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sábado, 31 de diciembre de 2011
viernes, 30 de diciembre de 2011
TEEN-AGERS GOING FOR "MUSIC WITH A BEAT" AS INDUSTRY REAPS A FINANCIAL HARVEST
An article from Billboard (or Cash Box) from April 1954.
TEEN-AGERS GOING FOR "MUSIC WITH A BEAT" AS INDUSTRY REAPS A
FINANCIAL HARVEST.
New York, April 17- One of the fastest growing segments of the
record business is the rhythm and blues field, a fact which the
entire music trade is becoming increasingly aware of these days. Once
limited in sales appeal to the relatively small Negro market, rhythm
and blues has now blossomed, with disk sales last year (1953)
reaching an all-time record of $15,000,000. And indications are that
1954 sales will surpass even this mark.
The music is also finding increasing favor among disc jockeys
and juke box operators. More than 700 jocks across the country devote
their air time exclusively to rhythm and blues platters. Many deejays
who once restricted their programming only to popular records are
following the change in listener tastes by including rhythm and blues
selections with their regular pop offerings.
To satisfy the growing demand for this material, over 75
diskeries regularly release rhythm and blues recordings. Their
combined production results in more than 1,000 rhythm and blues
releases per year.
TEEN-AGE TIDE
Teenagers are instigating the current tremd towards r & b, and
are largely responsible for keeping the sales mounting. The teenage
tide has swept down the old barriers which kept this music restricted
to a segment of the population. Today's teenagers have not known the
rhythmically exciting dance bands of the swing era. They therefore
satisfy their hunger for "music with a beat" with recordings by Earl
Bostic, Buddy Johnson, and Tiny Bradshaw bands, or uses the
rhythmically pronounced recordings of the Clovers, Ruth Brown and
others, as its dance music.
The expansion of this field has resulted in a number of
companies who find it highly profitable to devote their exclusive
production to r & b and spiritual recordings.
Such companies as Atlantic-Cat, Apollo, Savoy, Peacock-Duke,
Specialty, Modern-RPM, King-Federal, Aladdin, Chess-Checker, United-
States, Chance, Herald, Imperial and others emerge among the
strongest independent labels of the entire record industry. IN
addition to the highly successful firms which specialize in the r & b
field are such comapnies as RCA Victor, Columbia, Decca, Mercury, Dot
and others, which either themselves or thru their subsidiary labels
issue many r & b records along with their regular record releases in
other fields.
Juke box operators are credited with being among the first to
sense the teenagers swing to r & b. In noting the youngsters
preference for this music, they continued to increase its supply on
those jukeboxes which were exposed to teeenage traffic.
This in turn fostered r & b popularity as reflected in requests
to disc jockeys and at record stores. Dealers who heretofore didn't
stcok r & b records were quick to pick up the ball and are now
offering a healthy selection of r & b recordings.
Some California juke ops say that machines located where young
people congregate will show popular records taking a secondary
position to r & b recordings. California distributors who specialize
in r & b estimate that 35% of their sales volume comes directly from
the juke box field.
In New York it is no longer uncommon for a box in the average
teenager hangout to have at least a few r & b records featuring Dinah
Washington, Ruth Brown, The Clovers, Earl Bostic, Tiny Bradshaw,
among others. In Miami boxes in taverns and milk bars in all
neighborhoods sport r & b records in addition to pop releases.
WIDE APPEAL
Operators in widely scattered sections of the country have
found that many r & b records have a wide enough appeal to go into
boxes in any area. Indicative of expansion of the rhythm and blues
market is the large number of retail outlets which previously did not
stock these platters, but have since found it necessary and extremely
proffitable to do so.
On the West coast, such classy retail outlets as Crawford's,
Martindales, and the Gramophone Shop in Beverly Hills now stock
rhythm and blues and point to a successful sales volume with the
line. In the main, these stores are only carrying the "hit items"
altho they are continually adding to their inventory.
Where it was previously necessary for a teenager to go out of
his immediate shopping nighborhood to buy a rhythm and blues
recording, it is now the neighborhoods that are adding to their
coffersthru stocking r & b recordings. Significantly some
established r & b outlets are noticing a decline in their volume,
apparently taken up by the "johnny come lately" who now stock rhythm
and blues.
Another sign that the popularity of rhythm and blues records
is seen by the large number of record buyers of Mexican and Spanish
descent who are avid devotees of the field. Music operators with
routes in areas predominately populated by Latin Americans report
that this group has long been staunch supporters of r & b music.
A tremendous market exists in this Latin American field in an
area that spreads thru West Texas, New Mewico, Arizona and
California. Distribs in Dallas, Houston, El Paso and Los Angeles
report that Latin Americans number among their largest buyers of
rhythm and blues records. L-A disc jockey shows frequently play
rhythm and blues, along with similarly operated retail outlets
that stock the line.
There has been an upsurge in the number of broadcast hours r
& b records are played in cities all over the country. In Los Angeles
there are more r & b disc jockeys than there were a year ago, and the
pop jockeys are spinning more r & b records. About 23 hours of r & b
disks are played daily on eight Los Angeles stations. The same is
true in Chicago and New York.
In Chicago the increase in r & b records on the air is about
20% over a year ago, and the increase is greater in New York. It is
true that many pop deejays are only playing those r & b records that
they have to play, hits such as "Gee" and "Crying In The Chapel" but
a few years ago even these hits were not played. Where pop jockeys
are not spinning r & b records, the need is being fulfilled by more r
& B air time. Audiences today are estimated by many jocks to be to be
20 to 30% White listeners, in both the big cities and the small
towns.
FREED'S EFFORTS INSTRUMENTAL
The increasing importance of r & b records, and the growing
appeal of many artists in the field are illustrated by some of the
exceptionally successful dances and shows featuring r & b talent and
produced by deejays in various sections of the country. Probably the
most remarkable record is held by Alan (Moondog) Freed's "Coronation
Ball" at the Cleveland Arena in March, 1952, which used all r & b
talent, includings singers and bands, attracted 25,000 people, with
thousands turned away. This is one of the largest crowds to attend
a dance since World War II. In July of 1952, a Freed dance at the
Summit Beach Ballroom in Akron attracted over 3,000 people at $2 per
person, with thousands turned away. In July, 1953, at the
Freed "Rhythm and Blues Show" at the arena in Cleveland there were
10,000 paid admissions at $3 top.
Freed, with his manager Lew Platt, has staged a number of
other dances and shows since then, with each attracting over 3,000
people, and again with many thousands invariably turned away. Here
again, according to Lew Platt, up to one third of the audience was
composed of White teenagers, pointing out again the appeal of r & b
artists among Whites as well as Negroes.
A check among r & b record firms and r & b distributors on
the East and West Coast shows that they are now servicing pop
stations and shows as well as r & b deejays with certain releases.
They have found it a worthwhile policy to do so, since a pop jockey's
spinning an r & b disk can help increase the sales tremendously. The
Crows' recording of "Gee" on Rama Records, which is a hit both in the
pop and r & b markets, added thousands of additional sales due to the
spins given it by pop deejays.
The appeal of r & b disks to more than just a limited market
is also shown by the records made by pop artists of burgeoning r & b
hits. The latest in the series are records made of "Such A Night,"
which was first released on Atlantic with Clyde McPhatter. Johnnie
Ray, Bunny Paul and Jane Turzey made the tune after McPhatter's disk
started to take off.
This is merely the most recent case of covering an r & b
record. The tradition goes back a number of years. However, in most
cases the original record, the r & b disk, often sells more than the
pop versions. This could be the case with "Such A Night" as well.
As r & b artists grow in both experience and popularity,
they usually have a chance to break thru as pop artists and increase
both their earning power and their stature in the business. This is
happening today with many artists as their records break thru into
the pop field. The Earl Bostic Band, The Dominoes, The Orioles, Dinah
Washington, Ruth Brown and others have managed to build up almost as
strong an appeal in the pop market as they have in the r & b field.
According to all indications, as the r & b marker continues to
expand, this will happen with an increasing number of performers.
On April 10th Alan Freed announced plans for his first show in the
East, to be held on May 1, 1954, at the Newark, NJ Armory. The show
will feature the Clovers, Charles Brown, The Buddy Johnson Band, and
the Harptones.*
TEEN-AGERS GOING FOR "MUSIC WITH A BEAT" AS INDUSTRY REAPS A
FINANCIAL HARVEST.
New York, April 17- One of the fastest growing segments of the
record business is the rhythm and blues field, a fact which the
entire music trade is becoming increasingly aware of these days. Once
limited in sales appeal to the relatively small Negro market, rhythm
and blues has now blossomed, with disk sales last year (1953)
reaching an all-time record of $15,000,000. And indications are that
1954 sales will surpass even this mark.
The music is also finding increasing favor among disc jockeys
and juke box operators. More than 700 jocks across the country devote
their air time exclusively to rhythm and blues platters. Many deejays
who once restricted their programming only to popular records are
following the change in listener tastes by including rhythm and blues
selections with their regular pop offerings.
To satisfy the growing demand for this material, over 75
diskeries regularly release rhythm and blues recordings. Their
combined production results in more than 1,000 rhythm and blues
releases per year.
TEEN-AGE TIDE
Teenagers are instigating the current tremd towards r & b, and
are largely responsible for keeping the sales mounting. The teenage
tide has swept down the old barriers which kept this music restricted
to a segment of the population. Today's teenagers have not known the
rhythmically exciting dance bands of the swing era. They therefore
satisfy their hunger for "music with a beat" with recordings by Earl
Bostic, Buddy Johnson, and Tiny Bradshaw bands, or uses the
rhythmically pronounced recordings of the Clovers, Ruth Brown and
others, as its dance music.
The expansion of this field has resulted in a number of
companies who find it highly profitable to devote their exclusive
production to r & b and spiritual recordings.
Such companies as Atlantic-Cat, Apollo, Savoy, Peacock-Duke,
Specialty, Modern-RPM, King-Federal, Aladdin, Chess-Checker, United-
States, Chance, Herald, Imperial and others emerge among the
strongest independent labels of the entire record industry. IN
addition to the highly successful firms which specialize in the r & b
field are such comapnies as RCA Victor, Columbia, Decca, Mercury, Dot
and others, which either themselves or thru their subsidiary labels
issue many r & b records along with their regular record releases in
other fields.
Juke box operators are credited with being among the first to
sense the teenagers swing to r & b. In noting the youngsters
preference for this music, they continued to increase its supply on
those jukeboxes which were exposed to teeenage traffic.
This in turn fostered r & b popularity as reflected in requests
to disc jockeys and at record stores. Dealers who heretofore didn't
stcok r & b records were quick to pick up the ball and are now
offering a healthy selection of r & b recordings.
Some California juke ops say that machines located where young
people congregate will show popular records taking a secondary
position to r & b recordings. California distributors who specialize
in r & b estimate that 35% of their sales volume comes directly from
the juke box field.
In New York it is no longer uncommon for a box in the average
teenager hangout to have at least a few r & b records featuring Dinah
Washington, Ruth Brown, The Clovers, Earl Bostic, Tiny Bradshaw,
among others. In Miami boxes in taverns and milk bars in all
neighborhoods sport r & b records in addition to pop releases.
WIDE APPEAL
Operators in widely scattered sections of the country have
found that many r & b records have a wide enough appeal to go into
boxes in any area. Indicative of expansion of the rhythm and blues
market is the large number of retail outlets which previously did not
stock these platters, but have since found it necessary and extremely
proffitable to do so.
On the West coast, such classy retail outlets as Crawford's,
Martindales, and the Gramophone Shop in Beverly Hills now stock
rhythm and blues and point to a successful sales volume with the
line. In the main, these stores are only carrying the "hit items"
altho they are continually adding to their inventory.
Where it was previously necessary for a teenager to go out of
his immediate shopping nighborhood to buy a rhythm and blues
recording, it is now the neighborhoods that are adding to their
coffersthru stocking r & b recordings. Significantly some
established r & b outlets are noticing a decline in their volume,
apparently taken up by the "johnny come lately" who now stock rhythm
and blues.
Another sign that the popularity of rhythm and blues records
is seen by the large number of record buyers of Mexican and Spanish
descent who are avid devotees of the field. Music operators with
routes in areas predominately populated by Latin Americans report
that this group has long been staunch supporters of r & b music.
A tremendous market exists in this Latin American field in an
area that spreads thru West Texas, New Mewico, Arizona and
California. Distribs in Dallas, Houston, El Paso and Los Angeles
report that Latin Americans number among their largest buyers of
rhythm and blues records. L-A disc jockey shows frequently play
rhythm and blues, along with similarly operated retail outlets
that stock the line.
There has been an upsurge in the number of broadcast hours r
& b records are played in cities all over the country. In Los Angeles
there are more r & b disc jockeys than there were a year ago, and the
pop jockeys are spinning more r & b records. About 23 hours of r & b
disks are played daily on eight Los Angeles stations. The same is
true in Chicago and New York.
In Chicago the increase in r & b records on the air is about
20% over a year ago, and the increase is greater in New York. It is
true that many pop deejays are only playing those r & b records that
they have to play, hits such as "Gee" and "Crying In The Chapel" but
a few years ago even these hits were not played. Where pop jockeys
are not spinning r & b records, the need is being fulfilled by more r
& B air time. Audiences today are estimated by many jocks to be to be
20 to 30% White listeners, in both the big cities and the small
towns.
FREED'S EFFORTS INSTRUMENTAL
The increasing importance of r & b records, and the growing
appeal of many artists in the field are illustrated by some of the
exceptionally successful dances and shows featuring r & b talent and
produced by deejays in various sections of the country. Probably the
most remarkable record is held by Alan (Moondog) Freed's "Coronation
Ball" at the Cleveland Arena in March, 1952, which used all r & b
talent, includings singers and bands, attracted 25,000 people, with
thousands turned away. This is one of the largest crowds to attend
a dance since World War II. In July of 1952, a Freed dance at the
Summit Beach Ballroom in Akron attracted over 3,000 people at $2 per
person, with thousands turned away. In July, 1953, at the
Freed "Rhythm and Blues Show" at the arena in Cleveland there were
10,000 paid admissions at $3 top.
Freed, with his manager Lew Platt, has staged a number of
other dances and shows since then, with each attracting over 3,000
people, and again with many thousands invariably turned away. Here
again, according to Lew Platt, up to one third of the audience was
composed of White teenagers, pointing out again the appeal of r & b
artists among Whites as well as Negroes.
A check among r & b record firms and r & b distributors on
the East and West Coast shows that they are now servicing pop
stations and shows as well as r & b deejays with certain releases.
They have found it a worthwhile policy to do so, since a pop jockey's
spinning an r & b disk can help increase the sales tremendously. The
Crows' recording of "Gee" on Rama Records, which is a hit both in the
pop and r & b markets, added thousands of additional sales due to the
spins given it by pop deejays.
The appeal of r & b disks to more than just a limited market
is also shown by the records made by pop artists of burgeoning r & b
hits. The latest in the series are records made of "Such A Night,"
which was first released on Atlantic with Clyde McPhatter. Johnnie
Ray, Bunny Paul and Jane Turzey made the tune after McPhatter's disk
started to take off.
This is merely the most recent case of covering an r & b
record. The tradition goes back a number of years. However, in most
cases the original record, the r & b disk, often sells more than the
pop versions. This could be the case with "Such A Night" as well.
As r & b artists grow in both experience and popularity,
they usually have a chance to break thru as pop artists and increase
both their earning power and their stature in the business. This is
happening today with many artists as their records break thru into
the pop field. The Earl Bostic Band, The Dominoes, The Orioles, Dinah
Washington, Ruth Brown and others have managed to build up almost as
strong an appeal in the pop market as they have in the r & b field.
According to all indications, as the r & b marker continues to
expand, this will happen with an increasing number of performers.
On April 10th Alan Freed announced plans for his first show in the
East, to be held on May 1, 1954, at the Newark, NJ Armory. The show
will feature the Clovers, Charles Brown, The Buddy Johnson Band, and
the Harptones.*
miércoles, 7 de diciembre de 2011
Elvis & Marilyn stat by Me - Merry Christmas - Music ~ Merry Christmas Baby by Elvis
Elvis & Marilyn stat by Me - Merry Christmas - Music ~ Merry Christmas Baby by Elvis
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domingo, 4 de diciembre de 2011
miércoles, 30 de noviembre de 2011
November 30th: On this Day In Music History
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| 1954, Nat King Cole played the first of six nights at Harlem's Apollo in New York. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1959, Adam Faith was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'What Do You Want.' The singers first of two UK No.1's. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1963, The Beatles second album 'With The Beatles' became the first million selling album by a group in the UK.  1968, Glen Campbell started a five-week run at No. 1 on the US album chart with 'Wichita Lineman.'  1969, The Monkees made what would be their last live appearance for 15 years when they played at The Oakland Coliseum, California. 
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