Sounds, Screens, Speakers provides a broadly comprehensive survey of the emerging field of music and media. Music has been present at the advent of nearly every new media form since the turn of the 20th century. Whether we look at the start of sound recording, film, television or the Internet, music has been a crucial participant in the social changes brought about by these new tools for making and listening to music. This book examines such changes starting in the late 19th century to the present. From the introduction of the microphone all the way through to music in reality television, the purpose of each section is not simply to move chronologically towards the present, but to focus especially on the tangible social relationships created through specific forms of mediation. With readings at the end of most chapters, key questions to facilitate additional discovery and research, and direction to additional readings and resources on popular websites and news sources, this text serves as the ideal introduction to popular music and media.
Overview: All Media Are Social Media: Concepts, Materials, Methods
Key Reading: "From Music Publishing to MP3: Music and Industry in the 20th Century"
Reebee Garofalo
Part 1: The Early Recording Industry, 1875 to 1940.
Key Reading: A collection of gramophone and phonograph ads from the early 20th century.
1. Mediated Music, Fidelity, and Social Anxiety
Focus: Selling the Phonograph
2. Sound Recordings and Radio in the 'Jazz Age'
Focus: The Devil's Music
3. 'Microphone Singing' and the Short Musical Film
Focus: Crooners and 'Real' Singers
4. The Global Gramophone
Focus: The Recorded Music of the 'Black Atlantic'
Part 2: Bigger, Better, Louder, Longer, 1930 to 1970.
Key Reading: Introduction to Rock 'N' Film
David James
5. The Triumph of the Film Musical
Focus: Two Films with Frank Sinatra
6. The 'Youth' Movie and the 45
Focus: Marlon, Jimmy, and Elvis on Film
Key Reading: Chasing Sound: The Culture and Technology of Recording Studios in Postwar America
Susan Horning
7. FM Radio and the Long Playing Record
Focus: Freeform Radio
8. Magnetic Tape and the Recording Studio
Focus: The Producer: Tom Dowd of Atlantic Records
Part 3: New Forms of Media, New Kinds of Fame, 1960 to 2000
Key Reading: Music, Image, Labor: Television's Prehistory
Murray Forman
9. Music on Television in the 1960s and 70s
Focus: "Our World" and "Elvis"
10. MTV and the Evolution of the Short Musical Film
Focus: From Playing Music Videos to Branding Musical Fame
11. The Popular Music Documentary
Focus: "Don't Look Back" and the 'Great Art' of Bob Dylan
12. Rock Film at the End of the 20th Century
Focus: "Meeting People Is Easy" and the 'Great Art' of Radiohead
Part Four: Clouds, Crowds, and Idols, 1980 to 2015
Key Reading: The Heavenly Jukebox
Charles Mann
13. New Ways to Connect
Focus: The Invention and Spread of the MP3
14. The Catastrophe of Napster, the Opportunities of Digital
Focus: Napster v. The Music Industry
15. Music-Based Reality TV
Focus: The Idol Journey
16. Streaming, Clouds, and the Dematerialization of Music
Focus: Curating Music in the Playlist Economy
Index
