Copyright Dispute Helped Give America Rock 'n' Roll

How a Copyright Dispute Helped Give America Rock 'n' Roll: " . . . After ASCAP’s share of radio revenue increased from $750,000 to $4.3 million from 1932 to 1939, it doubled the fees it charged to play its copyrighted works in 1940. Radio stations balked; after all, they had hosted bands to play on the air at no charge just years earlier, since it was seen as good publicity and marketing for the performers. In response, a number of radio broadcasters boycotted ASCAP and formed BMI as an alternative. BMI focused on local music -- lots of blues, country, and folk -- that ASCAP ignored in its focus on LA, New York City, and music it considered highbrow. (To the extent ASCAP represented black musicians, they played genres like jazz that white audiences had already adopted, according to Garofalo.) Suddenly rhythm and blues music had a national audience that included white listeners, while other local musicians also received a national airing. The boycott lasted for almost a year. In late 1941, ASCAP signed an agreement with radio stations at terms less generous than it had before the boycott. The Justice Department also sued ASCAP again on antitrust grounds. This time ASCAP lost, and it was forced to accept regulations that opened it up to other musicians and set blanket rates for licensing deemed fair by third parties. With the gatekeeper gone, the new genres maintained their national audience and anointed new stars, including the first rock and roll icons in the following years, a development that grew out of the once neglected genres like blues. . . . " (read more at link above)

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