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How Jukeboxes Made Memphis Music

When R.E. Buster Williams ruled jukeboxes and jukeboxes ruled music.
by Robert Gordon via Oxford American on December 10, 2024
Jailhouse Rock (1957).

How Has Music Changed Since the 1950s?

A statistical analysis of how music composition evolved over time.
by Daniel Parris via Stat Significant on July 10, 2024
The male-dominated field of pop songwriting.

Women are Superstars on Stage, but Still Rarely Get to Write Songs

Songwriting credits since 1958, broken down by gender.
by Chris Dalla Riva, Ashley Cai via The Pudding on July 20, 2023
Drawing of performers and different audio technologies.

The End of the Music Business

A century of recorded music has culminated in the infinite archive of streaming platforms. But is it really better for listeners?
by Ethan Iverson via The Nation on April 10, 2023
Man with a guitar and woman behind the counter of a record store in Vigo County, Indiana.
Exhibit

The Music Biz

American music is big business. The exhibit explores the industry's history, from the songwriters to the technological innovators to the execs who have decided who profits, and who doesn't.

Why Do Modern Pop Songs Have So Many Credited Writers?

How modern songwriting evolved into a game of aggressive credit—even for the people who didn’t technically do the composing.
by Chris Dalla Riva via Tedium on February 4, 2023
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform in 2016 in D.C.
partner

Springsteen’s Early Struggles Reveal How the Music Industry Has Changed

The album was once king. Now it’s the live show.
by Jim Cullen via Made By History on January 5, 2023
Corporate executives sitting on musicians

Ticketmaster’s Dark History

A 40-year saga of kickbacks, threats, political maneuvering, and the humiliation of Pearl Jam.
by Maureen Tkacik, Krista Brown via The American Prospect on December 21, 2022
Black and white photo of Woody Guthrie holding a guitar labeled "this machine kills fascists"

I've Got Those Old Talking-Blues Blues Again

The Folkies and WWII, Part Two.
by William Hogeland via Hogeland's Bad History on October 13, 2022
Crowd at Black Flag concert

The Unraveling of SST Records

Jim Ruland’s book on the legendary punk label helps explain why we lack a meaningful counterculture today.
by Michael Friedrich via The New Republic on May 3, 2022

The Black Record Label That Introduced the Beatles to America

Over its 13-year run, Vee Jay built a roster that left a lasting impact on every genre of music.
by Bryan Greene via Smithsonian on February 23, 2022
Neil Young, on left, and UFC announcer and podcaster Joe Rogan.
partner

What The Neil Young-Joe Rogan Dust-Up Tells Us About The Music Industry

The music industry is thriving — but it’s not always trickling down to artists.
by Sam Backer via Made By History on February 6, 2022
Advertisement for Ethel Waters' record

The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records

The story of the first major black-owned record label and the mystery behind the man who created it.
by Joe Richman via Radio Diaries on June 25, 2021
A shoe stepping on money.

Islands in the Stream

Musicians are in peril, at the mercy of giant monopolies that profit off their work.
by David Dayen via The American Prospect on March 22, 2021
Morgan Wallen
partner

The Crossroads Facing Country Music After Morgan Wallen’s Use of a Racist Slur

Will the industry remain a bastion of conservatism, or take advantage of the opportunity to broaden its base?
by Amanda Marie Martinez via Made By History on February 17, 2021
Black and white photo montage of the cover of We're Not Here to Entertain, with a punk rock singer and Ronald Reagan, superimposed on a background of Minor Threat playing on stage.
partner

Remember Punk Rock? Probably Not...: The Real Culture War of 1980's America

When most people hear the word “punk,” they think of drug addled, nasty behavior. The truth is, it was driven by a visceral hatred for the president.
by Kevin Mattson via HNN on August 30, 2020

The My Generation: An Oral History Of Myspace Music

Myspace changed the way we discovered music and fell apart after conquering the world.
by Michael Tedder via Stereogum on March 30, 2020

Why Disco Made Pop Songs Longer

Disco, DJs, and the impact of the 12-inch single.
by Estelle Caswell via Vox Earworm on April 25, 2019

The Year That Changed Hip-Hop Forever

Stereo Williams takes a look back at 1988, a year that established the blueprint for the next thirty years of hip-hop.
by Stereo Williams via The Daily Beast on February 26, 2018
Black and white photo of Charlie Rich on a hammock.

Dear Charlie

Charlie Rich, the tragic soul man whose legacy was largely forgotten after his brief period of fame.
by Joe Hagan via Oxford American on January 7, 2014
Willie Nelson at the 1973 Fourth of July Picnic, in Dripping Springs.

That ’70s Show

Forty years ago, Willie, Waylon, Jerry Jeff, and a whole host of Texas misfits brought the hippies and rednecks together in outlaw country.
by John Spong via Texas Monthly on January 21, 2013
A bronze statue of Willie Nelson.

Willie Nelson at 70

"The Essential Willie Nelson" compilation demonstrates the continuity of Nelson's style across a variety of musical genres.
by Gene Santoro via The Nation on October 30, 2003
Kendrick Lamar in the spotlight performing a concert.

Bad Beef

Rap beef is form of capitalist accumulation that enriches artists—and, most of all, the corporate suits that run their record labels.
by Austin McCoy via Public Books on January 9, 2025
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in "A Complete Unknown."

Timothée Chalamet Does Dylan

Despite Chalamet’s best efforts, "A Complete Unknown" is a cookie-cutter Bob Dylan biopic for a legendary artist who deserves something more interesting.
by Eileen Jones via Jacobin on January 1, 2025
Exhibit title card featuring a mural of Elizabeth Cotten.

Lady Plays the Blues Project

A digital annotated bibliography and multimedia archive about Black women country blues guitarists.
by Yoli M. Bergstrom-Lynch via Lady Plays the Blues Project on December 31, 2024
Bob Dylan playing the electric guitar in 1965.
partner

'A Complete Unknown' Misses a Key Part of 1960s History

The Bob Dylan film forefronts a conflict between acoustic and electric music, while ignoring how the Vietnam War divided folk musicians.
by Nina Silber via Made By History on December 25, 2024
Bob Dylan smoking a cigarette with his arms around Mimi Farina.

Bob Dylan and the Creative Leap that Transformed Modern Music

Bob Dylan decided he wanted to subvert the expectations of his fans – and rebel against industry forces intent on pigeonholing him and his work.
by Ted Olson via The Conversation on December 20, 2024
New release of Louis Vasnier recording.

The Earliest Known ‘Country’ Recording Has Been Found. The Singer? A Black Man.

A new release of an 1891 song by Louis Vasnier deepens what we know about the genre’s origins.
by Geoff Edgers via Washington Post on November 30, 2024
"REM" musicians pose in front of a mirror.

How R.E.M. Created Alternative Music

In the cultural wasteland of the Reagan era, they showed that a band could have mass appeal without being cheesy, or nostalgic, or playing hair metal.
by Mark Krotov via The New Yorker on November 13, 2024
Crowded and brightly-lit Beale Street in Memphis.

Memphis: The Roots of Rock in the Land of the Mississippians

Rising on the lands of an ancient agricultural system, Memphis has a long history of negotiating social conflict and change while singing the blues.
by Rob Crossan via JSTOR Daily on October 18, 2024
Taylor Swift performing on stage.

Has Pop Music Got Less Melodic? I’ve Immersed Myself in 70 Years of Hits – This is What I’ve Found

A new study claims that songs have become less complex. But the magic of these short, sharp tunes can’t be so easily distilled.
by Tom Breihan via The Guardian on August 5, 2024
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