Music Genres and Corporate Cultures Music Genres and Corporate Cultures explores the workings of the music industry, tracing the often uneasy relationship between entertainment cor- porations and the artists they sign. Keith Negus examines the contrasting strategies of major labels like Sony and Universal in managing different genres, artists and staff, and assesses the various myths of corporate cul- ture. How do takeovers affect the treatment of artists? Why was Poly- Gram perceived as too European to attract US artists? Why and how did EMI Records attempt to change their corporate culture? Through a study of three major genres—rap, country and salsa—Negus investigates why the music industry recognises and rewards certain sounds, and how this influences both the creativity of musicians and their audiences. He explores why some artists get international promotion while others are neglected, and how performers are packaged as ‘world music’. Negus examines the tension between rap’s image as a spontaneous ‘music of the streets’ and the practicalities of the market, asks why execu- tives from New York feel uncomfortable when they visit the country music business in Nashville, and explains why the lack of soundscan sys- tems in Puerto Rican record shops affects salsa’s position on the US Bill- board chart. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with music industry per- sonnel in Britain, the United States and Japan, Music Genres and Corpo- rate Cultures shows how the creation, circulation and consumption of popular music is shaped by record companies and corporate business style while stressing that music production takes place within a broader cul- ture, not totally within the control of large corporations. Keith Negus is Lecturer in the Department of Media and Communica- tions, Goldsmiths College, University of London. He is the author of Producing Pop and Popular Music in Theory. This page intentionally left blank. Music Genres and Corporate Cultures Keith Negus London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. © 1999 Keith Negus All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Negus, Keith, Music genres and corporate cultures/Keith Negus. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Sound recording industry. 2. Popular music—History and criticism. I. &; Title. ML3790.N4 1999 781.64–dc21 ISBN 0-203-16946-8 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-26496-7 (Adobe eReader Format) 0-415-17399-X (hbk) 0-415-17400-7 (pbk) Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 1Culture, industry, genre: conditions of musical creativity14 2Corporate strategy: applying order and enforcing accountability31 3Record company cultures and the jargon of corporate identity63 4The business of rap: between the street and the executive suite84 5The corporation, country culture and the communities of musical production 104 6The Latin music industry, the production of salsa and the cultural matrix 132 7Territorial marketing: international repertoire and world music153 8Walls and bridges: corporate strategy and creativity within and across genres 174 Notes 185 Bibliography 197 Index 208 This page intentionally left blank. Acknowledgements A substantial part of this book is based on research funded by the Eco- nomic and Social Research Council (ESRC) of Great Britain within the Media Economics and Media Culture programme (award ref. L126251046). I would like to thank all of those working for the ESRC who made this possible, along with the various anonymous referees and assessors whose comments and reports helped me focus my ideas and think about the project more clearly. I would like to extend very special thanks to Simon Frith, who as Chair of the programme provided intellec- tual guidance, practical advice and also important feedback, encourage- ment and suggestions in response to my questions and working ideas dur- ing and after the research. Margaret Crawford took the administrative systems of Leicester Univer- sity into unknown territory over a three-month period of planning and during my time away. She then endured and assisted with a number of desperate faxes concerning such things as unpaid hotel bills, changed itineraries and medicines for a spider bite. I would like to thank Margaret for patiently co-ordinating and sorting out many of the administrative details of the research and also for her help with a number of personal matters. Also at Leicester I would like to thank Annabelle Sreberny for much personal and professional support prior to, during and after the research. Thanks too to Oliver Boyd-Barrett, who prompted me to focus my thoughts on musical genres during a grey awayday in the Leicester- shire countryside—Oliver unwittingly helped set in motion the pattern of events that led to the research and this book. Peter Jackson helped in the formulation of my research agenda by providing a number of insights into management thinking and notions of corporate strategy. Still at Leicester, I would like to thank the University for supporting this research and for prior financial assistance which enabled me to visit Japan and to conduct a number of interviews in the UK. In Puerto Rico I would like to thank Emilio Pantojas Garcia for welcom- ing me into the Center for Social Research as an Investigador Invitado viii MUSIC GENRES AND CORPORATE CULTURES and for providing me with both intellectual dialogue and the space to reflect upon the research material and to develop ideas. Very special thanks are also due to Angel Quintero Rivera (Chuco) for much personal and professional support and encouragement, for constructive criticism of my writings and dialogue about many ideas. I am grateful to Jorge Duany who suggested that I submit an article to the Revista de Ciendas Sociales and who subsequently translated it into Spanish (thus, an earlier version of Chapter 6 appeared in Vol. 4, Nueva Epoca, of the Revista and I would also like to thank the journal’s anonymous referees for their com- ments and suggestions). Thanks to Jorge Giovanetti Torres and Liliana Cotto for discussions about culture and society in Puerto Rico and in the Caribbean more generally. My time in New York City would have been less rewarding without the company and dialogue of Dave Sanjek, Bob and Annie Clarida and Kai Fickentscher: All assisted with urban orientation and aspects of research planning. Thanks also to Stuart Liebman and his colleagues and students at CUNY in Queens for providing feedback and encouragement in response to some tentative working ideas. Thanks to staff at Radio City Apartments for their flexibility, friendliness and assistance with communi- cations to the UK. Special thanks to Nel Roman for welcoming me to both New York and the extended family and for showing me parts of the city of which I would otherwise probably have had little personal experience. In Tennessee I would like to thank Paul Wells for providing me with access to the library facilities of the Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University, the staff at the library of the Country Music Association, and Richard Peterson for dialogue, information and insights about country music and the city of Nashville. Some of the material in Chapter 7 was researched during a trip to Japan in 1993, and I would particularly like to thank Masahiro Yasuda, Hiroshi Ogawa, Toru Mitsui and Tadd Igarashi, all of whom welcomed me into their homes and shared their music, ideas and food with me. Also thanks to Takuya Iwamura for help with arranging interviews and translation. I would like to extend my gratitude to the following people who gave up their time to talk to me about their work, companies, genres or the music business in general. In the UK: Mike Alien, Roxy Bellamy, Mina Fukue, David Hughes, Hiroshi Kato, Jorgen Larsen, Eric Longley, Jonathan Morrish, Fran Nevrkla, Tina Poyser, John Preston, Steve Red- mond, Peter Scaping, Jeremy Silver, Stuart Watson, Adam White. In the United States: Sarah Brosmer, Brian Chin, Bob Christgau, Kevin Conroy, Sue D’Agostino, Tim Dubois, Curt Eddy, John Esposito, Chet Flippo, Harry Fox, Lynn Franz, Joe Galante, Victor Gallo, John Ganoe, Jeff Green, Linda Greenberg, George Grelf, David Harleston, Ricardo Howell, Daniel Jason, Anne Latora, Joe Levy, Fran Lichtman, Roy Lott, Anne ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix Mansbridge, Ruby Marchand, Kirn Markovchick, Keith McCarthy, David McDonagh, Alastair McMullen, Bob Merlis, Antonio Moreno, Marcus Morton, Havelock Nelson, Barbara Nuessle, Rigoberto Olariaga, Joanne Oriti, Jim Parham, Hal Peterson Jr, Dennis Petroskey, Ronny Pugh, Eddie Reeves, Paul Robinson, Nelson Rodriguez, Michael Rosen- blatt, Terri Rosi, Rick Sanjek, Maribel Schumacher, Ajax Scott, Davitt Sigerson, Scott Siman, Gene Smith, Will Tanous, Neil Turkewitz, Renee White, Timothy White, Larry Willoughby, Walt Wilson, Tim Wipperman, and, in Puerto Rico, thanks to Lourdes Laboy. In Japan: Yoshihisa Honda, Kei Ishimura, Kei Ishizaka, Akira Kuwabara, Shigeo Maruyama, Kei Nishimura, Shigeki Ouchi, and Akira Yokota. In researching, thinking about and then writing this book I have tried out a number of ideas in formal presentations, written work and during informal conversations, and I have benefited from feedback, suggestions and insights from a number of people. For reading many draft chapters and providing useful critiques, encouragement and suggestions I would like to thank Mike Picketing.