From Edison to Marconi: The First Thirty Years of Recorded Music

David J. Steffen

ISBN 10: 0786420618 / ISBN 13: 9780786420612

Published by McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2005

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: From Edison to Marconi: The First Thirty Years of Recorded Music
• Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786420618
• ISBN 13: 9780786420612
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Collectible: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Like any profound technological breakthrough, the advent of sound recording ushered in a period of explosive and imaginative experimentation, growth and competition. Between the commercial debut of Edison's "talking machine" in 1889 and the first commercial radio broadcast three decades later, the recording industry was uncharted territory in terms of both technology and content.

This history of the earliest years of sound recording--the time between the phonograph's appearance and the licensing of commercial radio--examines a newly created technology and industry in search of itself. It follows the story from the earliest efforts to capture sound, to the fight among wire, cylinder and disk recordings for primacy in the market, to the growth and development of musical genres, record companies and business practices that remain current today. The work chronicles the people, events and developments that turned a novel, expensive idea into a highly marketable commodity. Two appendices provide extensive lists of popular genre and ethnic recordings made between 1889 and 1919. A bibliography and index accompany the text.

About the Author

David J. Steffen lives in Gualala, California. He has spent nearly three decades in the music industry.