Deck 4: Sound Recording and Popular Music

Question 1

A war among vinyl recording disk formats in the late 1940s and early 1950s resulted in the 45-rpm record format being used exclusively for the release of album music collections.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Audiotape was developed by the Japanese after World War II.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Blues music originated in the urban taverns of Southern California.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Streaming music is quickly becoming the format of choice. We are shifting from ownership of music to access to music.

Question 5

Sometimes called the first integrationist music, rock and roll blurred all sorts of cultural, class, and geographic boundaries.

Question 6

One advantage of polyvinyl records over shellac records is that they were less likely to break.

Question 7

The music industry - especially major labels - ultimately embraced the MP3 format by supporting services like iTunes.

Question 8

Unlike Edison's phonograph, Emile Berliner's gramophone played flat disks.

Question 9

Until the invention of digital recording, records were made using an analog recording process.

Question 10

Edison's early cylinder recordings were made out of durable vinyl.

Question 11

The popularity of the jukebox caused record sales to drop sharply in the 1930s.

Question 12

The music industry has successfully hindered peer-to-peer (P2P) systems, which enable free music file-sharing.

Question 13

Thomas Edison made his first sound recordings on a cylinder wrapped in tinfoil.

Question 14

Compact discs hit the market in the early 1980s, and by 2000 their sales were still lagging way behind the albums and cassette tapes most people were familiar with.

Question 15

Thomas Edison initially expected his new phonograph to be used as a kind of telephone answering machine.

Question 16

The word phonograph comes from the Latin words phone and graph, which put together mean "recorded speaking."

Question 17

A key factor in the success of the MP3 format is its ability to send or receive music without having to compress sound.

Question 18

Competition from TV in the 1950s helped the radio and recording industries become allies.

Question 19

In the 1920s, many radio stations went off the air because they couldn't afford to pay for the rights to broadcast recorded music.

Question 20

In 1958, after audiotape became more accessible, recordings were made on two separate channels (tracks or sounds) and were put to commercial use.

Question 21

Motown music groups had a more stylized, softer sound than the funk music of James Brown and Wilson Pickett.

Question 22

Streaming and downloading music have caused independent music labels to lose market shares.

Question 23

The record industry groomed singers Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard as replacements for rebellious rock and rollers like Frankie Avalon and Ricky Nelson.

Question 24

White Cleveland deejay Alan Freed played black music for his audiences beginning in the early 1950s. He was given credit for making rock and roll a popular term.

Question 25

Payola is the practice of record promoters paying deejays to play certain songs on the air.

Question 26

Folk is considered the sound of social activism.

Question 27

Universal Music Group controls nearly 20 percent of the U.S. market share of the recording industry.

Question 28

About 40 percent of all music recordings purchased in the United States are digital downloads.

Question 29

Elvis Presley created the sound called rockabilly.

Question 30

Gangster rap developed in the 1980s partly to tell the truth about gang violence in American culture.

Question 31

Grunge music became a significant form of rock and roll in 1992 as a result of a breakthrough album by Nirvana.

Question 32

In the 1950s, it was common practice for white artists to cover songs first recorded by black performers.

Question 33

Oligopoly is the term for a business situation in which a few firms control most of an industry; film studios and record labels are examples.

Question 34

The first congressional hearings on radio payola started soon after the quiz-show scandals in television.

Question 35

Independent labels produce only about 2 percent of all recordings.

Question 36

Punk rock emerged in the 1970s partly to protest the commercialism of the recording industry.

Question 37

In the late 1950s, singer Little Richard stopped performing rock and roll because he believed it was the "devil's music."

Question 38

TV host Ed Sullivan promoted the career of the Beatles, but he considered the Rolling Stones "bad boys."

Question 39

British rock-and-roll groups such as the Beatles drew much of their inspiration from black artists.

Question 40

The Rolling Stones emphasized chord-driven rhythms in their music, while the Beatles stressed melody.

Question 41

Spotify is a German-based company that debuted in the United States in 2011 to provide streaming services.

Question 42

Thousands of lawsuits were filed against online file-sharing services. What was the result?

A) Grokster, eDonkey, Morpheus, and LimeWire we shut down in 2010.
B) Amazon stopped streaming music.
C) iTunes was sold to Google.
D) iTunes sold more than 50 billion songs in 2013.
E) The MTV awards was created.

Question 43

Emile Berliner's invention of ______ was significant because it allowed for mass reproduction of sound recordings and for labeling, which enabled the development of a star system.

A) wax cylinders
B) lamp black
C) flat disks
D) audiotape
E) 33¹/₃ rpm records

Question 44

Established music artist Amanda Palmer built her online community and sells music directly to fans through her personal Web site.

Question 45

Commercial radio and the recording industry have always been linked. Which streaming service is most like commercial radio?

A) iTunes U
B) Beats Music
C) Pandora
D) Google Play
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 46

A major difference between sound recordings made by Emile Berliner and those made by Thomas Edison was that ______.

A) Berliner's disks were flat
B) Edison's disks could be mass produced
C) Edison's disks were coated with lamp black
D) Berliner's disks were made of vinyl
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 47

Online piracy is unauthorized online file-sharing.

Question 48

The biggest seller of recorded music in the United States is ______.

A) BMG Music Service
B) Best Buy
C) Walmart
D) Target
E) iTunes

Question 49

Which of the following is true about the MP3 music file format?

A) It creates music files that are very large and slow to download.
B) It was very important in the fight against the pirating of recorded music.
C) It makes recording, transferring, and downloading music quicker and easier.
D) It hasn't been popular with consumers because MP3 players break easily.
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 50

The turning point that led to the end of major record labels employing white performers to cover black rock-and-roll artists' songs occurred with which event?

A) Ray Charles had a No. 1 hit covering a country song in 1962.
B) The Crew Cuts covered "Sh-Boom" in 1954.
C) Little Richard had a hit, "Tutti-Frutti," in 1956.
D) Jimi Hendrix covered Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" in 1968.
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 51

Magnetic audiotape and tape players first caught on in the ______.

A) 1950s
B) 1940s
C) 1910s
D) 1890s
E) 1960s

Question 52

Under the compromise reached by CBS and RCA in 1953, the standard for record singles became the ______ format.

A) 33¹/₃-rpm
B) 45-rpm
C) 78-rpm
D) CD
E) MP3

Question 53

The digital download and streaming market has now surpassed physical sales, but the standard for measuring music sales still remains the album.

Question 54

Which of the following boundaries did rock and roll not blur in the 1950s?

A) The country and the city
B) Sacred and secular
C) Masculinity and femininity
D) North and South
E) Old and young

Question 55

In 1958, ______ allowed for the recording of two separate tracks of sound, which could be mixed together.

A) digital recording
B) graphophones
C) MP3s
D) analog recording
E) stereo

Question 56

In the mid-1950s, which artist had record sales second only to Elvis Presley?

A) Fats Domino
B) Pat Boone
C) Little Richard
D) Ray Charles
E) Bob Dylan

Question 57

Physical recordings made as recently as 2011 accounted for nearly 25 percent of U.S. music sales.

Question 58

Little Richard became the first African American artist to chart higher with his own song than a white cover artist because ______.

A) he cleaned up the music and lyrics so white audiences wouldn't be offended
B) he pretended to be white
C) nobody cared about race anymore
D) he wrote and performed a song with lyrics and a style that white artists like Pat Boone couldn't imitate
E) he made a deal with white cover artists so they would respect his creative efforts

Question 59

Retailers like Walmart and Best Buy mark up CD prices 65 percent above the wholesale price.

Question 60

Which of the following does not fall into the category of pop music?

A) Rock
B) Country
C) Classical
D) Hip-hop
E) Blues

Question 61

What does the term digital divide refer to?

A) Most attempts happened in the 1950s and 1960s.
B) Concerns over lyrics in the mid-1980s had no effect on the music industry.
C) Before the British Invasion, there were no clashes between older and younger generations over music.
D) Gangster rap was embraced by middle-class white adults as an excellent way for their children to learn about inner-city life.
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 62

Which of the following is not one of the ways record companies, composers, and recording artists make their money?

A) The direct sale of CDs and digital downloads at retail stores
B) Charging fees to radio stations that play their music
C) The illegal sharing of songs via computer files
D) Selling albums and songs on sites like iTunes and Amazon
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 63

Which of the following large corporations is not one of the major firms controlling national and international music distribution today?

A) RCA
B) Sony Music Entertainment
C) Warner Music Group
D) Universal Music Group
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 64

In the 1950s, disc jockey Alan Freed attempted to make rock-and-roll music more acceptable to mainstream audiences by ______.

A) playing original rhythm-and-blues music and black versions of early rock and roll
B) playing rhythm-and-blues songs as they were covered by white musicians
C) developing formatted stations that targeted specific audiences with specific types of music
D) developing payola practices that guaranteed the inclusion of particular songs on mainstream music stations
E) having white musicians cover sacred gospel songs for mainstream audiences

Question 65

An A&R (artist & repertoire) agent typically ______.

A) makes decisions about the final sound of a recording
B) listens to demo tapes and scouts talent for record labels
C) chooses studio recording equipment and manages audio technicians
D) makes distribution arrangements with major retailers
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 66

Which of the following statements accurately represents how independent musicians use the Internet?

A) The Internet is a big obstacle for new musicians because they lose money on illegal song downloads.
B) The Internet doesn't really have much impact on new or independent musicians.
C) The Internet provides an inexpensive way for new artists to create a fan base using social networking sites.
D) No musicians have been able to use the Internet to launch a mainstream music career.
E) The Internet is the only way for independent musicians to launch a mainstream music career.

Question 67

Folk music ______.

A) is mostly acoustic music that is historically popular with authority figures
B) is a genre with a rich history of protest lyrics and a focus on social and political issues
C) used electric guitars and loud drum solos to establish its distinctive sound
D) was at the heart of the payola scandals of the 1950s
E) has its roots as music composed and written down by so-called "Tin Pan Alley"

Question 68

Which statement best describes the relationship between small independent music labels and the huge major music labels?

A) Each survives only by trying to put the other out of business.
B) The major labels are better able than indies to use downloads and streaming.
C) Independent labels often rely on major labels for distribution.
D) Independents distribute only mainstream music while the majors cover niche markets and discover new talent.
E) There are no independent labels left because they've all been purchased or run out of business by the three major labels.

Question 69

According to the American Library Association, what is a limitation of trying to protect children from inappropriate material on the Internet?

A) Lower prices for music
B) Higher royalty rates for artists
C) Monopolistic control of the music industry
D) Music advisory labels
E) The legalization of payola

Question 70

Conservative social forces in the late 1950s pointed to Jerry Lee Lewis as an example of ______.

A) the new clean-cut musicians who were promoted by Dick Clark
B) a rock and roller who was considered to be "white trash"
C) how musicians could be corrupted by payola
D) how a young man from the South could realize the American Dream
E) how black musicians were inciting riots

Question 71

The success of British groups in America in the 1960s led to ______.

A) the verification that the performers themselves could write and produce popular music well
B) the German Invasion led by artists like the Scorpions
C) the acceptance of later British artists like OneRepublic and Radiohead
D) the sale of American popular music recordings in Europe
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 72

The term ______ refers to the economic situation in which a few firms dominate an industry.

A) monopoly
B) corporate scaling economies
C) oligarchy
D) limited competition
E) oligopoly

Question 73

Which statement best describes the uneasiness between the commercial and artistic sides of the music business?

A) Record labels only want cookie-cutter artists, but recording artists don't want to compromise their own "sound."
B) An artist who criticizes commercial culture might need to sign with a major label and become part of that culture in order to reach a larger audience.
C) Record labels rely on the Internet to promote artists, but recording artists feel that this practice is too commercial.
D) Artists want to set their own prices, but record labels are unwilling to allow artists too much freedom.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 74

Sugarhill Gang's 1979 hit "Rapper's Delight" ______.

A) became the first No. 1 hip-hop album on the popular charts
B) infused hip-hop with a political take on ghetto life
C) sampled part of another song, a practice common to hip-hop
D) was part of the subgenre known as gangster rap
E) was covered more successfully by white artists

Question 75

The album that broke grunge music into the American mainstream was ______.

A) Nevermind by Nirvana
B) Thug Life by Tupac Shakur
C) Raising Hell by Run-DMC
D) Silence Yourself by The Savages
E) Dookie by Green Day

Question 76

Which of the following is not an example of the Web sites that are increasingly popular places for fans to sample and discover new music?

A) Google
B) Pandora
C) Facebook
D) YouTube
E) Rhapsody

Question 77

Which of the following statements about hip-hop music is true?

A) It is a broad description of music and culture that includes rapping, sampling/cutting, and deejays.
B) It provides a way for artists to debate issues of gender, race, class, violence, and drugs.
C) It has been criticized for lyrics that degrade women and glorify violence.
D) Some of its most popular artists include Lupe Fiasco and YG.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 78

Which of the following statements about the music industry and the Internet since the year 2000 is true?

A) Musicians and music companies are afraid to use the Internet to market new music.
B) No one will spend money for music if they can download it for free.
C) Artists who use the Internet to generate a fan base can improve their chances of being signed by a major label.
D) No musicians have experimented with bypassing record labels and selling their music directly on the Internet.
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 79

Which of the following is the correct chronological order (oldest to newest) in which musical genres first became popular?

A) Hip-hop, rock, punk, jazz, grunge
B) Jazz, punk, hip-hop, rock, grunge
C) Punk, jazz, grunge, hip-hop, rock
D) Jazz, rock, punk, hip-hop, grunge
E) Grunge, hip-hop, punk, rock, jazz

Question 80

In economic terms, the recording industry is best described as ______.

A) a monopoly
B) a big, friendly, family business
C) an oligopoly
D) alternative-music heaven
E) cluttered with indie record labels