Sounds, Screens, Speakers: An Introduction to Music and Media

by Charles Fairchild

Overview

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 turban 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501336232
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/24/2019
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 9.15(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Charles Fairchild is Associate Professor of Popular Music at the University of Sydney, Australia, and the author of Danger Mouse's The Grey Album (Bloomsbury, 2014), Music, Radio and the Public Sphere (2012) and Pop Idols and Pirates (2008).

Table of Contents

List of figures viii

Acknowledgments xix

Overview: All media are social media: Concepts, materials, methods 1

Key reading: From Music Publishing to MP3: Music and Industry in the Twentieth Century

Part 1 The early recording industry, 1875 to 1940 49

Key reading: A Collection of Gramophone and Phonograph Ads from the Early Twentieth Century

1 Mediated music, fidelity, and social anxiety 51

Focus: Selling the phonograph 69

2 Sound recordings and radio in the "Jazz Age" 78

Focus: The devil's music 90

3 "Microphone singing" and the short musical film 96

Focus: Crooners versus "real" singers 103

4 The global gramophone 109

Focus: The recorded music of "The Black Atlantic" 116

Part 2 Bigger, better, louder, longer, 1930 to 1970 125

Key reading: Rock 'n' Film: Cinema's Dance with Popular Music

5 The triumph of the musical film 160

Focus: Two films with Frank Sinatra 167

6 The "youth" movie and the hit single 172

Focus: Marlon, Jimmy, and Elvis on film 183

Key reading: Chasing sound: The Culture and Technology of Recording Studios in Postwar America

7 FM radio and the long-playing record 209

Focus: Freeform radio 219

8 Magnetic tape and the recording studio 224

Focus: Tom Dowd, producer at Atlantic Records 239

Part 3 New forms of media, new kinds of fame, 1960 to 2000 243

Key reading: Music, Image, Labor: Television's Prehistory

9 Music on television in the 1960s and 1970s 275

Focus: The global telecasts of Our World and Elvis 287

10 MTV and the evolution of the short musical film 290

Focus: From playing music videos to branding musical fame 297

11 The popular music documentary 304

Focus: Don't Look Back and the "Great Art" of Bob Dylan 313

12 Rock film at the end of the twentieth century 318

Focus: Meeting People Is Easy and the "Great Art" of Radiohead 326

Part 4 Clouds, crowds, and idols, 1980 to 2015 331

Key reading: The Heavenly Jukebox

13 New ways to connect 333

Focus: The invention and spread of the mp3 341

14 The catastrophe of Napster, the opportunities of digital 345

Focus: Napster v. the music industry 351

15 Music-based reality TV 357

Focus: The Idol journey 362

16 Streaming, clouds, and the dematerialization of music 366

Focus: Curating music in the playlist economy 371

Index 377

Editorial Reviews

Sounds, Screens, Speakers makes a deeply important contribution to the field of musical media studies. At once erudite and approachable, it brings the fundamental story of 20th- and 21st-century music to light brilliantly.” —Gabriel Solis, Professor and Chair of Musicology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, and author of Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (2013)

“Sounds, Screens, Speakers shows how music, moving media, and their changing technologies shape who we are. Its fluid, concise descriptions and provocative questions, alongside creative case studies and rich resources, make for engaging reading. Deftly handling a kaleidoscope of material, this book captures the major trends, the contributions of long-marginalized groups, and yet-untold stories. In surprising ways, this book tells us something new about America.” —Carol Vernallis, Lecturer and Researcher in Music, Stanford University, USA, and author of Unruly Media: Youtube, Music Video, and the New Digital Cinema (2013)

From the Publisher