MUSIC OF THE ROARING 20SJeremiah Fields

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

GENRES OF THE

TWENTIES

Jazz, blues, swing, dance band, and ragtime were some of the most prominent and loved genres of the 20s.

Artists such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker, and Ted Lewis were not only superstars, but also innovators of the genre itself.

Also, the 20s started the music business as we know it, with radio and records mattering heavily to how music was distributed.

THE HISTORY OF JAZZ MUSIC

• Jazz music has a very interesting history. It originates in New Orleans, Louisiana. It grew because of ragtime music as well as Dixieland music and sprang as well from the improvisations of the many musicians of French, Spanish, and African heritage who lived in Louisiana.

• It has so many different variations that it feels almost like another genre with each listen.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

SUBGENRES OF JAZZ

• All together Jazz has about 40 subgenres, this includes Bop, Funk, Swing, and World Fusion.

• With all these different subgenres, i am sure that there is truly something for everyone.

• You like piano and little instrumentation besides it? Try smooth jazz. Like crazy vocals with even crazier band arts? Try Funk, specifically the “Queen of Funk” Chaka Khan.

A lovely brass trumpet.

OTHER GENRES OF THE 1920S AND BRIEF HISTORIES • Blues: Blues developed in the southern

United States after the American Civil War. It was influenced by Gospel, Ragtime, and minstrel show music.

• Ragtime: the leading style of American pop

music from about 1899 to 1917. It was influenced by minstrel-show songs, African American banjo styles, rhythms of the cakewalk, and elements of European music.

• In the clip, you can hear influences from these other genres in early jazz music.

• With lots of interesting rhythms, jazz influenced dances, fashion, and culture in America as a whole.

A Jazz compilation.

THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IN

THE 1920S

• The music industry that we know today is quite different than the one artists experienced in the 1920s. • The radio had been invented, but most Americans didn’t have one until the 1920s. • With the radio being invented and beloved, musicians could spread their musical wings all over the country. • With this happening, many record executives turned their eyes southward, and did not hesitate to make a monopoly through them. • They recorded black and white musicians, paid next to nothing, and made fortunes sell ing music to southern audiences. • Before the miraculous invention of the radio however, music could only be shared by sheet music, piano rolls, or l ive performances.• Also

As you read in prev ious slides, dance music was the new craze during the 20s. And with the production of the radio, even southerners could now make it in the music industry.

White novelists, dramatists, and composers started to exploit the musical tendencies and themes of African Americans in their own works. Composers used poems written by African-American poets in their songs, while implementing the rhythms, harmonies, and melodies of African-American music—such as blues, spirituals, and

jazz—into their concert pieces.

Also, the acoustical recording process was replaced with the electrical process. This change made the way that recordings were made sound much better and more natural, helping to expand the popularity of recorded music.

But how exactly does all this that transpired affect the music industry today??

THE MUSIC INDUSTRY PT.2

PAYOLA IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, AND WHO BENEFITS FROM IT??

• Payola is the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing this information. It began however in the 1920s after radio became the next big thing. While the music industry has taken aim at ending it all together, it still happens to this day.

• Artists, Djs, Producers, and even managers can all pay radio stations and music services to play a specific artists’ music more often.

• Some artists that have benefitted from payola include

• Khalid

• Backstreet Boys

• Cardi B

• Shawn Mendes

• Ed Sheeran

• In this clip, entertainer Cardi B admits to paying $60k for her song to be played more.

STOLEN ARTISTRY IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

• It’s no secret that in the music industry there are songwriters, background singers, and people of that nature, but what when they aren’t credited for their work?? What if they did more than what they were even credited for? That is just plain thievery and is stolen artistry.

• The history of these things being done date all the way back to the 1920s, when white musicians, producers, and composers would watch, copy, and even record black artists but market the recording as their own, and would only pay the original artists for the one-time recording fee, if EVEN that.

STOLEN ARTISTRY IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY PT.2

You’d think in these new “woke” times that would have already stopped in the music

industry, but sadly no. In most infamous

cases, the artist that is brought up in these cases is easily Jennifer Lopez. She has been

caught not crediting vocalists’ voice on her

tracks for YEARS, including Ashanti’s, who sings and wrote most if Jlo’s hit “I’m Real

(Murder Remix), which is ironic to say the

least.

Also, Jlo very infamously stole from Mariah Carey. When Mariah was

planning her album “Glitter”, she made

the first attempt to license a sample for her song “Loverboy.” With malicious

intent, Carey’s former husband and top

executive at J.Lo’s label Tommy

Mottola applied for the same license

and beat Carey to the punch.

This Photo by Unknown Author is l icensed under

CC BY-SA

Keep Tony’s name in mind!!!

THE PROBLEM WITH BIG RECORD COMPANIES

• In all honesty, the forefront problem with most record companies big or small is greed. There are tons of fees, royalties, expenses, and other things that ae taken out before any money whatsoever reaches an artist’s pockets. For instance, some companies take 20 percent off top for “Breakage Fees” (a CD breaking, download not working). So if you made $100 off streams, off top $20 is gone, which adds up rather quickly.

• But this isn’t the only issue whatsoever, in fact there are many problems including:

• Bigotry: racial stereotypes within music itself

• Genericization: wanting everyone to be relatable in order to appeal to a wider market for more sales

• Urbanization: making artists appear more “urban” ( Miley Cyrus in 2014, Katy Perry in the same year, Justin Bieber in every year imaginable )

TOMMY MOTTOLA

If there ever was an “ev il mastermind of music”

documentary, this man would certainly be the

inspiration, ESPICALLY if they throw stones, hide

their hands, steal samples, and try to cancel an

album’s very existence. He was the president

and is CEO of Sony records at a time where

there were MANY huge people in the game,

from Tina Turner to Destiny’s Child all actively

performing and making music. Most famously

known as the manager and ex-husband Mariah

Carey, he has quite the career. However, he

himself has done certain things that has upset

some popular names. For example, he was

accused of not promoting Michael Jackson’s

album ”Inv incible”, and the entire Mariah

scandal. Despite the drama of his personal life,

he was very successful in his job.

Recently he is more known for being hated and

attacked constantly by both the “Lambs” and

the “Moonwalkers”, which are the fanbases of

Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson. Which begs

the question: who and what are these crazy

stans???

Tommy and his

quite famous ex

wife Mariah

Carey.

STAN CULTURE

• A “Stan” is a mega fan of an artist, for example Nicki Minaj stans are called “Barbs”, Beyoncé stans are called “Hive, The Beehive, Beyhive” and Rihanna stans are called “Navy”. Stan culture greatly impacts music today, whether it be by interacting with their favorite artists on social media, most famously Twitter, or by streaming their music constantly to get them the Number 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 charts because they feel that the song deserves it.

• Stans do go far sometimes, such as when the entire Hive got rapper No Name to deactivate her Twitter after shading Beyoncé or mist of the interactions Cardi B has with the Barbs on Twitter despite trying to assault her at the Met Gala years back.

• Whether toxic or truly kind, stan culture is truly an impactful and important part of music today.

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

• It’s quite easy to get caught up in the glamor and shimmer of the music industry. And one of the shiniest things you can get is an award.

• Awards such as The Grammys, AMAs, BMAs, RARHOF, and others are given to artists of respected genres and award them for being the best at the category, whether it be Song of The Year, or even Best New Artist.

• These awards are supposed to be true achievements and something an artist is proud of achieving, but because of shady practices, award incentives, and stan culture, it is often seen as either A.) Your favorite artist didn’t deserve and is an “industry plant” or B.) Your favorite artist got the award and now they’re a “legend” in your eyes.

• Even this year The Grammys faced backlash after snubbing The Weekend, who had arguably the biggest release that year, and not nominating him for one reward.

• He even blatantly boycotted them, ordering his label to stop submitting his music. He also claimed that there were “secret committees”, and he was completely right.

• On April 30th, it was revealed that there 81 “anonymous committees” and that 64 had been shut down by the Grammys committee. So, do stats even really matter at this point?

The prestigious Grammy

Award.

DO STATS REALLY MATTER?

• No. No stats do not matter. Being an artist is not about how many awards you have, how known you are, or even how high your voice can go. Being an artist is about the art. The product. Sure, it would be great to be an amazing artist and have the accolades and constant praise, but not everyone can be Beyoncé.

• If stats mattered so much, some of our most famous and talented musicians wouldn’t even be mentioned. Mariah Carey only has 5 Grammys, Nicki Minaj has none, Whitney Houston only has 6, Tupac has none, Blake Shelton doesn’t even have a Grammy. Grammys and awards do not validate you as an artist. The only thing that should validate you is your own happiness with your product. However, since we are discussing stats, I wanted to show some of the most historic stats.

HISTORICAL STATS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

• Michael Jackson has won the most Grammys in one night, winning 11, and was the first African American to sweep an award show.

• Whitney Houston became the first African American to have 3 Diamond albums certified by the RIAA

• Mariah Carey is not only the first, but also the ONLY artist to have a #1 hit in four separate decades. She also has the most number ones for a solo artist, having 19.

• Beyonce was the first African American to headline Coachella, and has the most Grammys for a female artist, having 28.

MUSICAL TRENDS OF TODAY

LIKE MUSIC FROM ANY

PERIOD, THERE ARE

CERTAIN TRENDS AND

TRAITS THAT SPERATE

THEM FROM EACH

OTHER AND HERE ARE

SOME THAT I HAVE

NOTICED.

DOWNFALL OF

LOUDNESS- MUSIC IS

NOW QUIETER AND

MORE LAID BACK THAN

THAT OF THE 2000S-

2010S

BASS HEAVY- LIKE MOST

RAP AND HIP HOP,

MOST MUSIC NOW

HEAVILY FOCUSES ON

THE USE OF BASS,

WHETHER IT BE GUITAR

OR AN 808.

• Length- Due to a lot of musicians being pushed to make challenges for their songs and hoping to blow up on Tiktok, songs are normally around 2:30-3:00 long.

• Sampling and Interpolation is also at an all time high. Just about every single song you hear is a sample of a sample of a sample, and while this isn’t a bad thing, I’d love to hear some truly original beats oemelodies.

MY OPINION AND FINAL THOUGHTS

• I believe that outside of a few key differences, while music has made great progress, the music industry itself hasn’t changed much at all whatsoever, but change is needed.

• First, we must address the elephants in the room, including the blatant racism, homophobia, and unawareness of world issues. If we can address and solve these, the music can honestly become a true light of the world. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY