Power 101: The Harvard Report, Soul Music, and The American Dream - Softcover

Westbrooks, Logan H; Traughber, Schuyler C

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0998782238 ISBN 13: 9780998782232

Publisher: Ascent Book Publishing, 2022

Synopsis

In 1972 CBS Records commissioned Harvard Business School and CBS Black Music Marketing Director, Logan Westbrooks, to develop and for CBS to implement, a "Study of the Soul Music Environment." It was intended to be a simple, productive "blueprint" for Soul music. The result was CBS Records receiving decades of praise for its contributions to an era of strong music, along with employment in positions previously denied to Blacks in the music industry...all the way to astonishing charges of corporate collusion, racism, payoffs, and greed for the enrichment of White corporate America at the expense of powerful, Black-owned, self-distributed record labels like Stax and Motown.

Dr. Westbrooks and next-generation Schuyler "Sky" Traughber, who worked at Stax, Motown and CBS Records, take us on an historical music business roller coaster ride of personal and public domain stories. It covers decades of controversial revelations of how "The Harvard Report" may or may not have lived up to its reputation of being both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-the Savior and the Demon-of what Black Music became during this tumultuous period culminating in the uncertain state of Black Music today. Questions...did CBS Records set the wheels in motion for the demise of smaller Black-owned record labels? Or was it an inevitability? POWER 101 offers answers and food for thought.

About this title

About the Authors

Dr. Logan H. Westbrooks is one of the first African Americans to work as a major label Music Executive. He's recognized as a pioneer who paved the way for the African American Music Executives of today. He is a Memphis native who attended LeMoyne-Owen College, and graduated from Lincoln University in Missouri. In 2014, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from LeMoyne-Owen College. His career extends 50 years, and he has contributed to the success of artists such as The Jackson 5, Nancy Wilson, Elvis, Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers, Nelly and many more. More at LoganWestbrooks.com

Named after Harlem Renaissance concert-pianist Philippa "Duke" Schuyler, Sky Traughber has worked as a road musician, arranger, producer and record label executive for The Temprees (We Produce/Stax Records), CBS Records and Motown Records as well as U.S. Business Representative for King Records, Tokyo. After serving as a Music Business/Management faculty member at Berklee College of Music in Boston for 15 years, Schuyler now resides in the sea-side community of Gloucester, Massachusetts, writing screenplays and giving guest college presentations on The Harvard Report.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ascent Book Publishing
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0998782238
• ISBN 13: 9780998782232
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 274