A PACKAGE DEAL: BRANDING, TECHNOLOGY, AND ADVERTISING IN MUSIC OF THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES by MARK CHRISTOPHER SAMPLES A DISSERTATION Presented to the School of Music and Dance and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2011 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Mark Christopher Samples Title: A Package Deal: Branding, Technology, and Advertising in Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the School of Music and Dance by: Loren Kajikawa Co-Chair Marian Smith Co-Chair Anne Dhu McLucas Member John Fenn Member Scott Pratt Outside Member and Richard Linton Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2011 ii © 2011 Mark Christopher Samples iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Mark Christopher Samples Doctor of Philosophy School of Music and Dance June 2011 Title: A Package Deal: Branding, Technology, and Advertising in Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries Approved: _______________________________________________ Dr. Loren Kajikawa, Co-Chair Approved: _______________________________________________ Dr. Marian Smith, Co-Chair This dissertation explores the history and influence of branding strategies on the music industry during the 20th and 21st centuries in order to give insight into the commercial ideologies that underlie music commodities and the ideologies of the musicians and companies that make them. The project is organized into four case studies that span the history of recorded music, from pre-1900 phonograph advertising to 21st- century popular music. After an introductory chapter that frames the study and presents its main themes, Chapter II explores the early years of the recorded music industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to uncover the birth of modern branding as a commercial strategy in the music industry. I argue that branding practices were an adaptation to the development and challenges of new technologies. With their seminal and successful Red Seal line of records, the Victor Talking Machine Company responded to the development of mass duplication processes, harnessed high-brow cultural cachet, and aggressively marketed iv their products on a mass scale. Chapter III investigates the anti-commercial attitudes of communities, musicians such as Joan Baez, and—paradoxically—businesses in the urban “folk music revival” of the 1960s. Relationally-focused branding strategies were emphasized in order to counteract the perceived corruption of a commercially-focused industry. Chapter IV brings the discussion into the 21st century by introducing and analyzing the music and career of American “indie-folk” musician and composer Sufjan Stevens, especially as mediated through the alternative music press. Stevens aligns himself with what I call the “artist brand,” which simultaneously pits him ideologically against commercialism and provides him with a powerful marketing strategy. Chapter V describes how Apple Inc.’s attention to product design and packaging in their original iPod solved a tension between digital music technology and the listening experience. Through an analysis of iPod advertisements, I argue that Apple sought to promote the iPod as an enhancer of cultural status and the listener as a star. This dissertation introduces branding as an influential factor in music commodification and advocates for the development of more music-branding studies. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Mark Christopher Samples GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, California DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Musicology, University of Oregon, 2011 Bachelor of Arts, Music Theory and Composition, Point Loma Nazarene University, 2003 AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Music and Branding Popular Music Music in Contemporary Media 19th-Century Opera PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Instrumental Music Editor, Neil A. Kjos Music Company, 2003 to present Dramaturg, UO Opera, 2010 to 2011 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate Teaching Felowship, Musicology, 2006 to 2011 University Outstanding Scholar in Music, University of Oregon, 2011 Outstanding Graduate Scholar in Musicology, University of Oregon, 2011 vi University of Oregon Graduate School Research Award, 2009 University Club Foundation Fellowship, 2008 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project has benefitted from the influence and assistance of many. Special thanks go to Loren Kajikawa for helping me pursue and develop the ideas in this dissertation, and to Marian Smith for mentoring me throughout my time at the University of Oregon. My sincere appreciation goes also to the members of my committee, Anne Dhu McLucas, John Fenn, and Scott Pratt for their sharp eyes, astute questions, and interest in my topic. Each member of the musicology and ethnomusicology faculty at the University of Oregon has influenced me by reading my work, discussing ideas, or encouraging my scholarship, and for their extraordinary generosity I would like to thank Lori Kruckenberg, Mark Levy, Marc Vanscheeuwijck, and Carl Woideck. I am very thankful to my fellow graduate students, especially Zachary Wallmark for our ongoing musical dialogue and friendship, and to Eliot Grasso, for the semi-weekly meetings, reading drafts, and providing many comments that made my ideas and arguments better. Judy Tsou, at the University of Washington Library, assisted me by facilitating the scanning of the notes of some needed Joan Baez records. For creating the wonderful diagram in Chapter V, and for many long conversations about music, design, branding, Sufjan Stevens, Apple, and other sundry topics I am grateful to Glenn Geisendorfer. A version of the argument in Chapter IV was read at the 2011 AMS Pacific Northwest Chapter meeting in Bellingham, Washington. My thanks to the participants for their interest in the topic, and their questions, which helped me refine my ideas of that chapter at a late date. Thanks also to the University of Oregon’s music librarian, Leslie Bennett, for her encyclopedic knowledge, and for suggesting several resources that have viii influenced the ideas in this dissertation. Thanks to my brother, my extended family, and my wife’s parents, Rick and Clover, all of whom have cheered me on at every milestone. I owe much to my parents, Doug and Cheryl, who have always supported my passion for music, and never questioned that I could find in it a career. I am thankful every day for my son, who reminds me why I do this, and to Jenny, to whom this dissertation is dedicated, and without whose unending support this document would never have reached completion. Whenever I see your smiling face, I have to smile myself. ix For Jenny x TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................1 Branding Basics ...........................................................................................................10 Branding Resources ...............................................................................................13 Brand Consciousness .............................................................................................14 Branding, Marketing, Advertising .........................................................................15 Outline of Chapters......................................................................................................16 Review of Relevant Literature: Branding, Music Technology and Advertising .........19 Technology and Music...........................................................................................20 Branding, Music, and Advertising.........................................................................22 II. EDISON, BETTINI, AND VICTOR: BRANDING AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE EARLY RECORDING INDUSTRY.................................................................................25 Introduction..................................................................................................................25 Modern Branding, A Brief History of Beginnings ......................................................26 Finding a Market for the Talking Machine..................................................................29 Marketing the Talking Machine in the Content and Advertising of The Phonoscope, 1896-1900 ....................................................................................................................31 Selling “High Class,” “Original” Records Before Victor......................................39 Branding Through Journalism: Lieutenant Bettini, “Genius of the Opera” ................44 The Victor Talking Machine Company’s Red Seal Records.......................................49 Technologies of Duplication........................................................................................52 Advertising Red Seal Records .....................................................................................55 The “Red Seal Effect” and the Development of the Victor Brand Ecosystem......56 xi Chapter Page Conclusion ...................................................................................................................61 III. HOW DO YOU SELL ANTI-COMMERCIAL MUSIC? THE 1960S FOLK MUSIC REVIVAL AND ITS COMMERCIAL