From dance bands to radio and records

Abstract

This article traces key developments in the production and promotion of popular music in West Germany during the twenty years after the Second World War. Starting from the observation that performance royalties were a relatively important source of revenue from music, the article first describes how, around 1950, dance bands became the principal gatekeepers, before looking at the impact of radio and records on the musical production system. It shows that this structural change led to a marked concentration of the music business and argues that the immediate effect on the popular repertoire was moderate. The most consequential change was a widespread condemnation of Schlager and a growing sense of detachment from this genre among songwriters, which set the path for the further decline of this musical style in subsequent decades.

Troubling Territory: West Germany in the European Airwaves

“…56 This owed in part to the conservative nature of the German music industry, where international songs and performers were translated, arranged, and published usually by the same composers who dominated the domestic market. 57 The song covers on record formed a strange parallel to the public service broadcasters (many of whose light music programmers were, not accidentally, composers of regularly played popular songs, or Schlager), where light tunes with translated lyrics were usually performed by in-house ensembles. 58 In 1966, when the performing rights society announced a tenfold increase in its fees for playing records on air, things came to close to an absolute boycott of records by the radio stations.…”

Populärkulturforschung

“…| An der Unterscheidung zwischen »gehobener Unterhaltungsmusik« und »Tanzund Schlagermusik« zeigt dasNathaus (2011). Weitere Belege beiMaase (2015).2.…”

Populärkulturforschung

“…| An der Unterscheidung zwischen »gehobener Unterhaltungsmusik« und »Tanzund Schlagermusik« zeigt dasNathaus (2011). Weitere Belege beiMaase (2015).…”