Song and System
The Making of American Pop Music
Published on 27. February 2020
Book
Hardback
328 pages
978-1-5381-1212-0 (ISBN)
Description
From the first Tin Pan Alley tunes to today's million-view streaming hits, pop songs have been supported and influenced by an increasingly complex industry that feeds audience demand for its ever-evolving supply of hits.
Harvey Rachlin investigates how music entered American homes and established a cultural institution that would expand throughout the decades to become a multibillion dollar industry, weaving a history of the evolution of pop music in tandem with the music business. Exploding in the 1950s and '60s with pop stars like Elvis and the Beatles, the music industry used new technologies like television to promote live shows and record releases. More recently, the development of online streaming services has forced the music industry to cultivate new promotion, distribution, copyright, and profit strategies.
Pop music and its business have defined our shared cultural history. Song and System: The Making of American Pop Music not only charts the music that we all know and love but also reveals our active participation in its development throughout generations.
Harvey Rachlin investigates how music entered American homes and established a cultural institution that would expand throughout the decades to become a multibillion dollar industry, weaving a history of the evolution of pop music in tandem with the music business. Exploding in the 1950s and '60s with pop stars like Elvis and the Beatles, the music industry used new technologies like television to promote live shows and record releases. More recently, the development of online streaming services has forced the music industry to cultivate new promotion, distribution, copyright, and profit strategies.
Pop music and its business have defined our shared cultural history. Song and System: The Making of American Pop Music not only charts the music that we all know and love but also reveals our active participation in its development throughout generations.
Reviews / Votes
[Song and System] expertly lays out the history of pop music . . . Rachlin's informative and highly detailed narrative will resonate with music geeks and industry folks alike. * Publishers Weekly * Anyone can now listen to any song at any time via streaming. How this came to be is the subject of Song and System. The prolific Rachlin (Manhattanville College) traces the history of popular song in the US and the behind-the-scenes development of the music industry . . . Popular music is an important part of American life, and aficionados will learn from this book. * Choice Reviews * Opening with Tin Pan Alley and counting through years of rock and roll, disco, hip hop, rap, and many other genres and subgenres, [Rachlin] explores the often symbiotic relationship between music and its purveyors. . . . sure to be a hit with readers interested in music or pop culture. * Booklist * Harvey Rachlin never ceases to amaze me. Even after recording my first hit song, I'm still learning from this author. Thank you for writing this one. It's amazing! -- Tony Orlando Harvey explains how it all happened and the evolution in the music industry as we know it today. This is a must read for music lovers! -- Bobby Rydell Bravo! What an achievement! So insightful, educational, and informative of the history of our crazy, wonderful business-a must read for any and all music lovers. -- Sandy Linzer, composer, author, publisher/record producer I always knew Harvey was a terrific editor; I had no idea he was such a brilliant researcher as well! -- Janis Ian An amazing book covering all the history of popular music from beginning to end. Perfect for any music lover, history buff, or musician who wants to know the background of what they're listening to or playing. -- Dutch Robinson, lead singer of the Ohio PlayersMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Illustrations
1 table
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
685 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5381-1212-0 (9781538112120)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2020
1st Edition
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
€32.99
Available for download
E-Book
02/2020
1st Edition
Bloomsbury eBooks US
€32.99
Available for download
Person
Harvey Rachlin runs the Music Business and Music Internship program at Manhattanville College. Rachlin is the author of 13 books including The Songwriter's Handbook and The Encyclopedia of the Music Business. The latter title won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music journalism, was named Outstanding Music Reference Book of the Year by the American Library Association, and was recommended by composer Henry Mancini on the 1984 internationally-televised Grammy Awards. His music books have been praised by Elton John, Aaron Copland, Johnny Mathis, Pat Boone, and the Academy Award-winning songwriters Burt Bacharach, Sammy Cahn, Marvin Hamlisch, Henry Mancini, Richard Rodgers, and Jule Styne. He lives in Purchase, New York.
Content
Chapter One: The Dawn of Pop
Chapter Two: Pop In the Alley
Chapter Three: Booze, Airwaves and Celluloid Spark the Biz
Chapter Four: The Road to Rock and Roll
Chapter Five: Screaming for Elvis and the Beatles
Chapter Six: A Golden Age of Pop Hits
Chapter Seven: Disco Fever and Music Video Fervor
Chapter Eight: The Boom of Streaming
Chapter Nine: The Rise of Hip Hop and Rap
Chapter Ten: A New Age of Pop Star
Chapter Eleven: A Hierarchy of Popular Songs
Chapter Twelve: Pop Goes the Future
Appendix A: 100 Years of Hit Songs: A Select List
Appendix B: Rock and Roll Labels of the 1950s, '60s and '70s and Some of Their Major Artists
Chapter Two: Pop In the Alley
Chapter Three: Booze, Airwaves and Celluloid Spark the Biz
Chapter Four: The Road to Rock and Roll
Chapter Five: Screaming for Elvis and the Beatles
Chapter Six: A Golden Age of Pop Hits
Chapter Seven: Disco Fever and Music Video Fervor
Chapter Eight: The Boom of Streaming
Chapter Nine: The Rise of Hip Hop and Rap
Chapter Ten: A New Age of Pop Star
Chapter Eleven: A Hierarchy of Popular Songs
Chapter Twelve: Pop Goes the Future
Appendix A: 100 Years of Hit Songs: A Select List
Appendix B: Rock and Roll Labels of the 1950s, '60s and '70s and Some of Their Major Artists