This post is not intended to be graded; I just thought I’d inform you guys of some great local talent playing a show in his hometown this fall.

Jordan Cook (Reignwolf), will be playing at O’brians in Saskatoon on November 12th with tickets going on sale August 3rd. Jordan is a seriously talented musician and never fails to put on a good show.

Andre Benjamin and Antwon Patton aka “Andre 3000 and Big Boi” formed the hip-hop duo all the way back in 1991. So how did this little known group from Georgia work their way to changing the hip-hop industry? It all started with the radio success of the song “Players Ball”, a hard hitting rap that fit the mold set by rappers of the early 1990’s such as Ice Cube, The Notorious BIG, and Tupac Shakur. While the success was not ground breaking, it did open the door for hip-hop/rap in the southern United States. Before them, Hip-hop artists came from two major sources, New York and Los Angeles as that was where the international recognized music labels were. They had proved that they could make a the music industry change by accepting southern rappers and blazed the trail for others like TI, Lil Wayne and Ludacris. Yet while they changed the demographics of millennial hip-hop they also began to slowly change the music itself.

In the early 2000s, hip-hop was set to a strict standard that used heavy beats and followed the pattern of a verse, chorus, verse. This standard is broken around the 1:40 mark where Andre 3000 interrupts the flow of the rap and forms a slow pop type lyric. Even stranger is the use of dog’s barking as a counter-beat that plays on top of the heavy drum beat that carries throughout the song. These simple things were the beginning of the pop influence that Outkast had begun to adopt. And people took notice. “Ms. Jackson” would go platinum in the United States with over 600,000 copies sold and would be in the top 10 in 15 other countries. However there most famous track was yet to come.

“Hey Ya!” would put Outkast front and center to the hip-hop world that was unknowingly going through a change. The easiest change that can be picked up is the use of gospel like choir background singers. As seen in the textbook, choir groups have been around since the beginning of the 20th century but had disappeared from popular music for quite a time. Andre created the choir sound by looping his voice over and over, as he was the only singer in the entire song. The second change is the use of a full range of instruments, not just a drum beat. Surprisingly, Andre 3000 learned how to play guitar just for this song and would play every instrument except for the bass which is properly represented in the video above. This would show the industry how classic musical instruments could be implemented to give the a song more pop appeal. And while these changes alter the course of hip-hop, it would help change how music was heard around the world.

In today’s music world, apps such as Spotify and Apple Music provide listeners with an endless supply of songs from around the world. But back in 2001, the radio and CD’s was the main platform. That as until Apple released iTunes, their online music purchasing and downloading platform. This now allowed computer users to download their music to the newly released iPod. So how did “Hey Ya” get involved? Since iTunes allowed users to purchase individual songs instead of the whole album, popularity did not depend on the overall album sales. Outkast’s “Hey Ya” would ride this wave of popularity and become the first song to reach a million downloads and be certified platinum as a download. This technology combined with the success they had turned the table on how music would be sold today.

So how would Outkast use this popularity to complete their change of hip-hop in the early 2000s. As they have already modified the music around them, it only makes sense that they would change the way that hip-hop appeared. When they first appeared on the mainstage they would be seen as another generic rap group from their style alone. 

Seen here is the classic west-coast style with the branded clothing which were seen across the industry. The idea came hand-in-hand with the idea of lots of jewelry, it showed the wealth that the artist had. And Outkast was no different when they appeared, yet by the middle of their career they decided to change the script.

This is from the song “Roses” on the speakerboxx album of 2004. I found that this best describes the noticed change for the group. Instead of staying in the constraints of the hip-hop environment, they pulled influence from the pop genre. For example, in the video for “Roses” they have multiple outfits that represent the 1950’s which was not representative of the “gangster” style seen in most music videos. And they would take these styles to the stage.

By changing their appearance and their musical styles, they would change how a hip-hop artist could represent themselves. So while people around the world witnessed them rise to the top, they also got to witness monumental change.

Hello class,

This is my blog response to module 6 question 3 regarding the Payola Scandal.  As always, I’d like to break down my thoughts by giving some historical context before giving my thoughts at the end.

1950s music industry on the rise

Following the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II in 1945, the beneficiaries of the economic boom following war-time industrialization were the coming-of-age teenagers across America.  This demographic had more money than previous generations as a result of better economy, more employment, and even from allowances from parents, but more importantly they were unencumbered by the financial and worldly crises since the Great Depression.  These youths were freer and had more disposable income to buy music.  Popular music was in high demand, especially of rock ‘n’ roll during the 50s for its combination of African-inspired rhythm and blues styles, sexual undertones, and strong fast beats that made this era in music so appealing to younger people (1).  The gateway to new emerging music in this era was through radio, and the people that served as guides for the listening public were the disc jockeys (DJs).

With the emergence of television in households, which saw a rise from 6000 sets in use in 1946 to more than 12 million in 1951 (2), once lucrative dramas and news programs shifted away from radio.  With seemingly nothing to lose, radio stations adopted a laissez faire attitude in giving DJs more creative control over their programming.  Many DJs during the 1950s found success showcasing artists beyond the mainstream, such as from race records, which resulted in expanded listenership from a more diverse demographic.  DJs were incredibly influential towards the expansion of music sales during this decade as record sales from 1954 to 1960 increased almost three-fold from $182 million to $521 million (3).  These sales reflected more diverse catalogs of music especially from smaller record labels.  From 1946-1952, these small labels accounted for 3% of the top selling singles, but 1955-1960 they accounted for 70% of all top-ten charting songs (4).  Small labels increasingly showcased undiscovered talent for DJs who could catapult their careers, such as Elvis Presley who demoed his cover of “That’s all right [mama]” (written and recorded by Arthur Cudrup in 1947) at a Memphis station in 1954 (5).  This intermediary relationship that DJs had between music producers and consumers was predicated on honest consumerism meaning the DJ conveys the consumers’ demand (i.e. number of play requests) that in turn directs the producers to what kinds of music were selling. It is this relationship that became the subject of the ensuing ‘payola’ scandal.

Payola Scandal

The payola scandal in its simplest terms refers to the rampant use of “pay for play” in the music industry in which record labels offered incentives to DJs and other content providers, such as television and movies, to increase air play of certain songs.  DJs could essentially manufacture popular hits by tricking listeners into thinking a song was being requested more often, and thus was popular.  Here’s an example from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, where Will snuck into a radio station to help his cousin’s music career take off.  Oh, and he was her manager at the time so conflict of interest?

These incentives ranged widely and included offers of cash, song writing/producer credits, promised appearances of artists during events and shows, expensive gifts or trips, stake in record companies, and even song royalties.  Meanwhile, there was an ongoing feud between the two major performance rights organizations, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) and BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.).  As radio was becoming more prominent, more radio stations, artists, and publishers were preferably dealing with BMI.  At the time, ASCAP was seen as less supportive of lesser known artists, while overlooking music they considered to be black genre, such as gospel, rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll.  Before a congressional committee in 1956, a songwriter and member of ASCAP, Billy Rose, testified that “not only are most of the BMI songs junk, but in many cases they are obscene junk, pretty much on a level of dirty comic magazines….I don’t see how [BMI] can escape the charge that it is responsible for rock-and-roll and the other musical monstrosities that are muddying up the airwaves” (6).  For an agency that makes money off of royalties, it was not surprising for ASCAP to be calling foul on BMI given the latter was outproducing singles, mostly rock-and-roll, by two-to-one by the mid 1950s (7).  Just as alarmed by the rise of rock-and-roll with its less-than-traditional sounds and lyrics, US senators and congressmen pushed for Congressional Payola hearings in 1959.

Payola Hearings and their fallout

Dick Clark (upper image), Alan Freed (bottom image–man holding coat) at their Congressional hearings (7)

Starting in 1959, more than 335 DJs were called in front of the House committee where they admitted to receiving over $263,000 in “consulting fees”, which was a gross underestimation (7).  The two most popular DJs in America at the time, Dick Clark and Alan Freed, would then become the focus of the payola hearings.  Dick Clark hosted a live television performance show called “American Bandstand”, where he showcased popular music from both white and black artists.  Alan Freed was a radio DJ who first coined and popularized the term “rock-n-roll” on his program where he also showcased such music.

Although Dick Clark was reported to have had an ownership stake in 33 different record labels where he made over $570,000 in salary and increased stock value, as well as songwriting credits and royalty deals for over 150 pop songs, he emerged out of the scandal relatively unscathed (8, 9).  Clark had divested from all his interests earlier that year as the payola hearings were just beginning.  Clark was cooperative and well-mannered during his hearings, and essentially explained his many holdings and potential conflicts of interests were not exploitative nor did he consciously give more airtime to songs/labels he was linked to (9).

Alan Freed meanwhile was abrasive and ill-tempered for his hearings and the committee did not take to him as kindly as they did Clark.  Both Clark and Freed’s parent company, ABC (American Broadcasting Company), had directed Clark and Freed to sign sworn affidavits that they did not ever receive payola payments.  Clark signed the statement, but passed on blame for accepting payola payments to a producer on his show who had since quit to join a record company that was indeed paying him.  Freed on the other hand refused to sign the statement and perjure himself for having received gifts and “consulting” fees, which he openly described in his hearings.  Freed was fired, charged for accepting over $116,000 in payola payments a month after, and was blacklisted by any major radio station thereafter.  Congress passed new laws that outlawed payola and stripped DJs from programming decisions, but instead gave them to station producers and directors.  Payola just found new targets.

Payola continues…

Following the hearings, record companies turned to independent third-party promoters, “indies”, that were paid by labels as they in turn paid stations to play their songs of choice.  Taking advantage of this legal loophole.  Another round of payola hearings were held in 1986, which cracked down on indies, and then from 2005-2006 three major record labels were fined multi-million dollar fines due to unfair payola practices.  Today payola still exists, but more so in the digital streaming industry.  According to the latest Nielsen reporting, year-over-year digital music streaming has increased considerably (+58.7% in 2017 from the previous year) while record sales have decreased (-17.7%).  Digital streaming has become the modern media of choice.  Streaming services such as Spotify have three methods of making playlists, from themselves, users, and by record companies.  These companies also pay to have “sponsored” songs appear on user generated playlists.

My opinion of payola is that it is not a bad practice, nor is it exclusive to just the music industry.  Companies pay for television advertisements, pay celebrities to endorse products, or fill in movies with blatant product placement (perhaps not as exaggerated as in Wayne’s World).

So payola in radio was simply the record labels paying for their own advertisement.  The biggest issue though was a lack of transparency from DJs that made it seem as if listeners were requesting the music so much.  Though to be clear, it wasn’t as if the labels were investing payola payments in songs they didn’t think could be hits.  But if we were to think back in history of all the hit songs during the 1950s, it becomes a question of the chicken or the egg.  Outside of labels and artists admitting to payola, nobody can be certain whether people liked a particular song enough to make it popular.  I believe in today’s digital streaming world consumers have more control over curating their own musical likes.  In the mass of television ads we see during the Super Bowl, I choose not to buy every product that is cleverly marketed.  Likewise when I happen upon a song I dislike, I am free to click “next”.

Endnotes

1. Campbell, Michael, Popular Music in America The Beat Goes On Fourth Edition, Boston MA, USA, Clark Baxter, 2013. p. 192

2. “History of Television – Mitchell Stephens.” NYU. Accessed July 28, 2018. https://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/History of Television page.htm

3. Monaco, Paul. The Sixties: 1960-1969. Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Press, 2008.p 109

4. Voice. “History of the Record Industry, 1920- 1950s  – A Voice. – Medium.” Medium. June 08, 2014. Accessed July 28, 2018. https://medium.com/@Vinylmint/history-of-the-record-industry-1920-1950s-6d491d7cb606.

5. “Elvis Presley Records “That’s All Right (Mama)”.” History.com. Accessed July 28, 2018. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/elvis-presley-records-thats-all-right-mama.

6. Wierzbicki, James Eugene. Music in the Age of Anxiety: American Music in the Fifties. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield: University of Illinois Press, 2016. p.41

7. “Alan Freed, Dick Clark and the Radio Payola Scandal.” Performing Songwriter Ent., LLC. August 24, 2015. Accessed July 28, 2018. http://performingsongwriter.com/alan-freed-payola-scandal/

8. “Dick Clark Survives the Payola Scandal.” History.com. Accessed July 28, 2018. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dick-clark-survives-the-payola-scandal

9. The New York Times. October 26, 1997. Accessed July 28, 2018. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/26/home/clark-payola.html.

10.Crawford, Erin. “2017 Year End Music Report US” Nielsen, 2018, http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downloads/2018-reports/2017-year-end-music-report-us.pdf (accessed July 15, 2018).

#M2Q2

Mamie Smith (née Robinson) (May 26, 1883 – September 16, 1946) was an American vaudeville singer, dancer, pianist and actress, who appeared in several films late in her career. Mamie Robinson was born probably in Cincinnati, Ohio, although no records of her birth exist. When she was ten years old, she found work touring with a white act called the Four Dancing Mitchells. As a teenager, she danced in Salem Tutt Whitney’s Smart Set. In 1913, she left the Tutt Brothers to sing in clubs in Harlem and married a waiter named William “Smitty” Smith. (mildlifefanclub, 2012)

Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues,” the first recording of an African-American singing the blues, revolutionized pop music. Witnesses claimed that after its release in 1920, the song could be heard coming from the open windows of virtually any black neighborhood in America. “That record turned around the recording industry,” remembered New Orleans jazzman Danny Barker. “There was a great appeal amongst black people and whites who loved this blues business to buy records and buy phonographs. Every family had a phonograph in their house, specifically behind Mamie Smith’s first record.” (Mamie Smith: The First Lady of the Blues, 2013)

So, as to the importance of Mamie Smith in the history of music, “Crazy Blues” is a very important record, because it opened doors of the recording industry to African-Americans, whether they were Blues, Jazz or popular singers or musicians. (Mamie Smith (1883-1946), 2018) She hasn’t really faced any challenges in racial, socio-economic or gender aspects, but rather lived a lavish lifestyle. Smith found herself suddenly wealthy, and she spent much of her earnings on clothes, jewelry, real estate, and servants. (Garner, 2018)

Three Songs:

First and most importantly choice would be, with no doubt, “Crazy Blues”. The choice is explained by the importance of the song described above and obviously for the way the music itself is structured and how there is a controversy that is that parts of it are and parts of it aren’t really blues as a genre. The song’s ingenious structure mixes three verses of 12-bar blues with three verses of 16-bar professional songwriting that uses a harmonic idiom similar to what might appear in a Scott Joplin rag or World War I pop song. The recording is in the key of E, and verses four and five are straight 12-bar blues. Verse two is a slightly modified 12-bar blues, going to the dominant in its second bar. Verses one, three, and six are 16-bar structures with trickier chord progressions and some chromaticisms, such as the descending bass line in the ninth through eleventh bars of verse one. Verses three and six feature secondary dominants that sound relatively “sophisticated” next to simpler blues verses two, four, and five. (Mamie Smith: The First Lady of the Blues, 2013)

A fact from a journal article I’ve read really fascinated me. One would not know, from the dozens of retellings of the “Crazy Blues” story, including Perry Bradford’s own, that his composition as Smith sings it reaches an emotional crescendo in the final verse with the following couplet: I’m gonna do like a Chinaman… go and get some hop Get myself a gun … and shoot myself a cop. (Gussow, 2002) This just reflects a lot of social context which was actual at the time and I find it fascinating.

The 2^nd choice of a song would be “Do It, Mr. So and So”. I love the simplicity of the song and the ease it is being listened to. Simplicity even translates through the fact that the only instrument being played in the background is the piano.

“It’s Right Here for You” would be my 3^rd choice of a song. It wasn’t as popular; however, a fact that it was recorded with her band Jazz Hounds instead of the regular one which was usually provided by her recording studio and it was made up predominantly of black musicians, rather than regular white males.

Bibliography

Garner, C. (2018, JUL 27). African American History: Smith, Mamie (1883-1946). Retrieved from An Online Reference Guide to African American History: http://www.blackpast.org/aah/smith-mamie-1883-1946

Gussow, A. (2002). “Shoot Myself a Cop”: Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues” as Social Text. Calloloo, 25(1), 8-44.

Mamie Smith (1883-1946). (2018, JUL 27). Retrieved from Red Hot Jazz: http://www.redhotjazz.com/mamie.html

Mamie Smith: The First Lady of the Blues. (2013, NA NA). Retrieved from Jas Obrecht Music Archive: http://jasobrecht.com/mamie-smith-the-first-lady-of-the-blues/

mildlifefanclub. (2012, MAR 22). Mamie Smith Biography. Retrieved from Last.fm: https://www.last.fm/music/Mamie+Smith/+wiki

Payola Scandal is an event which, in my opinion, has to be touched upon when studying Music in America and all over the world. It is in a way a reflection of how things are done in business world, whether it is music, tv shows, sports or any other area where big money is involved. I’d like to begin my post by defining a very interesting sounding word as “Payola”. Payola itself- a catchy and hyper-literal contraction of ‘pay’ and ‘Victrola’ (i.e. record player)- has been around as long as the record business. (Kelly, 2016)

Payola became a household word in the 1950s. The decade’s music scene was the convergence of a number of seismic factors—the rise of rock ’n’ roll and R&B (which coincided with the rise of small labels), the introduction of the inexpensive 45 rpm single, radio’s shift to Top 40 music (once television took over dramatic programming), post-war prosperity and the emergence of the teenager as an economic force. Records began to replace live performance as the main way to hear—and sell—music. And labels recognized that popular disc jockeys could influence sales. In 1950, there were approximately 250 disc jockeys in the U.S. By 1957, the number had grown to over 5,000. The increase was partially due to the sheer amount of new records being produced, both by major and indie labels. As the name suggests, a disc jockey was responsible for sorting through all these releases (naturally, the sorting was influenced by payola). These on-air personalities had so much clout with younger listeners, Time magazine called them the “poo-bahs of musical fashion and pillars of U.S. low- and middle-brow culture.” (Hutchinson, 2015)

MAJOR PLAYERS

The most famous and powerful figures associated with Payola and the Payola Scandal are officially Alan Freed and Dick Clark. Alan Freed and Dick Clark both played important parts in the rise of rock ’n’ roll (Freed embodied the incendiary spirit of the music more than Clark, refusing to play white cover versions of black songs, such as Pat Boone’s “Tutti Frutti”). And though they both denied ever accepting payola, it’s almost impossible to imagine two young, popular jocks not succumbing to a little temptation. Guilty or not, it was Freed who ended up taking the fall for DJs everywhere. (Hutchinson, 2015)

THE PAYOLA SCANDAL ITSELF

The late 1950s turned out to be treacherous time for some radio and television DJs and celebrities. TV quiz shows had become one of the most popular forms of entertainment – as contestants on these shows could win huge amounts of money for answering questions correctly. Unfortunately, it turned out that some of the shows were rigged.

In 1959, a star contestant on the TV quiz show Twenty-One, named Charles Van Doren – who had become a national sensation for his assumed brilliance on the show – admitted later that he was given the correct answers beforehand.

Congress had a field day with the TV “quiz show” scandals, and then turned to the radio industry where a new kind raucous “rock ’n roll” music was shaking up the established order — and some thought, fueling juvenile delinquency as well. (Doyle, 2014) Things escalated quickly and of course the 2 all-eyes-on-me figures at the time were in the center of the scandal and subsequent investigation- Alan Freed and Dick Clark.

Government Investigation

The whole affair dragged on and got increasingly complex, but in the end, not much came of it. Dick Clark, with his wholesome, all-American looks, good manners, and boyish charm charmed the committee and got off scot-free, while a disheveled, defiant Alan Freed paid the price. Of course, it can’t have hurt that Clark quietly severed a variety of business connections that might’ve tarnished his image, too (at the time, he was a part owner in seven indie labels, six publishers, three record distributors and two talent agencies)

It’s a damn shame that the man who’s credited with coining rock’n’roll’s very name will forever be associated with payola; sure, he was as guilty as anyone else, but Alan Freed ended up taking the fall for an entire rotten network of sticky-fingered DJs. It’s speculated that Freed bore the brunt of the committee’s ill will because unlike the squeaky-clean Dick Clark, Freed was a heavy smoker, a jive talker, a rock’n’roll lifer who freely associated with black musicians and refused to betray his own principles by signing an affidavit swearing he’d never accepted payola. He was charged with 26 counts of commercial bribery and handed a bundle of fines and a suspended jail sentence. He lost his television show, his radio show, and found himself blackballed, rendered virtually unemployable by the fallout from the payola scandal. Five years later, he died penniless and alone. Dick Clark went on to become one of America’s most beloved cultural icons. (Kelly, 2016)

Aftermath

“One of the results of the payola scandal was the change in radio,” explains John Jackson in his book, Big Beat Heat – Alan Freed and the Early Years of Rock ’n Roll. “WINS radio in New York dropped rock ’n roll and played Frank Sinatra three days straight. Other stations dropped rock. Disc jockeys no longer could chose songs and play what they wanted. The station play list came in. And music became bland.” (Doyle, 2014)

21st century Payola

Nowadays, labels hire indie promoters to flog records to radio stations, promoters pay radio stations in cash, giveaways, and assorted swag, and those same promoters often draw a second salary from the stations themselves to “consult” on which songs to add into the rotation. Bigger labels have bigger budgets, which gives promoters bigger incentives to get results. (Kelly, 2016)

My Thoughts on Payola

This part is purely based on my personal feelings and opinion. I would say it doesn’t necessarily affect the music we are exposed to in a bad way, since, In my theory if payola takes place, the bigger record labels win the bid, since they are bigger record labels with bigger financial power and probably good quality music which they choose to promote in order to generate revenue. People at those record labels are professionals and wouldn’t heavily push trash music with zero chance of attracting millions in audience. This is why its not necessarily a bad thing. Also in our advanced age of different streaming sources, free or paid, people will know for themselves what they like and what they do not like, despite all the payola efforts which are trying to be thrown at us through radio and television. It however doesn’t give an equal chance to a  true talent to be noticed but again with our enormous variety of ways like YouTube, Applemusic, Soundcloud and many other ways of getting noticed, payola doesn’t make it very hard.

I think I’ve covered the topic well using words, but watching a video would add a little more to your understanding in regards to this topic. The first video is presented by Decades TV Network and takes us back in time talking about Payola Scandal. The second but equally interesting video is the interview with Dick Clark himself.

I’ve read other posts in regards to Payola Scandal presented by my fellow classmates and was happy to realize that the quality of the research is similar across the blog among all contributing members.

Bibliography

Doyle, J. (2014, FEB 28). Moondog Alan Freed. Retrieved from The Pop History Dig: http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/tag/alan-freed-payola/

Hutchinson, L. (2015, AUG 20). Alan Freed and the Radio Payola Scandal. Retrieved from Performing Songwriter: http://performingsongwriter.com/alan-freed-payola-scandal/

Kelly, K. (2016, FEB 14). A Brief History of American Payola. Retrieved from Noisey. Vice.: https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/64y8y9/a-brief-history-of-american-payola

Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell was born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, in Fort Macleod, Canada. At the age of 9, Mitchell contracted polio, and it was during her recovery in the hospital that she began performing and singing to patients. Mitchell studied commercial art in Alberta before moving to Toronto in 1964 and performing at local folk clubs and coffeehouses. She relocated to New York City, where in 1967 she made her eponymous debut album (also known as Songs to a Seagull). Produced by David Crosby, this concept album was acclaimed for the maturity of its lyrics.

Other highly successful albums followed. Mitchell won her first Grammy Award (best folk performance) for her 1969 album, Clouds. She has won seven more Grammy Awards since then, in several different categories, including traditional pop, pop music and lifetime achievement.

This song was written by Mitchell on a trip to Hawaii, seeing the beautiful paradise-like islands, but also, out her hotel window, a huge, never-ending parking lot. An environmental anthem for some, the song also references the pesticide DDT — “Hey farmer, farmer, but away that DDT now.”

Mitchell was inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007

I could not find any information to if Joni benefited from the CanCon regulations, but it can be assumed that she did because she is a Canadian musician. Therefore, one she was recorded she would have been able to have lots of air time in Canada. I think that she would have had a strong career regardless of these regulations it just would have taken a long time for her to get as popular and well known.

Personally, I do enjoy her music, I had not heard it before but I recognized her song Big Yellow Taxi from covers by other artists. After researching her and listening to more of her songs I found them very enjoyable to listen to because they are more acoustic in the way it is just her and her guitar, it is peaceful.

#M8Q3

https://www.biography.com/people/joni-mitchell-9410294

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joni-Mitchell

http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=2041