Introduction "1991: The Year Punk Broke" is a documentary about the leading punk figures in the nineties such as Sonic Youth and Nirvana. In the continuation of the documentary, the viewer finds Thurstoon Moore of Sonic Youth asking young music enthusiats: “People see rock and roll as youth culture, and when youth culture becomes monopolized by big business, what are the youth to do?". In addition to the question, he states, "I think we should destroy the bogus capitalist process that is destroying youth culture by mass marketing and commercial behavior control and the first step to do is to destroy the record companies.” "The bogus capitalist process" that Moore talks about refers to the aggressive capitalist side of any market, but more …show more content…
The two biggest components are major and independent record labels. Major record labels are the driving force of the industry, “Big Four labels/major record labels represented the majority of the music sold, making up as much as 75% of the music market or more depending on the year.” (About.com) Additionally, “The five major record labels; Sony, Universal, BMG, EMI and Time Warner dominate 85% of the market when it comes to sales of Compact Discs. Leaving only 15% for the hundreds of independent record labels and thousands of artists out there." (Raprehab and Bomhiphop.com) In his essay A Brief Outline of How the International Popular Music Industry Manipulates and Exploits the Audience, Shams Quader discusses this issue."Big Four is responsible for 70% of the worldwide music and 85% of US music sales. ... Seeing that these companies have such a monopolistic hold on the world market..." (Quader) it would be safe to presume that the music monopoly was/ is created as a result of how the three major record labels today are holding more than three forths of the net profit of the industry moreover the question of the monopoly was brought to the table especially when Universal Music Group proposed a merger with EMI and many of its top billboard chart artists, Universal Music Group was also the …show more content…
If there is no individuality, then there is no costumer choice. When costumer choice is eliminated, then the problem of exploitation arrives from how these popular music products are commercialized. Raprehab reports, “[...] major record companies are paying radio stations thousands of dollars to play their records!” This contributes to the already established monopoly because when the radio, one of the most effective promotion and mass communication devices, circles around certain products attributed to certain labels exclusively, competition is lowered to a minimum, again. Alternative and independent labels are rarely ever, if lucky, played on the radio, leaving the only way for the consumer to discover alternatives to popular products through extensive research, that is unless the consumer is “not lazy” and willing to expand their horizons and turn their radius of view away from the popular world and dictated products into the underground, “struggling” music
Although it may be perceived that music is a free market based on the love of music, others may argue it is based on profit. In the article “U2’s double trouble,” the band Negativland proclaims that Island Record’s, U2’s record label, only concern in the lawsuit is, “to control the marketplace” (139). Negativland believes Island is trying to control what music is being made and sold. Island is so focused on profit that they are limiting the musical market.
The term Punk was coined by music reviewer Dave Marsh in 1971 to define a new and emerging style in music and culture. Anti-establishment in nature, Punk took its influence from the culture clashes of the 1960’s, creating a new style and sound that had a tremendous effect on fashion, art and youth culture in America and around the world. The effects of Punk are still felt on the cultural world today and the lifestyle is now being carried on by a new generation of young people.
Before Nirvana’s reign started in 1991, the music industry was fulfilled by other fancy-dressing rock bands and strategically marketed mainstream pop stars, with no space for alternative music to establish and promote their music to wider audiences. Michael Jackson, for instance, accurately represents the status that pop music had the biggest share of music market, with his album Dangerous topping the Billboard 200 Chart at the beginning of 1992 (Burlingame, Kurt Cobain: “Oh well, Whatever Nevermind”). Eventually, Dangerous topped the Billboard 200 chart continuously for more than one month after the album’s release, which also proves the commercial success of Michael Jackson and pop music industry as a whole. On the other hand, Rock ’n’ Roll music flourished almost exclusively in the form now known as hair metal; As bands like Van Halen gained their popularity, other record labels...
The musical counterculture of the 1960s challenged the traditional cultural values and American and group identities that came from the Jazz era. The new age of Rock was seen as psychedelic as it broke free from previous restraints and “social norms.” The youth were the majority of this movement and they desired to break away from the suburbia lifestyle their parents had set up for them. The musical counterculture shattered the American value of music being separate amongst different races. Thus, the musical revolution of the 1960s challenged traditional American values, which created significant opposition.
The Punk Rock movement of the 1980’s was an explosion of hybrid and eccentric beats and lyrics that caught everyone’s attention, especially the young adolescents of the time period. The movement of Punk Rock took a major role in shaping the culture in the 80’s. The template for the 1980’s Punk Rock emerged from its preceptor of the 70’s Punk Rock which emerged from London. It’s loud and reckless tunes, to some sounded like noise, but to others it imposed many political standings and raised discussions of controversial topics in its lyrics. From this movements figurative and literal expressions through its bold fashion and uncensored lyrics, it definitely made a stance in the history of music and the 20th century.
Clark, D. (2003). The death and life of punk: The last subculture. Retrieved from http://utoronto.academia.edu/DylanClark/Papers/32839/The_Death_and_Life_of_Punk_The_Last_Subculture
The poet Victor Hugo once stated that “music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot be silent.” This quote seems to represent punk music in a way that isn’t immediately apparent. Punk is considered to be an “underground” genre and style that is popular with teens and young adults that feel oppressed. The expression that "cannot be put into words" and "cannot be silent" describes the ideals of punk perfectly.
... culture from the common hobby of surfing. Punk is not a hobby or an activity. Punk is a way of thinking, being and living. The punk culture was able to positively impact society to change it’s thinking through its rebel actions. Sasha Frere-Jones states, “Punk retains much of its power because of its ability to negate, resist, and reinvent, to reject supervision or support.” This statement shows that punk was successful in influencing society because citizens were so interested in the power of rebelling and acting out.
By the late ‘70s, punk had finished and become an amazing genre with a following triple the size from when it was just garage musicians. Becoming the solid musical force no one in that time saw coming. With this rise in popularity comes many sub-genres of punk. New musicians embraced the DIY movement and began to create their own individual scenes with specific sounds.
...ue. Consumers shouldn’t have to settle with music instead they should be enjoying it. In order to get the authenticity back within commercialized music it will only happen if people begin to realize the power that they hold. Once people start to realize that then the music that is produced, and sung will have a more significant affect on its listeners; music then can continue to be inspiring. Quality music is and will always be cherished more than mass-produced commercialized cacophony.
The American rock band Nirvana impacted American culture and society by paving the way for the punk rock subculture into mainstream corporate America. Punk rock music stems from the rock genre but has its own agenda. The crux of punk rock is that it is a movement of the counterculture against the norms of society. Punk rock in itself is made up of a subculture of people who rejected the tameness of rock and roll music during the 1970s. (Masar, 2006, p. 8). The music stresses anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian ideas in its lyrics as well as scorns political idealism in American society. Before Nirvana unintentionally made punk rock a multi-million dollar commercialized genre of music, underground rock paved the way for the punk rock genre by creating core values that punk rockers drew upon.
By the mid-1970s something was stirring. When music became way too safe, punk emerged to challenge everything. The first “punk rock” scene appeared in New York in 1973 (Harry 8). The Punk Era resurrected culture and music over a thirty year period. With angst, rebellion and outrageous ideals, punk coalesced into an international movement. The punk rock culture is something everyone has been exposed to due to the colossal impact of new ideologies, fashion and music carried for over forty years and into the present day.
Back in the early 1980’s, record labels controlled what people could hear through airplay, record distribution and manufacturing, and selective promotion of music based on their judgement of their audience. An artist’s only feasible option was to go through this system. To obtain music of high quality, people had to buy vinyl singles or albums or tape, and later, only CDs. There was no practical way to listen to music before buying it without listening to or taping off the radio. Music was very restricted by several different record companies.
In every generation there are countercultures, some more prominent and influential than others that go against social norms. Jack Kerouac brought to light the counterculture known as The Beat Generation from under the veil of the conservative surface in the 1950’s, in his book On the Road. This generation was so influential that they were the driving force behind the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 60’s and 70’s. Having strong ideas and values about freedom and personal fulfillment, that they perused relentlessly, they created big changes and even inspired generations after them who feel dissatisfied with the pressures to conform to instead push against the norms of society.
The three major record labels are Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group; these majors have sub-labels such Atlantic Records (Warner) and Columbia Records (Sony). There are thousands of indie labels (300 Entertainment, Mad Decent, etc.) yet they only represented about a third of the total US album market share in 2015. Majors have substantial amounts of capital at their disposal and key divisions in-house (distribution, publishing), often putting them at an advantage over their smaller competitors. The below graph shows just how large a share of the US recorded music market the major labels controlled in 2015 compared to their many independent