BLACK MUSIC HISTORY
             Allen L. Johnston

             The Music Specialist
                           www.asha.com

Has it ever occurred to you to teach a youngster WHY they make music?

It is historically known that we as a people have used music as a tool for various reasons.  Upon our forced migration to this country the 2 main sources of communication among our people were removed, our tribal language and the DRUM.  Our combined creativeness coupled with the need to subversively communicate among one another started the musical work song tradition.  Songs that were sung to the swing of the hoe, pick or axe and helped set a pace for combined work efforts, but also allowed subversive communication between families, and plantations.

Between 1660 – 1860 one of the greatest influences upon Black music was the religion that the slave masters forced on our ancestors.  As slaves our ancestors were not able to meet in any groups outside of the workforce unless it was church. The first series of hymns that slaves were legally able to sing were songs created by Dr Issac Watts of England.  The poetry of Dr. Watts took the religious world of dissent by storm. It gave an utterance, till then unheard in England, to the spiritual emotions, in their contemplation of God's glory in nature and his revelation in Christ, and made hymn-singing a fervid devotional force, something that fit right in with our people.  With the onset of Dr Watts hymns came the camp meetings where our music developed tambourines, banjoes and the occasional drum.  From these poor beginnings came the Spirituals, music that was made to describe the feelings of a group of individuals.   This music also morphed into a version of music that describes a large portion of our culture the foundation of the Blues.

SLAVE SONGS

After slavery two main influences helped shape the global convergence of American Black music.  The first was the opening of Fisk University and the Fisk Jubilee Singers.  These singers were the first internationally acclaimed group of African-American musicians who attained first recognition, then fame, and along the way, financed their school. The talented vocal artists introduced "slave songs" to the world and, in many opinions, preserved this music from extinction.  The second was the creation of blues by post-slavery Blacks in Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, everywhere, which led to the first written blues, "The Memphis Blues," published in 1912, and great blues singers like MA RAINEY and BESSIE SMITH.  February 14, 1920. MAMIE SMITH recorded the first major "race record," "That Thing Called Love" and "A Good Man is Hard to Find," for Okeh Records. BESSIE SMITH and other artists sold a phenomenal number of records and ensured the survival of Columbia and other recording companies.

BESSIE SMITH

THOMAS DORSEY

 Gospel and Blues developed along very similar lines and in fact several major contributors to Black music were known to play both styles.  One of the most prolific writers and performers was Thomas Dorsey.  Reverend Dorsey as he was known in his later years was a composer and pianist for Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, plus he wrote some of the most performed Gospel songs in history.

In the late 1890’s a new sound was created by Blacks in Louisiana, Texas, Missouri and other places, followed by creative syntheses by great individual performers like BUDDY BOLDEN, JELLY ROLL MORTON, LOUIS ARMSTRONG and others.  This was the collective creation of Jazz music.  On November 11, 1925, Louis Armstrong recorded the first of the Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings that defined the rhythmic and improvisational foundation of jazz.  Once again music had been created that attempted to describe the emotional and spirit filled anxiety of our race.

The first all Black owned record company based in Harlem and founded in May of 1921 Black Swan Records was created by Harry Pace.  Fletcher Henderson was the recording manager and played piano accompaniment, while William Grant Still was arranger and later musical director.  Artists on this label included
• C. Carroll Clark, baritone, made the label's first record.
• Four Harmony Kings, vocal quartet
• Henry Creamer and J. Turner Layton, vaudeville duo
• Katie Crippen, vaudeville singer
• Kemper Harreld, violinist
• Revella Hughes, soprano
• Alberta Hunter, blues singer
• Trixie Smith, blues singer, was second only to Ethel Waters in Black Swan sales.
• Florence Cole Talbert soprano
• Ethel Waters, blues and pop song singer. She had the label's first commercially successful records, and remained their best seller.

This company produced several firsts that can be seen manifested today. 

1. Publishing house that became a record label
2. Created multiple genres of music, classical, instrumental, gospel and blues
3. "Mamie Jones" was actually a pseudonym on Black Swan for singer Aileen Stanley, perhaps the only Caucasian artist to record for the label (she was "passing for colored" on these records).
4. The company declared bankruptcy in December 1923. As a result, in March 1924 Paramount Records bought the Black Swan label.

White owned record companies began to recognize the demand for black artists to the point that major companies began publishing music by these performers. In addition, the Chicago Defender credited Mr. Pace with bringing major companies to begin targeting the black audience and advertising in black newspapers. Paramount discontinued the Black Swan label a short time later, but kept the artists recording under their label.

HARRY PACE

Several other advents helped Black music‘s popularity, on May 23, 1921. Shuffle Along, the first of a series of popular musicals featuring Black talent, opened at the 63rd Street Musical Hall in New York and Blacks began to invent Broadway or, at a minimum, Broadway musical culture. Two years later, on October 29, 1923, Runnin' Wild opened at Colonial Theatre on Broadway, introducing America's first dance hit, the Charleston, to the world.   In 1925. PAUL ROBESON made his debut as a bass-baritone in the Greenwich Village Theatre singing the first concert consisting solely of Negro spirituals.  On December 4, 1927. DUKE ELLINGTON opened at the Cotton Club, Harlem's Jim Crow musical magnet, marking the formal beginning of the Swing Age and the Age of the Big Bands of COUNT BASIE, ERKSKINE HAWKINS, JIMMY LUNCEFORD and, later, BILLY ECKSTINE. Ellington, who was arguably America's greatest composer, extended the harmonic and structural dimensions of jazz, which has been called America's classical music.

MAHALIA JACKSON

The 1930’s gave rise to an entire new era of Black Music. New Black urban migrants from the south to the north redefined church music, giving it a rhythm and passion that THOMAS DORSEY, the "Father of Gospel Music," put down on paper and SALLIE MARTIN and, later, MAHALIA JACKSON sang. In addition to inventing a name for the new sacred music of black Americans, organizing its first chorus, its first annual convention, and founding its first publishing house, Dorsey is credited with establishing the tradition of the gospel music concert.

  In the 1940’s Jazz took another divergence when CHARLIE PARKER and DIZZY GILLESPIE brought their musical groups to New York's 52nd Street, inaugurating the Be-Bop age and changing the structure and harmonic foundations of modern jazz.  Still Black music in all of its forms attempted to describe the feelings and spirituality of not only its creators but of its listeners as well. 

BARRY GORDY

DIZZY GILLESPIE

 

The 1950’s saw an explosion of Black music, RICHARD (LITTLE RICHARD) PENNIMAN recorded "Tutti Frutti," and CHUCK BERRY recorded "Maybelline," followed by other recordings by Black artists (BIG MAYBELLE, WILSON PICKETT and others) who influenced the Beatles and Elvis Presley and played major roles in the development of rock `n' roll.  SAM COOKE, a well-known gospel singer, crossed over into what some then called "rhythm and blues," recording "You Send Me," which marked the beginning of soul music.  MILES DAVIS recorded “Kind of Blue”, "a milestone in jazz history," which changed the directions of modern American music.  Motown Records was founded by BERRY GORDY JR., who gave the world the JACKSON 5, the SUPREMES, STEVIE WONDER and MARVIN GAYE, and who helped change the understanding, marketing and promotion of American music.

And the biggest phenomenon of the 1950’s was FREEDOM MUSIC based on the whoops, hollers and affirmations of the Black Spiritual-gospel-blues-jazz tradition, annealed and transformed African-Americans and their allies in the UNCOUNTABLE mass meetings, marches, vigils and protests of the Freedom Movement, which was the biggest U.S. social movement of the 20th century and which influenced singers in Soweto, Eastern Europe and Tiananmen Square. Major Black singers sang in the chorus or the choir of the Movement, notably MAHALIA JACKSON ("I Been 'Buked and I Been Scorned"), HARRY BELAFONTE ("Matilda"), Aretha Franklin ("R-E-S-P-E-C-T"), SAMMY DAVIS JR. ("Mr. Bojangles"), JAMES BROWN ("I'm Black and I'm Proud"), CURTIS MAYFIELD ("Keep on Pushin'"), SAM COOKE ("A Change Is Gonna Come"), NINA SIMONE ("What are we going to do now, now that the King of Love is Dead?"), BERNICE REAGAN ("Before I'd be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free"). 

Music created for a purpose that touched the spirit and spoke about the injustices of the world.

The 1960’s brought us ERNEST (CHUBBY CHECKER) EVANS recording "The Twist," setting off the biggest dance craze since the Charleston craze of the 1920s. The craze changed the patterns of American dance and changed, perhaps forever, the dominant patterns of men and women dancing together.  Plus a new gospel music with a more worldly sound and a catchy, pop-flavored beat flowed out of urban Black churches and was given form and passion by JAMES CLEVELAND and SHIRLEY CAESAR, leading to ANDRAE CROUCH and the EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS and contemporaries like KIRK FRANKLIN, the many WINANS and a new growth industry, White gospel singers.

                                            

  

 

The 1970’s brought us synthesizers and over-dubbing and detailed preparation of albums all epitomized by STEVIE WONDER.  The end of the 70’s introduced THE SUGAR HILL GANG who produced the first rap hit, "Rapper's Delight," introducing the world of rap and hip-hop with implications that are still reverberating in the music world.

In 1984 MICHAEL JACKSON'S Thriller video premiered on TV, and revolutionized the making and marketing of pop music, leading to MTV and the new pop technology.  The 90’s popular crossover success of singers like WHITNEY HOUSTON and JANET JACKSON started new merchandising, marketing trends and led to numerous White imitators like Britney Spears.

Success stories abound but the biggest change in Black music has come about in the 2000’s.  Hip Hop originated as an expression of individuality, a description of anger and distrust against the unjust governmental systems we now live under.  Just as Slave work songs, Gospel, Blues, Jazz, Be Bop and the majority of our cultural music had done.  Now this new music is made only to make certain individuals wealthy and unfortunately the wealthy are not the artists making the music.  This new breed of music is designed to make both Black & White consumers / listeners controllable and ignorant.  It is now promoting unbridled loveless sex, drug usage, murder and mayhem. 

Isn’t it time to let your child know WHY they make music?

SOUND OF THE XITY CHINA MUSIC CONFERENCE AND SHOWCASE FESTIVAL 2013

                                      IMPRESSIONS OF CHINA

 My very first trip to China and I was awarded a first class seat upgrade, today I am feeling mighty fine. However wearing a kufi while sitting in first class seems to be disturbing to the white flight attendants, there is no discernible reaction from any of the Chinese in fact they are as comfortable as I am. Appears that the first class purser has developed a sincere attitude, in describing here initially let me say that her hair looks like a bonnet of black & white feathers. The hair style is spiked and not very flattering with its uneven coloring. Ever other flight attendant has black or brunette hair. First class perks on a long flight like this include adjustable private cubicle which can become a bed, slippers, refresh bag, immediate champagne beverage service, private entertainment screen with sound proof headsets, choice of 5 different entrees for dinner served on china and silver service, an inflight snack and a breakfast. I am so excited about going to Beijing that I haven’t slept a wink but I did watch several full length movies over the 13 ½ hour flight.

 Upon arriving at the Beijing airport I knew immediately that I was in a country where “humor and jokes” at immigration would not be tolerated. Going through immigration was a harrowing experience especially with the armed guards, vacant stares and non friendly attitude of the immigration workers. I was greeted by my pickup person when I came out of baggage claim via customs and was relieved to see a smiling cheerful person who spoke English and was very respectful. Surprise to me was that the first two restaurants I saw in Beijing were Kentucky Fried Chicken and Starbucks. The KFC franchise is very alive in China and can be seen in almost every neighborhood in Beijing. Television commercials that I have seen are mostly Western companies. Nike, Mazda, Coke, Minute Maid.

My hotel was prescreened and ready upon arrival yet it is very different than what I expected. There is no Internet available, no television available, no room service or room cleaning, no restaurants or lounges. The room is modern, clean and comfortable but I have no key to my room, all entrance must be with a guard who lets me in the building, walks me to my room and opens the door with a master electronic key.

Walking down the street I get stares from the populace however no one wants me to look them in the eye. Once I see them staring I immediately look into their face and they turn their head or look in another direction. I wish this worked in the United States as well as it works in China. Bicycles, mopeds and motor bikes are on every road, traveling without a fear of getting hit and totally not paying any attention to stop lights or pedestrians. I am really fascinated that many people are not hit by cars and motor cycles for the traffic in Beijing has to be one of the worst nightmares I have ever seen. Driving down the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic is not frowned upon, driving through red lights is common and turning from the wrong lane seems to be the thing to do.

 Meals have been an experience that I will never forget. Having been here for 3 days I have yet to taste any rice. It seems that Chinese meals at restaurants are about eating meat and vegetables in their varied form and adding rice or noodles to the meal is frown upon. Rice & noodles are considered basic food sources and are eaten every day at the homes of Chinese people. Eating out at a restaurant is considered a luxury so basic foods are not served with the meals. Today I ate Yunnan style cooking from a province in the north of China. These are mountain people and their food has a considerable spice added to it. My meal consisted of ground beef with onions and hot peppers, ground pork with celery scallions and hot peppers, cooked thin slices of beef with lemon, scallions, peppers and ginger, steamed fish with scallions, ginger, onion and hot peppers, deep fried mash potato balls dipped in a garlic, ginger, scallion, lemon based sauce and stir fried prawns (whole shell) with worms, hot peppers, garlic and scallions. Since my arrival I have had duck, sweet and sour fish, marinated eggplant, and marinated green beans, bean paste, scallops served over corn kernels with garlic, 2 types of Chinese pancakes, multiple Chinese sweet cakes, gingered fruit and gallons of tea.

The main reason for my visiting Beijing is the Sounds Of The Xity China Music Conference and Showcase Festival (SOTX) “Hidden assumptions in the music industry”, conceived and developed by Zhang Ran, an extremely creative man reveling in art, music and business mechanics. Wei Gao, the second in command, orchestrated the event logistics, communication, volunteers and day to day operations. She is dedicated to excellence and I applaud her consistent ability to achieve high goals. The daily panel lineup was literally who’s who of the Chinese entertainment industry in conjunction with festival producers from many different countries, educators, press and government officials.

 This was a business conference of tidal proportions with business executives speaking to business executives. Not found here were the new entrepreneurs or musical artist looking to find information on how to start their career, instead the professionals were here shaping the course of Chinese music worldwide while making International business connections. Individual radio transceivers were available and every session was translated into English or Chinese depending on who was speaking. As a featured speaker I was given my own personal interpreter for the conference. The 2 days of concentrated panels included oversight into the Chinese online music community, digital delivery, copyright structure, education of the new entertainment professional, foreign music festival markets and music media. With the caliber of executive talent available the meetings after the panels were intense and full of informative information and positive networking.

Music is and will always be the CORE of SOTX so there were multiple “live” showcases every night in 8 different nightclubs of varying sizes. Over 150 individual bands played in 4 days and the music encompassed almost every continent and style. SOTX showed me a new level of expressing and delivering music to entertainment professionals, press and fans. I listened to a Chinese duo that had a unique style, female vocalist with an extremely good voice, male guitarist singer who also operated a digital work station that had bass lines, horn shots and other sounds, I cannot explain the type music that they sang in Chinese however the rhythms were contemporary, pop, electronic dance music with sound effects added.

 The highlight of my night was a band from the island of Mauritius that had soca, African reggae and urban contemporary flavors in their music, very danceable, infectious rhythms and party friendly music. Who knew that the Chinese loved reggae? I rod in a motorized rickshaw after 3 of us were leaving one of the night spots and could not get a taxi to stop for us, so a Chinese friend (IVAN) traveling with us stopped a covered motorized rickshaw and we piled in. The vehicle only sat 2 but the 3 of us rode about 3 miles all for the cost of 10 Yuan ($1.75). An elderly bicycle powered rickshaw driver wanted to take me back to the hotel when I decided to leave, but he asked for 100 Yuan ($16.70) which was robbery for Beijing. I took a taxi that cost me $23 Yuan ($3.85) and was glad that no one tips in china.

 One of the nightclubs I spent an entire evening in was MAO LIVEHOUSE, from the exterior you would have thought it was a vacant warehouse, no neon signs, no advertising, no doorman just paint on the wall but once you got inside you knew that this was a popular spot. I was really impressed with a band called THE TREE and their diverse usage of electronic sounds coupled with acoustical instruments and vocals. Exceedingly harmonious yet subtle and pretty sounds with only 2 players working onstage singing in English, was refreshing and new. The Iron Kite, though singing in Mandarin, gave an exciting and controlled performance; their lead singer (YU SHENG) captivated the crowd and delivered vocals with expression and emotion. The best act of this night was the Amazing Insurance Salesmen a trio consisting of lead guitar and vocals from Jean-Sebastian Hery of France, bass player Maikel from Holland and a Chinese “beast” of a drummer Mao Mao. They got the crowd worked into a frenzy, had women swooning and men shouting and singing right along with their English language set.

 Spent my 65th birthday in Beijing by going to the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City) and Tiananmen Square where the monument to the Chinese workers revolution and the body of Chairman Mao are located. Of course I had no idea the scope and majesty of this area and the size of the Forbidden City is massive. Our White House, surrounding land and national monuments could fit into the opening grounds of the Imperial Palace alone.

The conference delegates took me to a birthday luncheon and I ate food I had never tasted before. The restaurant was called the Perfumed Garden and it was a Hot Pot styled restaurant. A large burner was built into the table top where a double bowled pot was placed over. Hot broth was placed into the pot with a wood mushroom, scallion, spice and hot pepper base. Then pieces of tofu, meat, fowl, seafood and vegetables were dropped and cooked in the broth. I had to wait until they were cooked, then place each piece into a sesame seed based sauce before I could eat them. Additional plates on the table held various types of picked and spiced mushrooms, garlic, radishes and vegetables. The appetizer for this meal was deep fried insects, bee larvae, 3 different worms, 2 cocoons and grasshoppers. As the birthday person I had to eat a bowl of noodles for good health and long life.

 On the 2 days of sightseeing I was able to include within this trip I visited a Chinese neighborhood super market and I was shocked by the standards that the average Chinese person accepts for buying their food. In America we would call the super market a flea market for every vendor had a stall. The aisles were small yet each stall was packed with whatever the stall owner was selling. I had to buy replacement batteries for my camera at the electronic stall where I quickly understood that you NEVER pay the first price for anything in China, you must negotiate even when you speak no Chinese and they speak no English. Next to the electronics stall was a meat stall (Pork) and legs of pork were hanging against the wall, each person buying would tell the butcher how much meat they wanted and what cut and the butcher would cut the meat by hand right in front of them. There were bean stalls, several butchers, a chicken stall where chickens were sold with the feet attached, fruit stalls, separate vegetable stalls, an enclosed stall that manufactured fresh noodles. An egg vendor with at least 8 different varieties of eggs (I saw a basket of blue eggs as big as my fist each). Ginseng vendors, a soy sauce stall, a jade vendor and several small appliance stalls. I saw one cloth stall and 2 people were sitting in front of it sewing buttons on clothes. This stall only sold bolts of cloth, thread, and buttons and did repairs.

 That same afternoon my interpreter, Shei Shei, met me at the hotel and we took a taxi to the Chinese Pearl and Silk market. Was this ever an experience. I was met at the curb by my first Chinese beggar; this woman had begging down to a science and nowhere else in China had I seen another beggar. This was a business just like selling rice cakes and only my American style of saying NO kept her and others away. DVD movies were only 10 Yuan ($1.75) and every movie I knew about was available even the ones that had not been released in China (Django). I never found out if there “bootlegs” were any better than ours for I wanted to shop inside the mall and not on the street. Entering the enclosed Mall my attention turned to the many varieties of goods available. The Mall was 6 stories tall and each floor was devoted to a special category of goods. The grocery was on the top floor and this was more in line with the stores I have become accustomed to in the USA. Prepackaged goods with prices stamped upon them, of course this was for the International tourist and Chinese people continued bargaining on everything they wanted to purchase. I had no desire to buy silk goods during this trip, however pearl, silver & gold was another subject. (NO I DID NOT BRING YOU A SOUVENIR).

 After a great afternoon of shopping we went to a Chinese neighborhood seafood restaurant where I was the only non-Chinese person in the place. I wanted a piece of fish and Shei Shei ordered “snakefish”, was I surprised when they brought the fish in a net to the table so we could see exactly what they were going to prepare. The preparation of this fish was unique and was delivered to the table in a divided pot sitting over hot coals and cooking. The fish had been split with one side lying in a broth with a sesame base, the other side lying in a bean paste broth. Both broths had scallions, garlic, hot peppers and cilantro and continued cooking the fish throughout our entire meal. I am becoming quite proficient with chopsticks and can eat almost anything with them now. We had a cold vegetable dish of cooked bok choy, peanuts, walnuts, cashews and red bell pepper, plus an additional dish of pork ribs braised with fresh garlic.

 The Sound Of The Xity China Music Conference and Showcase Festival was a tremendous, stupendous success giving me access to many more executive level professionals in numerous countries. Thank you Eric Defontenay, for making me aware of this exciting event and being so instrumental in obtaining my invitation to speak in Beijing China thus giving me the adventure of a lifetime.

                          SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST 2013

This year I attended the SXSW Conference in Austin Texas as a consultant for IMEXSA (Independent Music Exporters South Africa).  As part of my duties I setup meetings and press interviews.  This is the VOICE OF AMERICA  interview.

    THE BLUES IS ALL RIGHT TOUR 2013 
         ATLANTA, GEORGIA

     PUB VS PUB - ATLANTA GEORGIA

THE MUSIC SPECIALIST

CHANGE IS CONSTANT

Today’s music business is heading rapidly toward entertainment industry structural changes, the laws and regulations we use for our everyday business are morphing into a totally new set.  Greater interest in direct digital licensing among publishers, efforts to establish Pan-European licensing and the creation of a global repertoire database are reshaping the landscape being navigated by Writers, Publishers and  Performing Rights Organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, etc...) worldwide

Outlets, businesses, independent labels and some major labels are not renewing their digital agreements with the performing Rights Organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, etc...)  A number of large digital music users, including Clear Channel, Entercom and Sirius XM, have negotiated direct licenses with various music labels in an effort to lower the rates that these services pay for music royalties. Future changes in the entertainment industry will include PRO (Performing Rights Organizations) having smaller revenue bases and possibly charging higher percentage rates or even dedicated service charges.

For in-store business music services (also called background music services, or business establishment services), one of the largest companies negotiated a direct deal with one of the largest music publishers – and the negotiated prices eventually were found by rate courts to be the best evidence of the market price, which were used to set the price that ALL players in the market pay to ASCAP and BMI.

We once thought that Regardless of what happens in the digital market, PROs will always have general performance licensing to fall back on because monitoring song plays at bars, clubs and stores requires boots on the ground to track.  Technology is changing that concept by monitoring on line streaming events, “live” and recorded shows and the design of tracking software for cloud storage of music & video files.

New online services now enable the music industry to do business (as never before) by providing the searching, previewing,  license pricing, contracts, invoices and download access needed to foster efficient, professional relationships between the music creators and the industry people needing to license their tracks for an unlimited variety of commercial media projects.

The new music industry has been ushered in with a swift change of leadership and direction.  Many foolish people still hold on to ancient concepts and believe that the Black radio & record community will revive itself.  This is NOT going to happen, for everything must change.  My generation made the music industry an industry of “smoke & mirrors” where companies and individuals were paying thousands of dollars just to tell a LIE about their music.  The reasoning was that a major label would pick them up, pay them and make them a star.  Technology, even though still used to perpetuate LIES, has made several common place entertainment entities completely worthless.

RETAIL PROMOTION – Hiring people that would make sure that your song got Sound Scan reports every week and assist you in “hyping” the charts.  No longer is it necessary for there are no independent records on the charts to be hyped.

RETAIL TRACKING – Seems like there is no one who really cares about where your record is physically or digitally located and what it is doing on a weekly basis.  So there’s no one left who calls retail on a regular rotation.

RADIO PROMOTION – The KING of hype games is still being played but on a much larger, more expensive level.  Today you can pay a promoter $25,000 to $65,000 just to get spins at night, during mix shows and on weekends.  This can get you into the Billboard charts, however you haven’t sold any music and you still have to spend money to have your artist work promotional dates.   For $80,000 - $250,000 you can have your music placed on air (depending on the stations format), BDS (Broadcast Data Service) reported and eventually Billboard charted.  However since NONE of this promotion is truthful you still have to find another way to sell physical and digital product to the masses.

RADIO TRACKING – This was a given job for hundreds of label secretaries and interns, now there are no lists of songs for the station to give out, no one within the station who even makes a decision on music or relationships between the caller and the station.  Independently owned music is not even being played on terrestrial radio under any format except non-commercial.

VIDEO PROMOTION – Who tracks your video plays, has the relationship with the major video television companies or even owns a list of the available television programs to send your video to?  Of course there is You Tube and multiple online outlets, but who knows that your video is on You Tube?

RECORD POOLS – When DJ’s were playing records, then you needed someone who knew the most popular club DJ’s and could get your music to them PLUS get feedback on your tune.  The advent of MP3 technology coupled with the shady, money hungry actions of Record Pool Directors has made this type of company totally unreliable and unnecessary.   The reasoning behind even having a Record Pool was to give unbiased feedback directly from the “end user” (audience), today your feedback is coming from Facebook, Twitter, Reverb Nation, You Tube, etc..

INDEPENDENT RETAIL STORES – Sure there are still a few stores left in certain neighborhoods around the United States, the biggest transformation is that they are selling music as a sideline.  Their front line business is clothing, drug paraphernalia, household accessories or hair care products.  An extremely few specialty stores are making Sound Scan reports, but most of those can be bought and have no honest relevancy.

BILLBOARD - The Billboard charts were once used as a list for the record retailer to purchase from.  Customers would come in, look over the list, normally posted on a wall or bin, and make their purchases. As a record label you had to chart your record to justify sales, improve airplay and get wholesalers to pay you what they already owed you.  It truly was the bible of the music industry.  No longer is it necessary to “climb” the charts to become a musical success.  The “bible of the industry” has become the “comic book” of the major labels.

INDEPENDENT DISTRIBUTORS – These are the wholesalers that operate as middlemen between the label and the retailer.  Because the chain system (Best But, Target, K-Mart, etc...) now controls the majority of sales of recorded music, these distributors have a much tighter and smaller inventory and some malicious games for the label.  As a label you must pay for distributors’ promotion, marketing, place and positioning within stores, special programs and if your product sits on the wholesalers’ floor more than 30 days you pay for storage. 

ONESTOP – a smaller wholesaler that has almost disappeared from the industry landscape, 

while most were specialty record orientated there inventory was never large. The majority went out of business based on outstanding debts coupled with mobile music trading, purchasing, streaming and video.

I am truly glad for the change that has over taken the music industry.  Today you can own your music completely and sell directly to the consumer without any middlemen.  By the way, for all you old timers that wishes for the good old lying, hyping and buying reports days to come back.  Keep dreaming.