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2010 Essays - June

"For Your Listening Pleasure . . . Recorded Sound and Technological Change"

     "Before Edison and Berliner, every sonic phenomenon had possessed a unity of time and space; it occurred once, for a certain duration, in one place, and then it was gone forever. By embedding time in objects and making possible what the economist Jacuqes Attali has called the stockpiling of sound, recording technology destroyed that uniqueness. But Berliner's design went further. It introduced a structural and social division between making a recording and listening to it."

From David Suisman, Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music (n1)

     Although the origin of music dates back centuries, it seems difficult to believe that the beginning of recorded music dates back only slightly more than 100 years to Thomas Edison's phonograph (1877) and Emile Berliner's gramophone (1887). But by the dawn of the 20th century, the companies founded on these technologies - Edison's North American Phonograph Company and the Berliner Gramophone Company, plus others like the Columbia Phonograph Company - came to form the basis of a new industry. The industry - both the phonograph records which became available and the machines on which to play them - grew steadily. "In 1900, 3.75 million records were manufactured; by 1909 that figure stood at 27.5 million, an increase of more than 700 percent." (n2)

     As author David Suisman points out, however, the industry and culture which sprang up around recorded sound/music was not one which was created because of demand for the product, but one which grew by creating a demand for it. He writes that:

     ". . . the creation of modern musical culture was not a consumer-driven phenomenon. The music industry did not grow in response to the unfulfilled desires of importunate consumers. Although consumers - music lovers - welcomed greater opportunities to hear and enjoy music, we would search in vain for evidence of their initiative. Nor was it musicians who propelled the transformation. Musicians, as a rule, did not make records. Musicians made music - which phonograph companies turned into records that they reproduced, marketed and sold. The radical reorganization of musical culture in the United States was driven instead by a new commercial class of music makers, including in one form or another entrepreneurs, inventors, manufacturers, publishers, sales agents, advertisers, critics, retailers, educators and lawmakers. Some were also musicians, others not; some cared deeply about the musical culture, others were indifferent. Together, though, they harnessed musicians' creative talents and transformed music - that is sound - into a versatile and valuable commodity." (n3)

     The industry took another leap forward in the 1920s as the advent of broadcast radio brought with it not only improvements in audio technology, but the ability to bring music to new audiences in new ways. It was also a period in which consumer preferences for certain artists and types of music began to emerge. According to another author, "During the early years of recordings, the public purchased whatever the music companies were willing to sell them, and as consumers they were satisfied. Ultimately consumer preference emerged . . . Real and spontaneous consumer demand would consequently appear after radio began entertaining audiences for free in the 1920s." (n4) In the 1940s FM radio broadcasts began, also bringing "greater bandwidth and better sound quality," (n5) and the increasingly symbiotic relationships between the recording and radio broadcasting industries continued to grow. During this period, and well into the late 1970s, though, there remained only one primary medium by which consumers could listen to recorded music - the phonograph record. After record sales peaked in 1979, however, records were quickly supplanted by recorded tape (8-tracks and cassettes) in the 1980s, which in turn gave way to the first digital format for recorded music, or CDs, in the 1990s. The combination of digitally-recorded music and technological advances in information technology and the internet have marked the latest and most far-reaching transition in recorded music, with CDs increasingly giving way in the 21st century to digital downloads of music.

Many Choices?

     The transitions between media formats for recorded music have happened in such a relatively short period of time that it probably is not uncommon (for someone over the age of 40, but probably not under the age of 20) to still have recorded music purchased in a variety of recording formats. Consider the picture at left. It includes (from - mostly - left to right) a 1950s era Westinghouse radio (behind which sits a stack of record albums), a portable cassette player, a stack of CDs, an MP3 player and a pile of cassettes, behind which is a fairly common media player which includes a turntable, cassette deck, CD player and AM/FM radio. The only things not in the picture in terms of listening to today's music are a computer and perhaps a cell phone, but that is primarily because they simply wouldn't fit in the shot.

     First, compare the two radios. With the exception of some of the internal mechanics/technology, the 1950s era radio and the one circa 2004 are about the same in function. They're boxes, and depending on their size, are designed to sit on a table or countertop, or in a car, and be listened to. They are also, for the most part, ubiquitous machines -- by 1980 and in every year since, they have been found in 99 percent of all U.S. households, with an average number of sets per household ranging from 5.5 in 1980 to 8 in 2006. (n6) Until the advent of satellite radio, all of the broadcasts also were entirely free, and completely non-interactive (not counting request lines or call-in programs). Once a radio was turned on, the listener could tune to a station playing the style of music they liked, but had to hope the songs they liked would be playing at any given time.

     Now consider the other three formats which are part of the media player. Records, cassettes and/or CDs all would have been purchased by a consumer based on his or her preferences of music and type of recorded media which was available at the time of purchase. Use of any of the four formats is mutually exclusive - one cannot listen to the radio and play a CD at the same time, nor can one play a record and cassette simultaneously. Digital content is included in the form of the CD, but only for playing the CD and not recording onto it or gleaning any other type of information from it. Despite the differences in the technology embedded in the three different types of recordings, they all had one thing in common (with perhaps a few exceptions) - they could be listened to on any player created for the type of media (i.e. a record could be listened to on any record player able to play it at the correct speed, a cassette could be listened to on any cassette player etc.). This has become slightly more problematic in the digital age, but that will be discussed at greater length a bit later in the essay. The basic stand-alone devices used to play records, tapes or CDs were all fairly simple mechanical devices as well, compared to systems used for the downloading and use of today's digital music. While a digital download has, for the most part, cost about 99 cents, that doesn't take into account the ownership and/or use of a computer and high-speed internet connection for downloading, the iPod, MP3 player or similar device for storing and playing back the music, any other hardware or software necessary for broadcasting the music in a broader space such as a room or home, and the computer knowledge necessary to use all of them.

Change Over Time (or "change-over" time?)

     Although it may have been possible to expand consumer options by offering a greater selection of recorded media, that for the most part, did not happen over time. Whether a matter of decision-making at record/media companies or a matter of true consumer choice, each new form of recorded media eventually replaced the previous one. And, judging strictly by number of records, tapes and CDs shipped over time, the progression of each successive form of recorded media has followed a remarkably similar path - until now. Information on manufacturer shipments and value of recording media from four separate volumes of the Statistical Abstract of the United States covering the years from 1975 - 2006 shows that:

1) The number of phonograph records (singles and albums together) shipped peaked in 1979 and then gradually declined as they were being replaced by tape (cassette, 8-track) media.

2) The number of tapes (singles and albums together, including 8-tracks) shipped peaked a mere 11 years later in 1990 and then gradually declined while giving way to the rise of the CD.

3) The number of CDs (singles and albums together) shipped peaked only 9 years later in 1999 and then has gradually been declining since, giving way to an increasing volume of downloaded digital music.

4) During this period the number of commercial radio stations (AM and FM combined) remained remarkably constant, rising from about 7,200 nationwide in 1970 to about 10,000 in 1995, and remaining in the 10,000 - 11,000 range since then. (n7)

     For an industry which was built for the most part on the technology of recorded sound, it should come as no surprise that it would be affected by changes in the very technology of recording. And, as with technological change in so many other industries, the pace of that change has continued to accelerate. Does that mean that downloading digital music is just another step in a long chain of current and future ways of purchasing and listening to music? Or is it an end point in an internet-based world? It is too early to say. The process of downloading digital music has for the first time joined a form of recorded media with a method of distribution/delivery of a product more fully based on consumer demand and preference, and that has resulted in one very significant difference in demand. That difference is in the ratio of downloaded singles to albums as compared to the previous three types of recorded media.

     The chart below shows that shipments of phonographs records, tapes and CD singles followed remarkably similar paths as compared to albums over time.

Chart Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States, Washington D.C.: 105th Edition, 1985, Table No. 381, 116th Edition, 1996, Table No. 894, 121st Edition, 2001, Table No. 1141, and 128th Edition, 2009, Table No. 1102.

     With digital downloads of recorded music, however, the pattern has been completely reversed. In the period since statistics on "shipments" and value of digital downloads has been available (2004), the pace of downloaded singles has far outpaced that of downloaded albums.

Chart Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States, Washington D.C.: 128th Edition, 2009, Table No. 1102, and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), "2009 Year-End Shipment Statistics."

     Although coined long before the move toward downloaded music began, the term "celestial jukebox" has come to be an apt metaphor for shifts which have taken place in recorded music purchasing habits: pay your money, select your song, but instead of hearing it from a machine it's downloaded directly to you via the internet. "Although the provenance of the term "Celestial Jukebox" is uncertain, it received widespread attention with the 1994 publication of Paul Goldstein's "Copyright's Highway: The Law and Lore of Copyright from Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox." Goldstein described the 'jukebox' as . . . a technology-packed satellite orbiting thousands of miles above the Earth, awaiting a subscriber's order - like a nickel in the old jukebox and the punch of a button - to connect him to any number of selections from a vast storehouse via a home or office receiver . . ." (n8) However, far from viewing the 'jukebox' as a wide-open arena in which consumer choice runs rampant, the same author cautions thet the Celestial Jukebox "is being pioneered through online services in which the four major record companies (Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI, who collectively control 85 percent of global recording sales) provide content and/or hold equity. (n9) This brings up an interesting point about control of content and how companies have struggled to both maintain copyright of their digital products and avoid illegal downloading/sharing of digital files.

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

     The matter of copyright protection has always been a concern for protecting ownership of content in all aspects of the entertainment industry. However, it became of particular concern for recorded music with the advent of the Napster file-sharing service in 1999. To gain some control over downloaded content, music publishers began using digital rights management (DRM), or various software and hardware technologies used to control access to and distribution of downloaded files. Apple was a DRM pioneer through its iTunes store, and over the years its music files included restrictions on the number of time a playlist could be burned, the number of back-up copies which could be made, convertibility to other formats and portable player compatibility. (n10) DRM restrictions were quite unpopular with many consumers, and early last year Apple announced that it would be lifting DRM restrictions on its products. In the company's 2009 Annual Report/10-K filing, the company notes that as of April of last year, all songs in the iTunes catalog would be available without DRM software and that iTunes songs would become available at three standard price points. (n11) DRM also was the topic of a conference held last year by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Public Policy Clinic at the University of Washington Law School. Prior to the conference public comments on Digital Rights Management were solicited, and more than 800 responses were received. Those reponses can be viewed online at: www.ftc.gov/os/comments/drmtechnologies.

     Is the age of DRM coming to an end? A Pew Internet and American Life Project 2009 report referred to DRM as "Done Restricting Music," and wondered if the "infinitely shareable music file" will lead to "a new industry standard in freedom and flexibility for consumers." (n12) Those who are interested in the report, entitled "The State of Music Online: Ten Years After Napster," can find it via links at www.pewinternet.org or go directly to the report by using the link below:

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/9-The-State-of-Music-Online-Ten-Years-After-Napster.aspx

Digital vs. Analog Sound

     Before turning to the conclusion and a brief look at what the future of recorded sound may or may not hold, there is one other topic that deserves discussion, digital vs. analog sound. In these days of CDs and digital downloads, cassettes have certainly disappeared for good, but why not phonograph records as well? Though volumes of shipments of vinly LPs/EPs are small compared to today's digital recordings and downloads, RIAA figures actually show an increase in shipments of the phonograph records from 2008 to 2009. (n13) Perhaps this is due in part to the fact that some believe that analog sound recordings (as embodied in phonograph records) still produce a better quality of sound than digital recordings.

     The term "audiophile" is often applied to a person who maintains that analog is better than digital, especially when it comes to MP3 files, producing sound which has been referred to as "warm, . . . three-dimensional . . . [and] more emotionally affecting," (n14) or "more 'musical' and pleasant." (n15) Others say there is no difference in the quality of sound.

     Technically, analog sound is different than digital sound. An analog recording, such as on a vinyl record (think of the grooves in a record), is a recording of the actual waveform of the sound it represents. A digital recording is made by sampling the original analog signal (i.e. taking a "snapshot of the analog signal at a certain rate . . . and with a certain accuracy" (n16)), converting the signal to a string of numbers, then reconstructing the waveform to produce the sound one hears. Original standards for the format of CDs/digital audio systems were set in 1978, and for CDs specified the size of the disk, the number of minutes of sound which could be recorded on it, a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz (sampled 44,100 times per second) and a 16-bit standard for coding (n17) (for accuracy, the value must be one of 65,536 possible values). (n18) It may seem like a fairly dry and technical topic, but very simple and straight-forward multi-part tutorials on the subject (for those who are interested in learning more) can be found by starting with the following two links:

http://communication.howstuffworks.com/analog-digital.htm, and http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/digital-versus-analog.htm

Where is a Good Crystal Ball When You Need One?

     The creation of modern musical culture may not have been consumer driven, but as today's music industry moves into the future and technology continues to advance, perhaps it may become more so. The Pew Report cited above says that "in the decade since Napster's launch, digital music consumers have demonstrated their interest in five kinds of 'free' selling points: 1) cost (zero of approaching zero), 2) portability (to any device), 3) mobility (wireless access to music), 4) choice (access to any song ever recorded) and 5) remixability (freedom to remix and mashup music)." (n19)

     Despite the continuing decline in CD sales, in 2009 the value of CDs and CD singles shipped was still greater that that of comparable digital downloads with a value on a per-unit basis of $14.62 for CDs and $3.44 for CD singles, compared to a per-unit value of downloaded albums at $9.99 and downloaded singles at $1.07. (n20) According to some industry sources, "consumers of certain genres, like R&B and country, . . . still tend to favor CDs over downloads, and some fans who still value audio quality or grew up shopping at record stores are hanging on to old habits." (n21) In addition, "some retailers say they believe the labels can prolong the life of the CD, but only if they put out superstar releases on a more consistent basis and price CDs to compete with the $9.99 digital albums [sold] at iTunes and Amazon." (n22)

     PC-based subscription services, which generally stream audio tracks and allow for a certain number of downloads per month, according to some reports, so far "have failed to live up to even modest expectations . . . with RealNetworks' Rhapsody (www.rhapsody.com) [having] 750,000 subscribers while Best Buy's Napster (www.napster.com) report[ing] 708,000 subscribers it its earnings release for the period ending June 30, 2008." (n23) This is compared to more than four million iPhone users who have downloaded the free Pandora application that streams music free of charge." (n24) ("Pandora www.pandora.com), billing itself as 'a new kind of radio,' is a streaming music service that plays music based on artists and tracks that you choose and the positive and negative feedback you provide about the music it plays. . . The free version of Pandora limits [users] to 40 hours of listening per month, [and] Pandora's pages feature ads [plus] the occasional audio ad between tracks.") (n25) Perhaps of interest is an article which appeared in Macworld magazine in January of this year, basically encouraging its readers to "Enjoy Streaming Music Services." The tag line of the article says of streaming services that "the true multimedia Mac can greatly benefit from such services. After all, if some music is good, more is better, right? And more is exactly what these services provide." (n26)

     The one question that this author would ask is what about the future of digital radio? Although there are digital radio receivers on the market (visit www.hdradio.com), there seems to be little information available about digital radio programming and/or services. What if the old countertop radio sets became interactive? What if they were updated in some way, perhaps using wireless or cellular technology, to decouple downloads from the computer and place them on every table top? Might there ever be radio-based "digital jukeboxes" which would combine, for example, digital radio and the capacity to download songs over the air, perhaps to a CD player/burner within the unit which could burn CDs from the listener's selections or allow the person to transfer over-the-air downloads to a portable media player via a USB connection? Just a thought.

     For those interested in the future of music, the site www.futureofmusicbook.com might be of interest. The site is an extension of a book called "The Future of Music" written by Berklee College of Music innovator and MIDI co-developer Dave Kusek and music futursit Gerd Leonhard. The site contains links to an online course on "The Future of Music and the Music Business," plus other information which might be of use to those interested in the subject. (A note for musicians . . . Scrolling down the page will also lead to a very interesting visual table illustrating how may CDs would have to be sold, or songs downloaded or streamed over music services, to equal a month's salary at minimum wage.)

     Whatever direction the future of digital music, and therefore the music industry might take, given the pace of technological change, probably the only safe thing to say is that ten years from now it is likely that it will look little like it does today. Thank you for visiting the essay page this month. If there are any terms which have been used which are unfamiliar to you, you can find a glossary entitled "Glossary of Terms for the Audiophile" at www.audiolinks.com/glossary.shtml.

FOOTNOTES - The following are the footnotes indicated in the text in parentheses with the letter "n" and a number. If you click the asterisk at the end of the footnote, it will take you back to the paragraph where you left off.

n1 - Suisman, David. Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009, p. 5 (*)

n2 - Ruhlman, William. Breaking Records: 100 Years of Hits. New York and London: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group, 2004, p. 2 (*)

n3 - Suisman, David. Selling Sounds, p. 15(*)

n4 - Steffen, David J. From Edison to Marconi: The First Thirty Years of Recorded Music. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., 2005, pp. 9 - 10 (*)

n5 - Hempstead, Colin A., editor, Encyclopedia of 20th Century Technology, Vol. 2, New York and London: Routledge, 2005, p. 633 (*)

n6 - U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States, Washington D.C.: 128th Edition, 2009, Table No. 1090, p. 696 (*)

n7 - U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States, Washington D.C.: 105th Edition, 1985, Table No. 318, p. 226, 116th Edition, 1996, Table No. 894, p. 568, 121st Edition, 2001, Table No. 1141, p. 712, and 128th Edition, 2009, Table No. 1102, p. 702 (*)

n8 - Burkhart, Patrick, and McCourt, Tom. Digital Music Wars: Ownership and Control of the Celestial Jukebox. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006, pp. 3 - 4 (*)

n9 - Ibid., p. 6 (*)

n10 - Electronic Frontier Foundation, "The Customer is Always Wrong: A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music," viewed online June 2010 at ww.eff.org/pages/customer-always-wrong-users-guide-drm-online-music (*)

n11 - Apple, Inc., U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission form 10-K, Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, October 27, 2009, p. 6 (*)

n12 - Madden, Mary, "The State of Music Online: Ten Years After Napster," Washington, D.C.: Pew Internet and American Life Project, June 2009, p. 14. Report available online at http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/9-The-State-of-Music-Online-Ten-Years-After-Napster.aspx (*)

n13 - Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), "2009 Year-End Shipment Statistics," viewed online June 2010 at www.riaa.org (*)

n14 - Levine, Robert, "Special Report: The Death of High Fidelity," Rolling Stone, Vols. 1042 - 1043, 27 December 2007 - 10 January 2008, pp. 15 -16, 18 (*)

n15 - White, Glenn D. and Louie, Gary J. The Audio Dictionary, 3rd Edition. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005, p. 481 (*)

n16 - "Is the Sound on Vinyl Records Better Than on CDs or DVDs?" viewed online June 2010 at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question487.htm (*)

n17 - Hempstead, Colin A., Encyclopedia of 20th Century Technology, Vol. 1, p. 43(*)

n18 - "Is the Sound on Vinyl Records Better Than on CDs or DVDs?" viewed online June 2010 at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question487.htm (*)

n19 - Madden, Mary, "The State of Music Online: Ten Years After Napster," p. 4 (*)

n20 - RIAA, "2009 Year-End Shipment Statistics" (*)

n21 - Knopper, Steve, "Rock and Roll: Retail - Tanking CD Sales Shutter Stores," Rolling Stone, Vol. 1074, 19 March 2009, p. 15, 17 (*)

n22 - Ibid. (*)

n23 - Peoples, Glenn, "Up Front: Retail - After the Fall," Billboard, 121: 18, 9 May 2009, p. 6 (*)

n24 - Ibid. (*)

n25 - Breen, Christopher, "Enjoy Streaming Music Services," Macworld, January 2010, p. 47 (*)

n26 - Ibid. (*)

LINKS INCLUDED IN ESSAY

• Federal Trade Commission Worshop comments on DRM - www.ftc.gov/os/comments/drmtechnologies

• Pew Internet and American Life Project 2009 Report - http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/9-The-State-of-Music-Online-Ten-Years-After-Napster.aspx

• Analog vs. Digital Sound (1) - http://communication.howstuffworks.com/analog-digital.htm

• Analog vs. Digital Sound (2) - http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/digital-versus-analog.htm

• Streaming Music Services - Rhapsody - www.rhapsody.com

• Streaming Music Services - Napster - www.napster.com

• Streaming Music Services - Pandora - www.pandora.com

• Digital Radio example - www.hdradio.com

• Future of Music Book - www.futureofmusicbook.com

• Glossary of Audio Terms - www.audiolinks.com/glossary.shtml

BIBLIOGRAPHY -- The following is the Bibliography for the June 2010 essay.

Apple, Inc.. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission form 10-K, Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, October 27, 2009

Breen, Christopher, "Enjoy Streaming Music Services," Macworld, January 2010, p. 47

Bruno, Antony, "Up Front: Digital Entertainment - Digital: Ten Years After," Billboard, 121: 23, 13 June 2009, p. 10

Burkhart, Patrick, and McCourt, Tom. Digital Music Wars: Ownership and Control of the Celestial Jukebox. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006

Christman, Ed, "Up Front: Retail - Double Trouble," Billboard, 121: 27, 11 July 2009, p. 7

Christman, Ed, "Up Front: Retail Track - Heartaches by the Number," Billboard, 121: 14, 11 April 2009, pp. 6 - 7

Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The Customer is Always Wrong: A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music," viewed online June 2010 at ww.eff.org/pages/customer-always-wrong-users-guide-drm-online-music

Hempstead, Colin A., editor. Encyclopedia of 20th Century Technology, Vol. 2, New York and London: Routledge, 2005

Holmes, Thom, ed. The Routledge Guide to Music Technology. New York and London: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group, 2006

Hull, Geoffrey P. The Recording Industry, 2nd Edition. New York and London: Routledge, 2004

"Is the Sound on Vinyl Records Better Than on CDs or DVDs?" viewed online June 2010 at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question487.htm

Janus, Scott. Audio in the 21st Century. Hillsboro, OR: Intel Press, 2004

Kefauver, Alan P. Fundamentals of Digital Audio. Computer Music and Digital Audio Series, Volume 14. Madison, Wisconsin: A-R Editions, Inc., 1999

Knopper, Steve, "Rock and Roll: Retail - Tanking CD Sales Shutter Stores," Rolling Stone, Vol. 1074, 19 March 2009, pp. 15, 17

Kusek, David and Leonhard, Gerd. The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution. Boston: Berklee Press, 2005

Levine, Robert, "Special Report: The Death of High Fidelity," Rolling Stone, Vols. 1042 - 1043, 27 December 2007 - 10 January 2008, pp. 15 -16, 18

Madden, Mary. "The State of Music Online: Ten Years After Napster," Washington, D.C.: Pew Internet and American Life Project, June 2009. Report available online at http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/9-The-State-of-Music-Online-Ten-Years-After-Napster.aspx

McCourt, Tom, "Collecting Music in the Digital Realm," Popular Music and Society, Vol. 28, No. 2, May 2005, pp. 249 - 252

Peoples, Glenn, "Up Front: Retail - After the Fall," Billboard, 121: 18, 9 May 2009, p. 6

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "2009 Year-End Shipment Statistics," viewed online June 2010 at www.riaa.org

Ruhlman, William. Breaking Records: 100 Years of Hits. New York and London: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group, 2004

Sadie, Stanley, Ed. The Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music. New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company, 1988

Steffen, David J. From Edison to Marconi: The First Thirty Years of Recorded Music. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., 2005

Strasser, Susan and Suisman, David, eds. Sound in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010

Suisman, David. Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009

U.S. Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States, Washington D.C.: 105th Edition, 1985

U.S. Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States, Washington D.C.: 116th Edition, 1996

U.S. Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States, Washington D.C.: 121th Edition, 2001

U.S. Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States, Washington D.C.: 128th Edition, 2009

White, Glenn D. and Louie, Gary J. The Audio Dictionary, 3rd Edition. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005

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