If Music Did Not Pay, It Would Be Given Up

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Success was not, in any case, immediate. The project in Cleveland fell victim to technological troubles. Moreover, radio companies opposed the idea of Muzak being broadcast into homes. In 1938, the Federal Communications Commission severely restricted Muzak's market by forbidding it from using electrical power lines for broadcast directly into the home. Although Squier’s inventions of wired wireless and signal multiplexing would later be widely adopted by cable television broadcasters, Muzak would initially be restricted to commercial venues.

Targeting commercial venues offered the Muzak Corporation an unseen advantage. Recorded music is sold with limited rights of use. Recorded media was an enormous source of income for the young record industry, but created new difficulties in tracking the number and locations of its playback. In 1914, the American Society of Composers, Artists, and Publishers (ASCAP), serving as a member-owned organization that fought for the fair compensation of the music industry for the public performance of recorded work. The first successful lawsuit pursued by ASCAP, against Shanley’s Restaurant in New York City, was heard by the United States Supreme Court. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes explained his judgment in favor of ASCAP by saying “If music did not pay, it would be given up. Whether it pays or not, the purpose of employing it is profit and that is enough.”

By 1920, the administration of music rights had become a major business. While radio stations could license programming for personal performance, they could not track where music was being played and take responsibility for its licensing. The wired wireless subscription service, however, was ideal for this task. Because every Muzak receiver had to have a corresponding receiver set, it was easy for Muzak to track who was using their service and exactly what the service was being used for.

Muzak reformed in New York City and began to cater to the hotel and restaurant market in such famed venues as the Chambord, the Stork Club, and the Waldorf Astoria. Audio would subsequently be sent to clubs through leased telephone lines rather than electric lines. Speakers would be hidden amongst large plants, thereby making the music seem to come out of nowhere and lending the name “potted palm” music. With the disappearance of any visible means of sound production, Muzak exceeded the gramophone’s capacity to make sound autonomous.

Muzak also delivered programming to the workplace where it soothed the minds of employees, enhancing their productivity while eliminating the distractions caused by commercials, scripted programs, and other verbal content as well as to New York City apartment buildings where it was allowed as a service that enhanced living.

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