Birth of the Recording Industry & Review

Birth of the Recording Industry & Review

Review Quiz

Multiple Choice

What was the first truly American form of entertainment?

• Jazz

• Minstrelsy

• Live Theater

• Burlesque

Multiple Choice

What is considered to be the Birth of Country Music

• The founding of the Country Music Hall of Fame

• Fiddlin' John Carson's radio show

• The Bristol Sessions

• The invention of the banjo

Multiple Choice

Which sound recording machine was the first to playback sound

• Phonautograph

• Phonograph

• Graphophone

• Gramophone

Multiple Choice

What impact did the Starr Piano v Victor lawsuit have on the industry

• the birth of DIY/indie labels

• copyright was granted to sound recordings

• it guaranteed royalties for songwriters when their work was reproduced

• prevented Victor from entering the Piano production business

The Birth of the Recording Industry

1901 - 1917

Multiple Choice

________________ was one of the first recording artists on Columbia records and he/she led the US Marine Corp band

• Al Jolson

• Bessie Smith

• Irene Castle

• John Phillips Sousa

Multiple Choice

Sousa consistently argued that the invention of sound recordings would diminish the quality of music going forward.

He even coined the term ________ which referred to the cylinder that sound recording were packaged in and also its "fake-ness"

• Canned

• Bottled

• Stocked

"Canned"

• Term coined by Sousa that referred to cylinders physical packaging but became a descriptor for music that was “fake” and not “performed live"

• first used in Sousa's "The Menace of Mechanical Music” essay (1906) in which he advocated for protection of sound recordings

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is the name of the machine that featured stethoscope tubes that allowed a restaurant/bar patron to listen to a song for 5 cents?

• Pentagon Song Machine

• Nickelodeon

• Quintasonic

• Juke Box

Nickelodeon

• You put a nickel in the machine and the stethoscope tubes in your ears and listen to a song 

• It was a precursor to the jukebox 

• only "low brow" music that would entertain bar/diner patrons was featured

Multiple Choice

Who worked with Emile Berliner to change the motor to a spring driven motor?

• Eldridge Johnson

• Joseph Jones

• Thomas Edison

• Alexander Grahm Bell

Eldridge Johnson's work with Berliner

• Changed the motor to a spring driven motor 

• Suggested records be made of wax 

• Changed the way the needle moved from vertical to lateral  (led to a patent filing error and the eventually the Starr v Victor suit)

Multiple Choice

Victor was founded by Berliner and Johnson in 1901.

Victor was famous for their marketing techniques and their logo that depicted ...

• only the letter V

• A trophy

• The word Victor written in a font that resembled the one used on the American dollar bill

• Dog staring into the gramophone

Victor Logo

• based on the image: “his master’s voice” 

• dogs name is Little Nipper 

• the dog illustrated in Victor's logo, symbolizing the accuracy of the sound recordings 

Multiple Choice

In order to promote the purchase of sound recordings Victor and Columbia began to focus on recording, marketing, and selling _________ music

• Jazz

• Highbrow

• Minstrel

• Country

Highbrow music

• in the early 1900s, music publishing was the main revenue stream for the music business

• To change this and make sound recordings the dominant seller Victor and Columbia began to focus on recording, marketing, and selling “highbrow” music 

• highbrow - European white music such as Classical music and Ballroom dance songs

• this appealed to the wealthy demographic of America, and Gramophones began replacing pianos in middle class living rooms across America

Multiple Choice

Who is considered the first A&R man?

• Emile Berliner

• Fred Gaisberg

• Eldridge Johnson

• Phil Spector

Multiple Choice

Who was the first international recording star that signed one of the first exclusive artist agreements?

• Fiddlin' John Carson

• Dixieland Jazz Band

• Enrico Caruso

• James Reese Europe

Gaisberg and Caruso

• Hired as a full-time talent scout and record producer for Victor;  The first A&R man

• signed Italian opera Singer: Enrico Caruso

• First artist to sign an exclusive artist agreement which dictated that

  He could only record music for Victor in exchange for annual payments and royalties on each record sold 

Multiple Choice

What landmark piece of legislation extended copyright protection for sound recordings guaranteed royalties for songwriters?

• Copyright Act of 1909

• Geneva Convention Accords

• Music Modernization Act

• Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998

Copyright Act of 1909

• Ensured royalties for copyright holders when their works were reproduced 

• Extended copyright to sound recordings 

• Led to the birth of ASCAP 

Multiple Choice

Who was the first African American group to sign a recording contract

• Dixieland Jazz Band

• Booker T and the MGs

• James Reese Europe Orchestra

• The Hot 5

Multiple Choice

Jazz music was the first to include African American performers in its discography.

What is the earliest Jazz record?

• "Livery Stable Blues"

• "All That Jazz"

• "Big City Jazz"

• "The Color Blue"

James Reese Europe and Early Blues

• First African-American group to sign a record contract (1913) 

• Jazz Music was characterized by  its syncopated rhythms, polyphonic ensemble, and improvisations 

• first Jazz record:  “Livery Stable Blues” - Original Dixieland Jazz Band (1917) 

Module 1 Review

Multiple Choice

Who was discovered at the Bristol Sessions?

• The Carter Family & Jimmy Rodgers

• HC Spier & Fiddlin' John Carson

• Son House

• Ralph Peer

Multiple Choice

What sound recording machine was the first to record sound

• Phonograph

• phonautograph

• graphophone

• gramophone

Multiple Choice

Who won in Victor vs Starr Piano?

• Victor

• Starr Piano

Multiple Choice

He lead the U.S Marine Corp band, also known as the "March King"

• James Reese Europe

• George Washington Dixon

• John Phillips Sousa

• Ralph Peer

Multiple Choice

Who is credited as the creator of the Jim Crow minstrel character?

• Thomas Daddy Rice

• George Washington Dixon

• Al Jolson

• Bert Williams

Multiple Choice

Who invented the graphophone

• Edouard Leon Scott de Martinville

• Thomas Edison

• Chichester Bell & Charles Sumner Tainter

• Emile Berliner