Impacts of Rock and Roll to the Radio and Recording Industries
In the 1950s, Rock and Roll became the greatest genre of music in the United States (Dominick, 2009).This was attributed to the increased number of young people listening to radio stations, buying Rock and Roll records, and those viewing programs on the national television which featured Rock and Roll music. If a combination of factors that were somehow strange to that period and time lacked, then the change in the music to capture the resurgence of Rock and Roll would not have happened. Such factors included, the actions coming from the American union of music composers, the singers, producers, publishers, the occurrence of the economic stability that followed the end of the World War II, improved technological changes regarding technology, the dominance of the television stations as the top entertainment spots, and the unexpected ability of young people to pay for the Rock and Roll records (Mabry, 1970).
Rock and Roll had adverse effects on the recording and radio industries during this period. This genre was mainly associated with the Black American leanings. The kind of segregation against the blacks ensured that the white youth lacked access to this type of music. With the arrival of television, most people shifted to watching television and ignored radio. The radio thus resorted to playing any kind of music of the time that could appeal to the listeners. During that time, Rock and Roll appealed to the teenagers since most of the performers were young people who were in their 20s. Most young people were therefore keen on producing their own songs that they could record easily at cheap prices in the recording studios established locally within the country. The availability of cheap records from the youth enabled the radio stations to advance since most stations could not afford to pay for any live performances from established artists. Thus, the available Rock and Roll records served as the best alternative option that the stations had (Mabry, 1970).
Impacts of Disintermediation
Disintermediation refers simply to the removal of middlemen or middle people from a value chain. However, within this context, disintermediation refers to the step by step elimination of chains of record brokering or by popular terminology; intermediation. For instance, in the music and recording industry, the availability of downloadable music samples from the Web could render any recorded compact disk from artists obsolete. However, disintermediation has its fair share of merits and demerits for the industry. Nevertheless, it has balanced the playing field for all the stakeholders involved in the value chain. This refers to the producers in the recording studios and all those involved in the marketing of the records. There are several ways in which disintermediation has impacted the recording industry. For instance, it has allowed people to brand themselves and market their offerings to the final consumers without the headache of other people raking in their profits. The recording companies have also suffered greatly from this since their participation in the process of intermediation has been reduced significantly. However, they metamorphose to serve other important responsibilities that have been enhanced by the development and existence of free internet (Mabry, 1970).
In the past, the film industry used to be profitable. However this was short lived with the increasing levels of piracy. To curb this, most film producers developed several antipiracy tactics that would ensure people do not get free access to the films. However, having done all this, evidently piracy cannot be eliminated fully for several reasons. The introduction of the internet and its increased subscription from users over the world adds to the piracy debate. People are able to view films online and even download them free of charge. This raises an important concern for stakeholders in the film industry. The failure of most of the antipiracy tactics being employed by the film industry can be attributed to the lack of effort in making pirate activities worthy. For instance, the film industry has to consider using available technology to enable consumers pay for any streaming from the internet rather than stopping them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, most of the changes in culture, that were experienced in the 1950s to 1960s were as a result of the economic growth in America. In the field of music, existing big producers dominated popular genre until the entry of Rock and Roll into the scene when other big producers took over the scene in the 1960s. The fact that the youth had too much money at their disposal combined with the economic boom to transform the American culture tremendously. Disintermediation in recording and radio industry has both positive and negative effects. However, it sort of brought sanity in the way business was to be conducted in these industries. In the film industry, the antipiracy methods that are being used to regulate pirate activities are inefficient in curbing the vice. It is imperative therefore for stakeholders to invest in technologies that will use profitable rising activities of the pirates rather than tame them.
References
Dominick, J. R. (2009). The Dynamic of Mass Communication: Media in the Digital Age (10th Ed). New York: The McGraw-Hill Company Inc.
Mabry, D. J. (1970). Rock and Roll: The Beginnings. New York: Prentice Hall.