You Say You Want a Revolution: The British Popular Music Industry 1950–1975

This chapter outlines the development of the popular music industry during this crucial period of development. Whilst there have been a great many accounts of the development of the pop business, little serious attention has been paid to the industry by business or economic historians. Between 1950 and 1975 major changes took place in terms of creativity and influences (particularly transatlantic influences), in terms of technologies of production and distribution (including electrification, multi-track recording, the vinyl disk, radio and TV), in terms of corporate forms and power (the rise and decline of the major record companies). In many ways the template for the modern music industry was established during this period, and established moreover in Britain. This chapter charts this first phase of the revolution in popular music, setting the scene for the second phase which emerged with digitalization.