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Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy
Overview
• Introduction
• View I
– Methodology: Linear History Approach
• View II
– Methodology: Actor Network Theory
• Conclusion
Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy
Linear History I
• Music before the phonograph was delivered as
1 - sheet music to be played
2 - rolls for player pianos, “music boxes”
• 1878 Edison built and patented the first
“Speaking Machine” also called phonograph
– Founding of Edison´s “Speaking Phonograph Co.“
• 1885 The “Gramophone” was patented first by Bell & Tainter
– Led to legal problems and a fight about the patents
• 1885 “Columbia Phonograph Records” was founded
• 1887 Emile Berliner develops first flat metal disk,
which can be mass produced
• 1901 Enrico Caruso becomes first big performer to make a record
Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy
Linear History II
• 1914 - ASCAP
(American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers)
was founded to ensure that members receive
royalties for recordings
• 1918 - WWI songs create further demand for gramophones
• 1920s - The era becomes known as the “Jazz Age,”
– gramophones become popular in
American and European homes
• 1924 - Radio stations draw audiences
away from grammophones
– Sales of records drop 50 percent
Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy
Linear History III
• 1929 Stock market crash ushers in Great Depression
– Record sales hurt further
• 1945 Magnetic audio tape, used by Germans
during WWII, is brought to US by the Military
• 1948 LP introduced by of Columbia Records
– LPs allow 25 minutes of music per side
• 1983 Compact discs arrive
– They replace vinyl records
almost totally within two years
Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy
Linear View
• Linear View = Determinist view (Edison  CD)
– In the majority of the literature
the history is presented that way
– „...The next day he [Edison] realized that he could ...
replay them for a simulacrum of the speakers´s voice.
This flash of insight paved the way for the
modern recording industry.“ (The Atlantic Monthly, 1995)
Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy
Actor Network
Electrical Industry
Military
Lightbulb
Innovation Culture
Economical Benefit
Edison
Bell
Record Companies
Gramophone
Artists
Marketing
Consumer
Culture
Phonograph
Berliner
Purchasing Power
Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy
Artists & Recording Industry
• 1885 “Columbia Phonograph Records” was founded
• 1901 Enrico Caruso becomes first big performer to make a record
– Later earnings from his recordings was over $2 million USD
• 1920s Columbia and Victor record companies develop electrical
recording process, using microphones instead of funnels
• 1948 LP introduced by Columbia Records
– LPs allow 25 minutes of music per side
Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy
The Culture of Invention in New England
• New England area held in high international regard for its
industry, technology and spirit of inventiveness
– Provided a nurturing environment for the inventive imagination
• Indicators of such culture:
– Law firms devoted to patents
– Education institutions such as Lawrence scientific school, MIT etc.
– Machine shops which helped inventors making
their inventions come true
•
Edison, Latimer, Bell, Thompson were all connected to this area
– „Legal firms and machine shops operated side by side with
commercial ventures interested in the purchase, marketing, and
distribution of patents and patented goods. Some such ventures
were respectable, with staff that understood and carried through
the difficult, often intricate work of bringing an invention to
fruition.“ (Manning, K.)
Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy
Phonograph and Grammophone
Edison, 1878
Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
Berliner, 1887
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy
Edison´s Patent
„Speaking Machine“
(1978)
Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy
Thank you for your attention!
Harald Holst, Boris Jermer
The Role of the Speaking Machine in Music Histroy