The Influence Of Music In The Nineteen-Fifties

Introduction The top two selling music genres of 2014 were Rock and Roll, with eighty-eight million, two hundred and fifty-thousand albums sold, and Rhythm and Blues, also known as R&B, with thirty-five million, seven hundred and fifty-thousand albums sold (Statista.com). Selling billions of dollars worth of albums, singles, concert tickets, and merchandise every year, the artists at the forefront of these two genres are more than successful and saying so would be an understatement. Those same artists are the product of sixty-five years worth of different Rock and Roll and Rhythm and Blues artists, one artist influencing the last; the artists with the farthest stretching influence originating in the nineteen-fifties, where both genres were …show more content…
Music in the nineteen-fifties was controlled by three large industries: Publishing, record labels, and media (Covach); how present an artist is in these three areas can make or break their career. Record labels influence and control every decision made by an artist in order to generate credibility and revenue. Those labels also usually receive a large percentage of what an artist makes as a whole. The labels pay for the creating, mixing, shipping and publication of everything an artist creates and wants to sell to an audience. The major labels of today are vastly different from those of the nineteen-fifties, but the structure and functions remain quite the same. The advancement of technology has played quite a large role in developing the way most music is published by record labels, but at its core, labels have always determined how successful an artist will become and how successful an artist continues to be, beginning with Columbia Records in the nineteen-fifties. Large record labels have ruled the market, but independent record labels were and still are a major influence in promoting rock and roll; independent, also known as indie, labels worked at getting records into jukeboxes (Covach). Although there are not many jukeboxes around anymore, iTunes, Google Play, and other major music streaming services are mediums that record labels try to advertise and sell their artists on. Much of Elvis Presley's success was thanks to RCA's major label level of marketing capabilities (Covach). The media an artist is featured on can catapult an artist to success. In the nineteen-fifties, the song “True Love” by Bing Crosby was catapulted to the top of the charts after being featured in the movie High Society. Instances such as this occur way more often today, with mediums such as commercials providing a