How Jazz Saved the Music Industry
Written by: Michael T.
The year is 1929. Businesses are closing left and right, industries are suffering, but none more than the entertainment industry. No one has the time nor money anymore to go out on a Friday night and listen to live music. Consequently, record sales are essentially zero. Not only is the rest of the public hurting from the recent crash, but musicians are especially as they have no skills aside from entertainment and no paying audience to perform for.
It wasn’t until a few years later that things would start to look better. By the mid 1930’s, the radio became a household appliance and so brought the country into a new world of free entertainment. It pleased the demands of both the audience and the performer, entertainment and employment. Finally, entire “big bands,” which were decreasing in size, were rehired and played for millions of listeners throughout the country. Jazz at this point was brand new and completely different from the average folk music played on the radio, especially since it was exclusive to the black communities of America for a long time, and the public loved it. They loved it so much in fact that it inspired them to take what spare money they had and go out and buy records, increasing record sales by 300%.
As radio stations began to make a profit, new advancements in recording technology were made, which was shocking considering the economic conditions, such as the 44A microphone in ‘31 and the 77A in ‘33. These new microphones increased the quality of recorded music drastically, which led to even more radio listeners and record consumers.
Eventually, jazz soon became the most popular genre of music at the time. So popular that big bands could actually start performing live again at clubs and have an audience. From the rare yet existent live jazz shows, many hotels and clubs were able to revive themselves after many were closed.
Even though the music industry was reapproaching “normality” in that musicians could once again perform live, radio taught people in the music business that free entertainment can yield much more revenue. This forever changed the industry, and soon record labels and publishing came into existence. People saw the increasing trend in record consumption and decided to make a profit from it by creating brands.
Overall, jazz helped many people and businesses recover much earlier than other industries. After the radio provided the opportunity for jazz musicians to be employed, radio stations began to make money, advertising companies for radio stations also made money, recording studios and record stores were reopened, and hotels and clubs were revived. The music industry surprisingly was one of the few that was able to make a profit during the depression, and seemed to help lift up anything it touched.
In conclusion, this event in history is probably one of the few or only examples of private, unintentional economic stimulus. No federal funds were spent and no future tax burden was created in this stimulus plan. Many businesses were able to reopen because of this phenomenon and new components of the music industry, such as publishing, were created and continue to this day.
Works Cited
"Economic Effect." Swing & Jazz, swingandjazz.weebly.com/economic-effect.html.
"Jazz Economics, Audience Research, Michel Camilo: The Friday Link Dump." NPR.org, 20 Nov. 2009, www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2009/11/jazz_economics_audience_research_michel_camilo.html.
Voice., A. "The Big Band Era and the Economics of Jazz." Medium, 27 Sept. 2015, medium.com/@Vinylmint/the-big-band-era-and-the-economics-of-jazz-1797ba0543b7.
Interesting. I had no idea how much of an effect jazz had on businesses. I wonder if the radio hadn’t been invented if jazz would have died out. Hmm. I think the great success of this is that it was unintentional. Because it happened smoothly, it was adopted more rapidly and better. Now we look at popular musicians today, and many of them are very wealthy. I think that is a direct connection between then and now. Anyways, I’m rambling with my unfiltered thoughts. Overall, nice blog! And an interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a super interesting topic to choose, and was something I had very little prior knowledge about before reading this piece. It seems that Jazz financially really benefited the music industry, making record label sales go up an absurd 300%! I wonder if without the radio they still would have been able to save the music industry though and how it would have been affected, as it really gave jazz performers the platform to bring the music industry back to life.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that the music industry helped the economic recovery after the great depression. It’s really interesting to see how different industries struggled or thrived while the economy was down. I wonder if the music reflected the times they were going through and it resonated in people, helping further grow the music industry. Thanks for the information, really inciteful!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea about most of the facts that you shared this was very interesting to read and I learned a lot great job!!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post because I had no idea that jazz had such a significant effect on the American economy when it was first created. It's interesting that jazz had a partnership with the radio in attracting listeners. I wonder if other music genres would have had similar effects had they been invented at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThis interesting! It is especially intriguing how jobs in entertainment like musicians pose a unique economic problem during recessions. Most times, specialists in entertainment like musicians are really successful, but that success is tied to the economy as a whole far more than other jobs are. Furthermore, they are highly specialized, meaning they probably have little experience to switch careers. This complicates unemployment because, even if new jobs become available, some people might not have the skills to take them.
ReplyDeleteAt first thought, one wouldn't consider music to have a large impact on the economy, but, objectively, almost everything can/will have an effect on the economy. This is a great article about how some small type of music could have such an impact on radio sales. You explained the details great.
ReplyDeleteI think it's cool how you managed to tie Jazz saving the music industry to the economy. I think we forget how many different industries are part of our economy.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that jazz was one of the influences for stimulating the economy out of the depression. Knowing that music was able to recover quickly from the Great Depression, it'd be interesting to see what happened to music in the 1970s stagflation and other economic disaster scenarios. It's also surprising that this stimulus had a cascading effect on music, where better technologies were developed to play and record music better, which led to more sales.
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Love the history you brought to the table with something that you love and connecting to personal finance. It's interesting how one genre of music can make such an impact in our history. I actually would've loved to see who were the pioneers of Jazz. Again, love the this article.
ReplyDeleteThis blog was super interesting to read because I had little prior knowledge about jazz, but after reading I see how it really did save the music industry and even helped other businesses as well. It makes me wonder why during that time everyone was attracted to jazz music and how it had such impact with the community as it set everyone out to listen to it with live performances and on radios.
ReplyDeleteI thought your blog was extremely interesting and I loved the way you described this story as if it was happening right now. Your blog was so creative and well-written and throughout reading the entire thing I was constantly intrigued. If Jazz music wouldn't have been popularized, do you think the music industry would be as successful as it is today? If the Great Depression never happened and the cost of records never went down, how do you think this would have affected music today? This is one of the best blogs I have read this year and I thought that the way you wrote it was very interesting. Great Job!!
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that many people know about the effects of the great depression on music and it was really interesting to read about. The industry of entertainers is many times forgotten as a portion of our economy and seeing just how much of a factor through this experience is truly insightful. I wonder how the uprise in success of jazz would have played out, if at all, if there were no radios. Would the music industry pick up as the economy does? Overall, I really enjoyed your blog. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteIt actually shocks me that jazz has such a big impact on the music industry. Personally, jazz doesn't seem like the type of genre to save such a big industry. Being able to connect this with personal finance was a good idea. Overall this article was great!
ReplyDeleteI loved this blog a lot! It was very intriguing to read because of the topic which caught my eyes. Jazz is something i have never heard of being on the personal finance blog before. I am amazed on how jazz has made an impact on the community.
ReplyDeleteThis blog post was so interesting and different, I had no idea that jazz had such a large significance in the music industry. I loved the facts you included about it, and I wonder what our world would be like without radios or even music we listen to today? Great job!
ReplyDeleteWow, this was a great topic and so intriguing. We hear about so many different revitalized industries after the great depression but you never hear about the music industry. This was such a great story and I had a great time reading it, but it also says something about marketing and consumerism as a whole. Just around the same decade, Penn Gilete started selling his portable home razor and extremely low prices, however, he jacked up the price of his razors. This story gives me a similar impression, small clubs and bars were able to get people in with the promise of free music and then charge more for food and drinks once people were inside. Great blog! Thanks for giving us a cool glimpse into some awesome history
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your article. I found it very informative about the Jazz era. I majority of people know how popular jazz was in the 30’s but never gave it a second thought on how it impacted economics. Your article has shown that jazz ultimately helped the economy after the recession. This is something I was not aware about at all.Your article was very structured and had a use of good vocabulary easy to follow. You did a great job connecting this knowledge of history to personal finance!
ReplyDeleteThis one was a really fun and intriguing one to read. I love reading and listening about the music evolution, especially around the jazz era. I never was really aware just how much this impacted the world thought. I knew it was revolutionary for the music industry, but never took notice to how much it was actually doing for the economy as well. Also loved how you brought up some of the old equipment used and how innovative the radios were. Overall, this was a fantastic blog and enjoyed reading it a lot. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis was quite an interesting topic. Prior to reading this, I knew music had a large effect on the public and the flow of money within the economy, but not to this extent. It’s interesting to compare this to modern day society, where one of the only sources of entertainment was music during quarantine. I like the fact that you were able to connect this so much to the economy and finances--it brings money into a different light.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job with this blog. I found it very interesting how Jazz started during the Great Depression when most people didn't have that much money to spare but still ended up supporting a brand new genre of music. I also found it interesting how they were coming out with a lot of new microphones at the time which must have helped out all genres of music to have better quality and be more enjoyable. Overall, you did a great job with this piece and did a very interesting topic that I didn't know much or anything about the origins of Jazz music.
ReplyDeleteWow! I'm blown away by the massive impact jazz alone had on the music industry. I've always been curious on how the entertainment industry survived the Great Depression since theaters most likely had no foot traffic, no one could afford concerts, lots of stuff that didn't seem possible but not it all makes sense to me.
ReplyDeleteThis was super insightful to learn!! In US history class we learn about the Great Depression and briefly touch on the emergence of Jazz at the time, but I was not aware of the large impact that jazz had on the recovery of many industries and individuals as well. It was surprising to learn that jazz uplifted so many industries without the assistance of any government loans or aid at a time where most businesses were in need of them to stay afloat. Overall it was great to learn more about how something so separated from finance and economy had such a large impact on it!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that the music industry helped the economic recovery after the great depression. It’s really interesting to see how different industries struggled or thrived while the economy was down. I wonder if the music reflected the times they were going through and it resonated in people, helping further grow the music industry. Thanks for the information, really inciteful!
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