Peterson & Berger: Rock n Roll Flashcards
What is the main issue being examined by Peterson and Berger?
Why did the Tin Pan Alley system collapse essentially overnight?
Two major explanations for the collapse of Tin Pan Alley
- Endogenous factors
- Exogenous factors
Endogenous meaning
occuring from within a system
Explain the endogenous reason for the collapse of Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley became artistically stagnant and consumers had unsatiated demands for something new. When rock n roll entered the scene, it filled this gap.
process of niche partitioning
Niche Partitioning
as an oligopoly gains dominance, they create a homegenous product – this creates a space for smaller firms to offer more specialist offerings to dissatisfed consumers
Explain endogenous factors within the beer industry
-after prohibition, many small regional companies conglomerated and gained downstream power by selling their product at bars
-led to a homogenousization of the type of beers (e.g all lagers)
-in the 80s and 90s, microbrewieries began selling new types of beer to people with specialized tastses
Exogenous meaning
occuring from outside a system
What were the exogenous factors that brought down Tin Pan Alley?
technological and legal changes:
-Paramount court case: studios stopped producing as many musicals because they were looking to cut costs – harder to promote Tin Pan Alley music
-Rise of TV: rise of tv networks led to rise of local stations which sought cheap ways to fill air time – switched to full time music programming, which allowed for more variety
-Tin Pan Alley previosuly had relationships with bookers at radio networks, however they lost these connections because with local radio there were many more bookers and they couldn’t have relationship with all of them
-invention of the transistor: previously, families only had one radio. with the transistor, each family member had a radio and could listen to what they wanted to. because of this, culture for teens diverged from their parent’s taste (distinctive youth culture)
How much did the oligopoly change in 1955?
share of industry dropped from 80% to 30%
