in a community; record sales; the various categories used for sales “charts,” and the types of concerts publicized in newspapers and arts and entertainment magazines. Collectively, a wide variety of music is performed and listened to in our society. A vital musical life is valuable to a community. This is equally true whether it involves amateur music making or listening to music. A community’s musical life, both professional and amateur, can help build civic pride, promote tourism and economic development, and convey human, cultural, and artistic values.



Promotion and development	In the entertainment industry, many people have nonmusical functions-agents, managers, bookers, promoters, and so one. In a community’s artistic life as well, many paid professionals and many more unpaid volunteers have nonmusical supporting functions.



Government support	Government agencies at all political levels support music and the other arts. At the national level, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) provides grants to performing and visual arts organizations that must be matched by the requesting agency, thus stimulating fund-raising in the private sector. NEA also provides funds to regional agencies and state arts councils that in turn support programs in their constituencies. These programs includes facilitating clock booking of touring groups, selecting and supporting residencies, and offering grants to worthy programs that in turn generate even more local-fund-raising, since these grants must be matched by the requester. Many grants support programs of local community arts councils. Unfortunately, in the mid-1990s, funding for the NEA was drastically reduced, and a number of politicians called for its abolishment. NEA, since its establishment in 1965, has generated directly or indirectly dramatic increases in private and corporate support of the arts- both financial backing and audience attendance.



Corporate support	Typically, business and industry support arts programs to help give their employees a better place to live. Such support sends a message that the arts contribute to an improved quality of life and are important in the workplace. Many large corporations, such as Ford, Kresge, and Atlantic-Richfield, have established foundations to handle their corporate giving. Others contribute funds directly from their operating accounts.



Civic support	Local community support from the private sector comes from the volunteer work of boards of directors of professional arts organizations, committees of chambers of commerce and local government, local arts councils, and volunteer support groups. Board members are appointed for their capacity to contribute money, their ability to raise money and encourage contributions from their peers, or their professional expertise, such as that of lawyers or accountants. Arts councils usually involve both professionals and nonprofessionals who work together to develop important community projects. Any volunteer groups are usually associated with a professional organization or an education institution. The volunteers may help the parent organization in a host of ways. They may sell tickets, work with local and state government and arts councils in supporting and enacting legislation affecting the arts, promote a concert or festival, plan fund-raising activities and related social activities, usher at concerts, or schedule concerts or special programs in schools or for community organizations. Large and active volunteer organizations also cause a ripple effect: increased contributions and larger and perhaps better-informed audiences at live concerts.

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