Institutional power can be defined as the capacity of large social organisations and stakeholders to influence people to a point of view or action to which they would not normally accede, for example in the macro world, the institutional power of the Reserve Bank to change interest rates. Popularculture is a shared set of practices, characterised by becoming associated with commercial products, developing from local to national to global acceptance, allowing consumers widespread access andtobe constantly changing and evolving.
Institutional power is evident in the popular culture of rockandroll, which has constantlyevolved since the 1950’s. It was characterised by the use of electric guitar, strong rhythms with accents in the off beats and youth oriented lyrics with reference to sexual intercourse. Rock and roll also began the process of acculturation, bringing the abolition of the racial divide in America when ‘black’ music was accepted by ‘white’ teenagers, and has become the core aspect of the new culture that has emerged in the late 20th century, and continues today.
Institutions are essential for the dissemination of popular culture products, as their power and influence enables these products to be produced, distributed and shared to cater for a massmarket – which has now become a globalaudience.
With the turmoil of World War II finally over, a massive financial boom in the post-war economy introduced the new socialclass of ‘teenagers’, who emerged throughout the 1950’s. They began to work in part-time jobs enabling them to obtain a personal spending budget, and also began searching for a new sense of identity. Entrepreneurs were quick to realise this potential market and began to establish business to gain large profits. The combination of this mass market, and potential availability for large profits meant commercial interests with popular culture became closely associated to attempt to meet the demands of this new found audience.
Rapid social changes also accompanied the breaking down of social, racial and gender based barriers. Examples of such changes in the status of gender were Elvis’s feminine sexual dance movements, and the onset of makeup being worn by male artists such as Little Richard. Socialchanges were also evident, as previously in the 1940s, US corporations dropped ‘black’ music as it was not seen as economically viable, paving the way for small record companies and local radio stations to fill the gap.
The initial wave of rock and roll artists began in 1952, when Sam Phillips began his first small recording label in Memphis, Tennessee – Sun Records. His aim to find a “…white man who could sing like a black man,” ended when he discovered Elvis Presley, a white southerner who performed a combination of blues, country western and gospel. Eventually the huge demand and popularity of Elvis’ music had become too much for Phillips’ Sun Records, so he was sold to the Radio Corporation of America (RCA Records) in 1955 for the enormous price of $35,000. However this was nothing compared to the profits that would be made; as of today RCA Records belongs to Sony BMG. Institutional power was a key element in the distribution of rock and roll, as RCA became the largest music corporation in the 1950s and 60s – creating a popular culture machine where an institution held control of making the music, producing the music and distributing it to the public. The stakeholders in the industry however, at the time consumers (teenagers), radio stations, churches, governments and businesses, all combined to become the counterparts to the success of rock and roll’s infamous rise.
The introduction of television in the United States became a pivotal power in the transition of rock and roll from a local level to a national level, and eventually a global level. In1952, Bob Horn’sBandstand went live on air at WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, and the influx of teenagers who had taken interest in the show led Horn to realise the potential of television and rock music. ABC purchased the show in 1957, renaming it American Bandstand, and at this time rock and roll became a national success in American culture, with the first commercial successbecoming Bill Haley and The Comet’s, ‘Rock Around The Clock’ in 1954.
With rock and roll quickly spreading its influence to other countries such as the UK, more institutionalTNC’s (transnational corporations) invested in the popular culture.One such TNC was UK Corporation ‘Electrical and Musical Industries’ – later to become EMI Records – in 1957, when the UK had lost its rights to market RCA products (which held the majority of rock and roll music and paraphernalia). EMI then responded by buying the US label Capitol. In 1964, EMI’sband ‘The Beatles’ became the biggest band in the United States, and then the world. EMI held institutional power and encouragedartiststo be creative and concentrate on the marketing and distribution of band merchandise to consumers. The fight between institutional powers and of EMI to gain power in the rock and roll industry impacted on RCA records, and produced a new wave of bands including artists such as The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. They were free from racism in music and supported black artists such as Jimi Hendrix, who had gone to the UK to gain media coverage and a recording contract.
Allowing consumers widespread access is the key to any popular culture; without access for consumers, nothing is able to move from local to national to global. In the 1950s, access to rock and roll started with the purchase of vinyls from local record stores, and graduallyportablerecordplayers and radios gave people more personal access. The ability to listen to rock music in people’s own rooms and with personal privacy played a critical role in changing the dynamicsofhowadolescentsinteracted with popular culture. Since 1974, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) a publicly owned Australian corporation had little interest in making money, and was a drivingforce in the distribution and widespread access of rock and roll in Australianpopularculture. This was done through its TV networks and its national radio networks, such as ‘TripleJ’. Popular culture’s accessibility has changed dramatically due to the developments in technology, over the last 20 years especially. Concerts are still a focalpoint in bringingdirectaccessto the public, creating a relationship between music and the audience and strengthening socialisation between audience members. It has evolved to offer direct access through forms of records, to radio, CDs, Walkmans and portable CD players, to now MP3s, online music storage and portable devices such as iPods of the 21st century. The advent of the internet made the latter possible, and the evolution of access is a clear example of continuity and change.
The control of popular culture by institutional powers has been a constant struggle between artists, consumers and TNCs, with today’s music industry being dominated by the ‘Big 5’ – Sony BMG, PolyGram, EMI, Warner Records and MCA.Once again, institutional powers have played a central role in the access of media, with pro-internet media services such as Apple’s iTunes, and anti-internet campaigns combatting to stop online music piracy. These powers are demonstrating their attempts to control the online rock and roll industries, even becoming evident in recent governmental bills and policies in the United States, with the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) 2011 pushing for filtering/censorship of the internet. Other stakeholders in popular culture, namely consumers and businesses, have fought to rebelagainst the proposedlegislations and won, stopping SOPA from becoming another barrier to the access of rock and roll music – legal access, or not.
Institutional power has played a pivotalrole in the development of rock and roll since the 1950s, through its involvement in the commercialisation of rock music, developing it from local, national to global levels, allowing consumers widespreadaccess – as well as attempting to control that accessfinancially, and constantlypushing and marketing the evolution of rock and roll and its changing audience and styles. With the influences of stakeholders in popular culture such as consumers, TNCs, artists, the media and government, rock and roll has been continuallychanged to adapt to the dynamicnatureof today’s global society.