The Impact of Radio on Pop Music

The Impact of Radio

From the inception of radio broadcasting, especially of the sort featuring musical content, it can be
said that the radio had and still has a large impact on music and popular culture. To measure this
impact it may be easiest to examine the radio's relationship with the recording industry, as the
recording industry provides a direct link between music and popular culture. This can be done by
detailing the birth and rise of the recording industry and the subsequent consequences of the
introduction of radio broadcasting. It is also necessary to examine the ongoing relationship of the
two industries and illustrate how individuals such as John Peel had a major affect on music and
popular culture.
Before radio, the only way to listen to recorded music was on phonographs and gramophones. The
phonograph, invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison was a machine that played wax cylinders which
had sound waves cut into them. Berliner's invention of the gramophone ten years later, utilised discs
rather than cylinders, which had an advantage over the cylinder format as discs could be more easily
duplicated. These so called talking machines were however first marketed towards businessmen as a
means to record meetings and important notes. It was not until about 1885 that recorded music was
firmly established as a liable form of entertainment. From here the young recording industry
continued to grow with three million sales made by the Edison, Victor and Columbia companies in
1900. In 1905 The Preacher and the Bear became arguably the first song to sell a million copies.
These early sales figures suggest that by the time of the introduction of radio the recording industry
was the dominant form of musical entertainment and exposure.
The first broadcast of music over the radio was on the 24th of December 1904. It involved Reginald
Fessenden playing 'O Holy Night' on his violin. Though it would be another twenty years before
radio established itself as a form of musical entertainment. The first radio sets became available to
the US public in 1920.
The recording industry saw little threat from this though as these machines provided poor sound
quality and broadcasters were disallowed the use of recorded music by the record companies. This
forced radio stations to use local musicians to recreate popular records live. In a major effort to
compete with the record market, radio network owners spent big money on lavish production to
outdo what was available on record. This, coupled with improving technology meant that the
popularity of radio increased steadily, mirroring the declining sales of records. By the mid-twenties,
record industry productivity had halved and sales rates would not recover until 1938.
As was shown in the previous paragraph, the initial impact of radio on the recording industry was
largely negative, crippling sales and putting many companies out of business. Since then though the
recording industry and radio have worked side by side in what Stan Liebowitz describes as a
symbiotic relationship. At first small things contributed to building this relationship, such as the
machines that acted as both radios and gramophones. However the rise of the radio DJ in the thirties
was the major starting point in showing how radio could benefit the recording industry. Early DJs
would showcase whole records while providing information about the record and artists in between
songs. This meant radio stations were forced to buy many records which helped keep sales figures
steady. More importantly as records were played on the radio, the sales of these records increased,
meaning that the radio was providing free advertising for the record industry's product. This theory
has provided the basis for the relationship up until current times and is the reason why radio

stations do not have to pay royalties to artists when their music is played on radio.
Stan Liebowitz, when writing on the symbiotic relationship between the radio and recording
industries rejected the notion that radio play benefits record sales. Liebowitz acknowledges that
radio attracts large numbers of listeners and that many stations use musical programming as the
basis for their station, but he suggests many people are listening simply for enjoyment rather than
as consumers. He proposes the idea of substitution, which means that many people will listen to the
radio rather than buying recorded music as they are happy to be fed popular music that is
comfortable and enjoyable. Liebowitz also argues that radio exposure of an artist or song will not
always benefit sales. His theory simply put is that a song played on the radio acts a preview to a
product, which may lead to a listener buying the single or album. Adversely the potential customer
may dislike the preview or in the case of overexposure feel that their desire for the product has been
met, which will lead the listener not to buy the song or album.
Liebowitz provides a few case studies to support his theories. The first being the previously
discussed initial negative impact radio had on the record industry in the USA. He also writes on the
rise of commercial radio in Britain from 1973. Radio in Britain is traditionally more conservative
than in the US and before 1973 the BBC was the sole legal radio broadcaster. Copyright laws on the
use of songs on radio in Britain are also harsher than in the US, meaning it was harder for artists to
gain exposure. The introduction in 1973 of privately owned stations according to Liebowitz should
have meant an increase in record sales, but the fact that sales remained steady is used as another
example to support his theory. The final case study Liebowitz uses is that of payola, traditionally
something seen as proof that radio play can increase record sales. Payola involves radio stations
being paid to play specific songs, a popular ladder to chart success in the fifties. Liebowitz argues
that while this process helps the exposed artists it takes sales away from others, meaning it has
neither a negative or positive effect on sales as a whole.
Where Liebowitz is concerned it seems is the category of radio described as 'top 40', affectively
excluding those stations and broadcasters who affectively champion underground and alternative
music. Liebowitz is also coming from an economic background meaning he based his theory on sales
and ignores the cultural influence of radio. Therefore it is important to mention the culturally
significant British DJ John Peel. Amongst the traditionally conservative backdrop of British radio,
Peel discovered and launched many new and alternative artists through air play. A great example
being his exposure of the punk scene in 1976, which helped kick start a whole new cultural
movement.He allowed many fresh and unsigned bands to be recorded live on radio with the Peel
Sessions, invaluable exposure which often led to the signing of these artists by record labels. Peel
shows how radio can impact upon the recording industry in the case of artists unlikely to gain major
exposure in any other form.
The impact of radio on the recording industry is a profound one, though it is not easy to tell whether
overall it has had a negative or positive impact. The fall of the record industry after the introduction
of radio has long since stabilised and grown stronger. Though Liebowitz suggests that radio may not
actually be as good a marketing tool as commonly believed, it does provide those artists with
exposure who are unable to gain it through television or the internet, the latter medium currently
providing a much greater threat to the recording industry than radio. It seems that as long as both
industries are happy with the current arrangement and that some presenters follow John Peel's
example, radio will continue to impact on popular culture and music.
Bibliography:
Books:

Egan, Sean, ed. The Little Black Book: Music. London: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd., 2007.
Electronic Sources:
BBC, "1974-1979 - The Wedding Present," Peel Biography Home page on-line; available from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/biography/1970s/; Internet accessed 22 April 2010.
Duke University, The History of Recorded Music Home page on-line; available from
http://www.soc.duke.edu/~s142tm01/history.html; Internet accessed 22 April 2010.
Liebowitz, Stan J., 'The Elusive Symbiosis: The Impact of Radio on the Record Industry,' Review of
Economic Research on Copyright Issues (2004), [e-book] http://www.serci.org/docs/liebowitz.pdf
(accessed 21 April, 2010).
Morton, David. Recording History Online Home page on-line; available from
http://www.recording-history.org/HTML/musicbiz1.php; Internet accessed 22 April 2010.
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