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World War II to the Civil Rights Movement

Overview

A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos or the company that owns it. A record label can also refer to a publishing company that manages music brands and trademarks and coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos. Race labels, which began in the 1920s, were record companies that marketed African American music to Black listeners, such as Paramount Records, which labeled itself "The Popular Race Record" in marketing materials.

Be ready to:

Explain race record labels and describe how different aspects of radio affected the ability of Black musicians and disc jockeys to gain popularity.

Explain the importance of radio broadcasting, including the contingencies that affected diversity in music.

Explain the influence of licensing companies such as ASCAP and BMI on the dissemination of rhythm and blues and country music.

Describe the importance of tape recorders and jukeboxes to independent record companies.

Discuss the term "crossover" and how it became an effective tool to market African American music to mainstream society.

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References

The ASCAP Ban (Continued)

Launched on November 21, 1941, as a vehicle to promote King Biscuit Flour, it aired on the KFFA radio in Helena, Arkansas, on weekdays from noon to 12:15 p.m. The show featured "Sunshine" Sonny Payne, the now-legendary radio announcer, alongside Rice Miller, a blues musician who soon became better known by his radio name, Sonny Boy Williamson.

He was a superb blues harmonica player and tunesmith, well-known throughout the Mississippi Delta region for his witty blues compositions and flamboyant showmanship. Miller organized a small blues combo that included guitarist Robert Lockwood, pianists Robert "Dudlow" Taylor and Willie Love, and drummer Peck Curtis. The group played on KFFA five days a week at noon, when most of the Delta's field hands were taking their lunch break, and then traveled to evening engagements in the region. At first, Rice Miller and his band did not get paid for their broadcasts; instead, they were allowed to announce their upcoming gigs. Later in the decade, they were paid modestly.

Sonny Boy Corn Meal

"King Biscuit Time" was a massive success among Black listeners. It developed such a large following that the Interstate Grocery Company began to market a new product called Sonny Boy Corn Meal; each bag had a large picture of a smiling Rice Miller, harmonica in hand, sitting on a giant ear of corn. King Biscuit Time enjoyed a lengthy association with KFFA, even though Miller had moved on by the late 1940s.

Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog"

The lyrics are about the animal "hound dog" and how it's no friend of Presley's because he's often crying, is not high class, and has never caught a rabbit.

Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog"

The lyrics are metaphorically about a "man," Although she refers to him as a hound dog, with lines such as "Daddy I know, you ain't no real cool cat" and "you ain't lookin' for a woman, all you're lookin' for is a home" she is speaking about a man.