1945 - 1960 The Suburban Dream Jump to:
1945 - 1960 The Suburban Dream Jump to:
4 Alan Freed
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Alan Freed claimed that he was paid as a “record consultant” to the music business, but in truth, he was simply capitalizing on a long-stand industry tradition of disc-jockey pay-offs. There was no federal charge against payola until 1960, so technically payoffs weren’t illegal.
But, he did conduct his business surrounded by a rough crowd.
“He was a flawed man who claimed songwriting credits that weren't his, paid performers very little and associated with questionable individuals.”
Alan, Bo Diddley on Ch-5 Big Beat TV Show
Alan Freed died in 1965, a broken man. He was 43.
In 1940 ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), in league with the broadcasting networks, still exercised control over what most people heard in the United States. A relatively small number of songs received a disproportionately high number of broadcast performances. Bribery was by no means uncommon (Variety magazine had coined the term "payola" for it in 1938).
Union opposition still prevented the networks from using records on the air (though smaller, independent, stations relied heavily on thern). However, when ASCAP demanded large increases in fees the networks responded by forming a rival organization, Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), which sought to create an alternative music catalog for the broadcasters.
As part of its efforts it turned to minority areas of the business, in particular to "hillbilly" and "race" music (black music generatiy). it also began a system of paying copyright holders a fee for each recorded performance. Without anyone realizing it, the ground was being prepared for these kinds of music to play a more significant part, both financially and culturally.
In a second development, which prepared the way for a prodigious rise in the importance of records for radio programming, an appeals court found that stations were not obliged to pay record companies for broadcasting their records. The major record companies were slow to seize this opportunity; the running was made by the growing number of smaller independent companies. One in particular, Capitol, saw the chance to promote its products by providing the newly important figure, the disk jockey, with free copies. The results were spectacular.
The increasing number of local independent stations, some of them set up exclusively for the black community, showed more awareness of changing audience requirements. Without the need to think in terms of national taste they included more black and country music in their programs. in this climate of transition, and helped by the arrival of the reel-to-reel tape recorder, independent record companies sprang up, many of them founded by members of white ethnic groups. A relationship rapidly developed in the postwar years between audiences, independent stations, new record companies, new publishers and BMI.
4 Next Page: Billboard, Melody Maker and Rhythm & Blues
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