20th CENTURY BEGINNINGS

World War I◦Fought in Europe

The War to End all Wars…

Why did it start? Assassination if Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Hungary

◦How did US get into it?Germany torpedoed a ship called the Lusitania that travelled between U.S. and Britain

1,200 passengers died (130 Americans)

Effects of the war◦Technological / industrial advancements to help war effort

◦These are used in the national economy

What do most people

in the US have at this time?

What effect will the telephone, car, & phonograph have

on music?

More people can listen to music

More people can call a friend about what they heard

They can travel farther to hear the music

Effect on Music

Phonographs replaced sheet music as the main way of promoting songs/artists

By mid 1910’s – ◦Records replace sheet music as main way of releasing songs

With phonographs replacing sheet

music, what do you think happens to the

music industry?

New markets/companies begin to take over

Song pluggers begin to fade away

Replaced by recording musicians

Instead of a piano – now you need a phonograph

You don’t need to be able to READ music to ENJOY music

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Consumers change as well

Record Industry in the 20th Century

At the beginning of the century – record companies would wait to see if a song would sell in sheet music form before recording it

1904: 1 of every 22 houses had a phonograph

1909: 26 million discs/cylinders were produced

Reports of 100 million discs/cylinders manufactured that year

Record companies began to record BEFORE publishing the sheet music version

By 1920

By 1925… Phonograph discs

outsell sheet music

The biggest impact (besides the phonograph) on music is invented….

Recording session before microphones.

Recording session after microphones.

But there was a competitor to the record industry….

THE BIRTH OF RADIO Used during WWI for

military communication

Opened up to general public after war was over

1920: 1st public radio stations opened◦ Pittsburgh, Detroit,

Newark NJ

564 licensed radio stations by 1922

Naming System Introduced◦W – east of Miss. River◦K – west of Miss. River

Radio Spreads

Radio waves can only be transmitted based on the strength of the signal

Limits your audience

Until the introduction of network radio

Connecting multiple radio stations through the use of electrical / telephone lines

Why did the record industry see the radio stations as a competitor?

Do you think the broadcast vs recorded debate is still an issue today?

What about…◦AM/FM vs Satellite◦Streaming Music

Does this change the discussion?

Radios are cheaper to purchase than a phonograph player!

And then 1929 hit…..

Sheet Music…Records…Radio…

One thing is missing, right?

The last form of media

First movies were silent: no way to attach audio to video

“Cut” scenes were added into the film to move the plot forward

A piano player was employed by the movie house that would play music (sometimes improvised) to go along with the movie

Early Movie History

Guess who invented the movie camera….

1903: The Great Train Robbery

1927: The Jazz Singer

1928: Steamboat Willie

Important Movies

Produced by Edison Directed by Edwin Porter

The original print of this movie is lost.

Along the way…◦ Someone tried to add color in◦ People have added music

Great Train Robbery (1903)

The first “talkie”

Movie projectionist was given a set of records that had cues marked on them

The job of the projectionist was to sync up the music and the movie

Made Al Jolson a star

The Jazz Singer - 1927

Some guy named Walt thought it would be a neat idea to show cartoons instead of real people….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4

Steamboat Willie - 1928