On August 8, 2018, I attended a Marianas Trench concert at the Saskatoon Exhibition. I will be blogging about the band’s history, sound, venue, and my experience. Due to the band not having a major online presence I will use some wiki sources for information.

Band History

Josh Ramsay was born June 11, 1985, and grew up in a musical family. Ramsay’s father owned a recording studio and his mother was a vocal coach. He started singing at the age of 13 and formed a band called Ramsay Fiction with friends and his sister in high school. Ramsay developed a heroin addiction in high school and was kicked out. He went to rehab and has used his life experiences to influence his songs, writing about addiction, anorexia, and bulimia.²

After Ramsay Fiction disbanded Ramsay searched for new band members and recruited Matt Webb who was a high school friend, Ian Casselman from a wanted ad and Casselman’s roommate, Mike Ayley. The group decided on the name Marianas Trenches as it was the only name they could think of that wasn’t already being used. Due to the band’s persistence and hard work they were signed by 604 Records and their music careers began. The band has since released several albums and played in venues across the world.³

Band Highlights and Sound

Marianas Trench’s is a Juno award nominated Canadian pop rock band from Vancouver, BC located in Canada. The band is signed by 604 Records, which is owned by Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger and attorney Jonathan Simkin. The band consists of Josh Ramsay (lead singer, rhythm guitarist, pianist, songwriter, and occasional drummer), Matt Webb (lead guitarist, and backing vocalist), Mike Ayley (bass guitarist and backing vocalist) and Ian Casselman (drummer, percussionist, and backing vocalist). The Band was formed in 2001 and in October of 2006, they released their first full-length album Fix Me. The band credits their musical influence to Queen, Foo Fighters, The Beach Boys, and Ben Folds Five. The band has four full-length studio albums, Fix Me – 2006, Masterpiece Theatre – 2009, Ever After – 2011, and Astoria – 2015. The bands most current song is “Rhythm of Your Heart” and was released in the fall of 2017.¹

Marianas Trench creates unique music by using a mixture of pop, punk and modern rock. The band’s songs tend to start out with a slower beat and speed up for the chorus’ with a musical beat mainly from the drums and electric guitar. The qualities are showcased in the song “Stutter” as the song has both a slow and fast tempo, strong chord changes under pop melodies, and upbeat lyrics. The song starts out with a smooth melody with slower vocals and quickly moves to a catchy chorus with quicker vocals. The use of guitars, bass, and drums creates a captivating ratio of pop, punk and rock, which stimulates the audience and results in catchy and engaging tunes.

Marianas Trench, “Stutter” (2012)

Venue and Audience

The concert was held at Prairie Land Park in the grandstands during the Saskatoon Exhibition. There was a large multi-leveled seating area along with lots of floor room where fans could stand. There was also a secluded zone fans could purchase VIP passes to get extra close to the band. Marianas Trench began playing at 8:30 pm with the stands and floor filled with thousands of fans and exhibition-goers. The audience was energetic and excited right from the first song as fans waived along to the beat. The band stopped singing several times to let the fans do the work and the excitement spread through the crowd with many songs resulting in large groups singing to the lyrics and dancing with the music. The audience was diverse with people ranging from preteens to seniors all enjoying the concert and having a good time. There was a diverse audience that includes diehard fans as well as people who have never listened to the band. I believe that if the show was not included in the price of the fair admission ticket many of the people I saw sitting in the stands wouldn’t have attended the show. I thought this because they were not as enthusiastic as the people closer to the stage and many did not chant or even know the lyrics.

Personal Reflection

The concert had a “throwback” or “retro” feel as Marianas Trench was a band I used to listen to more often in elementary and high school. The songs brought back good memories from the past and allowed me to relate more deeply to the lyrics. I was happily surprised at how excited the fans were and the energy that flowed through the crowd as fans sung along and danced to the beat. I couldn’t believe that younger children were chanting along to some of the older songs considering that I listened to Marianas Trench as a child. I feel like the older people enjoyed the beat of the music, but couldn’t relate to the lyrics since the songs were targeted around newer generational problems and events. The stands seemed to be a little tamer as the audience mainly sat and listened to the concert, but the closer you go to the stage the more the audience was engaged. You could definitely tell the fans that purchased the stage front tickets truly loved Marianas Trench and appreciated every second of the concert. Overall the concert had an exhilarating and fun vibe as the grandstands were full and everyone appeared to be enjoying the show.

Bibliography

1. “Marianas Trench.” 604 Records Inc. (2018):            http://604records.com/website/artists/marianas-trench/

2. “Marianas Trench (band).” Wikipedia. (2018): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianas_Trench_(band)

3. The Canadian Encyclopedia. “Marianas Trench.”  Historica Canada. (2015): https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/marianas-trench/

 

 

 

 

What Is The Payola Scandal?

The Payola Scandal, also called “pay-to-play”, involved the illegal practice of record companies bribing broadcast companies for guaranteed airplay on the radio in American. A radio station could exchange airtime for money, but the extra time was supposed to be disclosed as sponsored time. During the payola scandal, the bought time was not disclosed and the increased number of times a song played had the ability to influence the perceived popularity of the song.⁴

The payola scandal was possible because of the disc jockeys (DJs) wielded enormous power and could control airtime of songs on the radio. Some disc jockeys such as Alan Freed used it to promote the music they enjoyed, but many used it to make money through bribery. Payola was used to make a song seem more popular and slowly evolved into an unfair competition and fraud in the music industry.³

To better understand the meaning of the Payola Scandal, it can be broken up into its base words, pay, Victrola, and scandal. Pay, is defined as giving someone money in exchange for something, Victrola, is a classic record player or phonograph, and scandal is defined as a disgraceful or discreditable action and or circumstance that can cause damage to reputation.  The definition can be interpreted as artists using money instead of talent to attain extra airtime and fame.

How Did The Payola Scandal Begin?

Before 1940, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) were the sole monopoly in the music recording industry. When Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) entered the market in 1940, ASCAP’s was dethroned. BMI was known for recording songs that differed from the popular songs radios played. Due to BMI being outside the norm, they had to pay DJs bribes to play their songs, which unintentionally started the payola scandal. Before payola, there was a flat rate of $50 to play someone’s song on the radio for a week. Disc jockeys began taking advantage of the bribes and offering more time for higher fees.² Soon ASCAP had to pay DJs bribes to play their music as well. ASCAP was upset over their loss of monopoly and hinted at the federal investigators to review a potential problem involving bribery in the music industry.⁶

The scandal began in 1958, during the time that federal investigators revealed that popular NBC – TV shows were rigged. This discovery and inside tips from ASCAP led investigators to review the radio for malpractices and many causes of bribery were uncovered.

What Did The Government Due To Stop Payola?

The payola scandal provoked investigations by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and in January of 1960, the NAB proposed that disc jockeys accepting bribes for airtime would be charged $500 and spend a year in prison. The law developed in 1960 is currently still in existence today.²

ASCAP, the stronger licensing organization, reportedly urged the investigation to undermine its major competitor, BMI, which was licensing the music of many black and country performers.  Most major disk jockeys were taking payments to play songs since it was only illegal in two states. After an investigation, there were 335 DJs who admitted to accepting bribes to play a record on the radio, but two powerful and popular DJs, Alan Freed and Dick Clarke, both denied the allegations.²

Alan Freed refused to sign an affidavit in 1959, denying that he had accepted payola, which was not illegal at the time. He claimed that he would accept gifts for helping others, but never worked for bribes. In May 1960 Freed and seven other people were arrested on suspicion of commercial bribery. Freed was charged with 26 counts of bribery and was fired from WABC in 1962. This was the end of Freed’s radio career and his influence on Rock and Roll.²

Dick Clarke sought out legal advice and removed himself from anyone who he may have been involved in bribery. His smart legal decisions paid off as he was set free with no charges and continued his career as an influential DJ.¹

 

 

Does Payola Exist In Current Music?

Current day payola was highlighted when in 2005, Sony BMG, a large record label, was fined $10 million after the state of New York found the company guilty of engaging in payola. Sony was paying DJs with cash and goods for playing Sony artists, such as Jessica Simpson. Sony hid their payola through running fake promotional contests and giving DJ’s the prizes.⁷

Current day payola can also be seen in the rise of streaming, now being labeled as corporate sponsorships or advertising fees. Music providers such as Spotify and Apple Music can charge thousands of dollars to get a song on a trending playlist depending on the number of followers that playlist has. Once an artist is on these playlists their popularity almost always increases along with song sales.⁸

How Does Payola Effect Popular Music?

The public does not hear artists whose labels can’t afford to pay high streaming and advertising fees, or whose label refuses to engage in the practice of bribery. Due to the current state of payola, record labels waste millions of dollars and large radio and music promotion corporations can charge any amount of fees they wish for an artist to be more recognized publicly. This current practice is legal, but it has the consequence of forcing artists who cannot afford to pay the fees to fail regardless of talent. Payola destroys fair competition while limiting the progression of new music and results in music being featured online based on money or famous connections rather than talent and popularity. .⁶

My Opinion on Payola.

Payola both old and new is a negative circumstance, which only benefits people who are wealthy. It causes the public to only hear artists who are picked based off of biases or who can afford to pay for excessive advertising. Payola results in top hits and music charts to not properly represent the popularity of the public and cause an overall lower satisfaction of music from viewers. Payola puts more of an emphasis on money and wealth instead of talent and hypothetically has drastically changed the course of popular music. It also has the potential to increase the cost of music, since labels involved in payola need to spend more money in order to have their songs played.⁵

Payola is also not beneficial for the radio, because it makes radio homogenous. People turn off the radio when the same song is played on every station or if it is overplayed. It also hurts the radio stations, who refuse to accept bribes for plays, as the other stations get cash injections from the labels. Now the general population will never know about the existence of talented artists who could not afford to bribe radio stations and our perception of popular music is built on lies.

 

Bibliography

1. “Dick Clark Survives the Payola Scandal.” History.com. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dick-clark-survives-the-payola-scandal
2. Hutchinson, L. “Alan Freed and the Radio Payola Scanda.” Performing Songwrriter. Last modified August 20, 2015. http://performingsongwriter.com/alan-freed-payola-scandal/
3. McDonald, H. “Payola: Influencing the Charts.” The Balance Careers. Last modified June 3, 2018. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/payola-influencing-the-charts-2460759
4. Neira, B. “Payola Scandal Rocks 50’s Radio.” Modesto Radio Museum, Accessed July 18, 2018. http://www.modestoradiomuseum.org/payola.html
5. Sherwin, A. “Payola: One of music’s oldest arrangements back with a bang on streaming playlists.” Independent.co.uk. Last modified August 20, 2015. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/payola-one-of-musics-oldest-arrangements-back-with-a-bang-on-streaming-playlists-10464513.html
6. Shinn, E. “The Evolution and Effects of Payola on Popular Culture.” Texas Tech University. (2004). https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/ttu-ir/bitstream/handle/2346/23324/31295019381150.pdf?sequence=1
7. “Sony to pay $10M in payola scandal.” CBC News. (2005). https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/sony-to-pay-10m-in-payola-scandal-1.523524
8. Peoples, Glenn. “How ‘Playola’ Is Infiltrating Streaming Services: Pay for Play Is ‘Definitely Happening’.” Billboard. Last modified August 19, 2015. https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6670475/playola-promotion-streaming-services.

 

Biography of William Christopher Handy

Hello, my name is Kris and I’m a third year business student at the UofS. I love staying up to date with the latest music, but today I want to go back in time and talk about the “Father of the Blues”. Who is the Father of the Blues you ask? Well it was no other than William Christopher Handy an African-American influential figure in early pop music history. W.C. Handy was born November 16, 1873, in Florence, Alabama. W.C. Handy expressed his love for music as a child as one of his grandparents was a Methodist minister. His grandmother supported his musical interests however his father was opposed to his son being a musician and only offered to pay for organ lessons. W.C. Handy’s love for music grew and he started to play the cornet as well as partake in the school cappella group.

Handy studied at the Teachers Agricultural Mechanical College in Huntsville, Alabama in 1892. Handy found work as a school teacher, however, he continued to pursue a career as a musician. Handy formed a band called the Lauzette Quartet, in the hope of playing at the Chicago World’s Fair, however, the fair was postponed which lead to the bands split. Handy then moved to St. Louis where he was homeless and living in poverty. Handy continued to play his cornet at shows and eventually landed a show in Kentucky. Handy helped contribute to music that would be called the “blues” by being influenced by the African-American musical folk traditions that he heard while on his travels.

While in Kentucky he was hired as a musician in the city of Henderson. Handy married Elizabeth Virginia Prince after a performance in 1898. They had two children together, but sadly his wife died in 1937. During their marriage, Handy was offered to join W.A. Mahara’s Minstrels as the band-leader. He stayed with the group for a few years where he traveled the country and even Cuba. After many years of traveling, Elizabeth and Handy decided to stay in one place and live in Huntsville, Alabama where Handy worked as a music teacher. In 1902 Handy started traveling again and had a short stay in Mississippi where Handy joined the Black Knights of Pyhtias band and experienced the local variation of the blues. Handy then moved to Memphis, Tennesse and performed at the Beale Street clubs. In 1909 Handy wrote a campaign song called “Mr. Crump” named after the candidate Edward H. Crump who later won the election. The song was later edited and renamed the Memphis Blues. The song was published in 1912 and played it for large audiences. Memphis Blues became a hit song since it was considered the first blue song to be released in history.

Handy never received the financial success of after selling the rights to the song. Handy then decided to start his own publishing company with songwriter Harry Pace so that he could now have ownership for his songs. Handy released his next song St. Louis Blues which was published under the Pace and Handy Music Company. St Louis Blues became another hit song and was recorded many times. Handy is also known for composing many other hit songs. Handy wanted to escape the South and the racism contained in it so he moved his publishing company to New York. Handy kept promoting the blues to audiences and organized the first Blue’s performance in Carnegie Hall in 1928. Handy published Negro Authors and Composers of the United States in 1935 and in 1941 he published an autobiography called Father of the Blues. Handy then became blind by the mid 40’s. Handy died of pneumonia on March 28, 1958. More than 20,000 people attended his funeral and his life story was made into the film At. Louis Blues. Hand’s legacy continues on with the annual W.C. Handy Music Festival in Alabama.⁴

Challenges and Successes of W. C. Handy

Handy began to experience struggles when his wages were cut at the pipework’s company in Bessemer he worked at. He moved back to Birmingham and organized the Lauzette Quartet and planned to play at the Chicago World’s Fair, but another obstacle occurred and the fair had been postponed for a year. The band broke up and Handy faced true economic challenges as he was jobless and suffered from hunger and lice while he slept on the streets. Handy never gave up on his musical dream and continued playing his cornet to survive. He later noted that these homeless and depressing days lead to the birth of his song “St. Louis Blues.” Handy caught a break in Kentucky when he was playing with local brass bands and got hired by a Southern aristocracy. Handy went from a homeless band member to a professional musician in the time span of a day. Handy was a true American using capitalism to overcome the social challenges affecting one’s physical, intellectual, and emotional well-being. He utilized his new job’s benefits to attain a post-graduate course in vocal music while getting paid to do it. ³

Handy developed an impressive legacy for himself, but he had his fair share of obstacles to overcome ranging from racism and prejudice to health concerns from a head trauma that caused blindness and a stroke that caused him to require a wheelchair. Even with the obstacles, he faced in life he was able to achieve wealth and fame and is now known as the “Father of Blues”. ⁴

Famous Contributions from W. C. Handy

W. C. Handy had several popular hits in the music industry. I chose to discuss three songs ranging from the beginning of his professional career to closer to the end. The songs that helped form Handy’s legacy are “Memphis Blues”, “St. Louis Blues” and “Loveless Love”

“Memphis Blues” (originally “Mr. Crump,” 1909)

The “Memphis Blues” was an important moment in music history as it was a driving force of a new music genre called the blues. He originally got the idea from a sad negro playing the guitar on the street corner.¹ The song has a smooth riff and contained both 16 bar melodies and 12 bar sections while mixing two-four time and Afro-Cuban habanera dance rhythm. The song resulted in the creation of blues music and later influenced the creation of jazz music.

“St. Louis Blues” (1914)

The “St. Louis Blues” was Handy’s privately owned song that helped him rise to fame and riches. The song was the first blues song to make it into the popular music charts and was so revolutionary that it has been covered many times by well-known artists such as Nat King Cole, Bessie Smith and Louise Armstrong. The song was about the struggles of life and had a similar form to Memphis Blues, but with a much more dominant beat and a similar feel to classic ragtime compositions.²

“Loveless Love” (better known as “Careless Love”),  1921.

“Loveless Love” is a positive spinoff of the song “Careless Love”, which was about a tragic death and heartbreak due to love. The song has a slower beat with the lyrics involving a love story. I chose this song as it was one Handy did later in his career and it helped to show the diversity in beat and rhythm between Handy’s songs. The song was an influential piece and showed listeners how original and cover songs can be similar, but sound and be interpreted completely different.

Bibliography

1. Banerji, Robin. “WC Handy’s Memphis Blues: The Song of 1912.” BBC World Service. (2012): https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20769518
2. Chilton, Martyn. “St Louis Blues: story of the WC Handy classic song.” The Telegraph. (2015):  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/jazz/st-louis-blues-by-wc-handy/
3. “Handy, W. C. 1873–1958.” Contemporary Black Biography. Encyclopedia.com. Accessed July 19, 2018. http://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/handy-w-c-1873-1958
4. “W.C. Handy Biography.” A&E Television Networks. Last modified October 27, 2015. https://www.biography.com/people/wc-handy-39700​

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