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An investigation on Marketing in Jazz music in Radio and Television in Central Pennsylvania
Ingrid Pérez, Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Anthony Leach, Assistant Professor of Music and Music Education
Department of Music, College of Arts and Architecture
Abstract
Jazz music popularity over the years has dwindled, and its
appreciation and presence is almost non-existent in today’s popular culture.
Looking into the ways that jazz music, both vocal and instrumental, are marketed
throughout radio and television may help give an outlook for ways to once again
popularize one of America’s greatest contributions to the world. By examining
marketing strategies used to sell music, analyzing data from a survey conducted of
100 random Pennsylvania State University students and comparing it to the
National Endowment of the Arts national survey (last conducted in 1992) parallels
can be attained and therefore conclusions can be formed on factors that affect its
popularity amongst college students today.
Introduction
Rhythm and Blues, Rap, Rock, Alternative, Classical, Funk, Reggae and other
styles of music are all popular among college students today, but there is one specific genre
that for some reason has not been on Billboard’s top ten list for a while and that is jazz.
Jazz music came to us some time ago from the southern states, in a place called New
Orleans; from there, it traveled down the river to bigger cities such as Chicago and New
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York. From New Orleans, musicians worked on the style and tried to perfect it by giving it
their own little twist. As popular as jazz music was in the early 1900’s, it seems to have
died out. Jazz has been a music that has not been the focal point of public attention in the
past several decades. Some say that it grew old with its generation; therefore it’s an older
person’s music. As described by Bob O’ Conner, a radio programmer for KIFM 98.1FM (a
smooth jazz station), “It was an adult music for adults who were smart” (Atwood 1995).
Whether this statement is true or not, the current audience for the genre tends to prove him
right, depending on whom one considers an adult.
The average college student might be considered as an adult, but to say the least,
they aren’t the average listener for jazz music. Although music is universal, and people
may have different tastes as far as specific styles and genres of music, jazz tends not to be
the popular vote among the college crowd. For the Pennsylvania State University, State
College offers a variety of different art-related events in its community. For example, the
Central Pennsylvania Arts Festival occurs every summer in mid July. Concerts, live band
performances at the local bars, stage performances, and even street performers add to the
array of the art, but because the world is becoming a lot more audio, as evident in the rapid
increase in radio, CD, MP3’s, etc., and visual, as in people who tend to stay home and
watch television all day, the arts have needed other tactics to catch those people’s attention.
Due to the specificity of the location being studied and the majority of its population being
college students, things not only have to be targeted to a specific audience but also have to
be marketed differently. If modern marketing tactics were to be used in both the local radio
station and television programs, perhaps the popularity of jazz music would be rising with
college students as opposed to being almost nonexistent. With this investigation, marketing
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strategies and advertising methods will be viewed and analyzed as to how they help
introduce younger audience members specifically college students to the genre of jazz
music. The investigation will produce ways in which both vocal and instrumental jazz
music could be better marketed in radio and television in the central Pennsylvania area to
attract college students.
Marketing strategies done by both radio stations and television programming are
not sufficient enough in their advertising methods, and they do not work to their full
capacity in reaching out to the audience of young adults. This paper which has used
traditional and nontraditional research sources will demonstrate the methods of marketing
used by public radio and television, in particular, as to how they attract the young adults in
a college setting to jazz music.
Background
As everyone knows, radio and television are commonly used household devices for
entertainment purposes. Since the invention of both radio and television, music has traveled
a long way. Radio and television have been a part of the human race for nearly a century,
and the advantages received from these inventions have been numerous and countless. One
of the many benefits that both radio and television has brought has been the smooth and
jamming sounds of jazz music. Diverging from the blues, jazz became more wide spread
during the turn of the century and it all began from a place called Storyville, Louisiana. It
wasn’t until radio was discovered that music could be broadcasted, and that was when
people started to tune in to jazz in the comfort of their own home.
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All forms of art need a venue, and to attract an audience, it has to be done in many
different ways. Radio and television are ways that art can be publicized and acknowledged
by people, and these are two of the most used mediums of promoting art. The less popular
the genre or style is, the more difficult it will be to advertise the art form and this has been
the case for jazz music in today’s society.
Not many people have the knowledge of what jazz music really is or the
appreciation for it. “Jazz music is a new way of playing music, not a new music. It’s what
you play not how you play it” (Gleason 141 &142). Jazz is, what would be considered, the
roots of what is now popular music. Jazz “is the story of our music…it was only a matter of
evolution,” said Dizzy Gillespie (Stokes 64). In many of the same ways American culture
has evolved since the 19020’s—so has jazz.
In the 1920’s jazz music was at its high, it was heard throughout most of the major
cities. It was also being constantly renovated wherever it was heard. Jazz was a form of art
that was blooming to its peak. During this era names like Duke Ellington, Louis
Armstrong, Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Bix Beiderbecke, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella
Fitzgerald, and Sidney Bechet, amongst many others, were all familiar names. Rounding
the corners from speakeasy to speakeasy, and making an occasional appearance at the
infamous Harlem’s Cotton Club, were the places to be in those times. As the years rolled
by, jazz music’s popularity died down, and Americans weren’t as interested in the genre
like they used to. These may have been several reasons for jazz’s popular decline: perhaps
it was an evolving art form that helped expand new genres of music; or maybe the audience
stayed the same and new members were not being introduced to the style. Despite the
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reasons, the outcome was a decreased interest in jazz, with not much appreciation for it
anymore.
As an intricate part of the American culture, television has helped in a major
way with the marketing of jazz music. “Jazz and television have never quite
established a compatible relationship—at least not since the ‘50s when producers
such as Robert Herridge understood the connection between the music’s visual and
aural appeal” (Los Angeles Times 21 Jan. 2000). In the fall of 1994, the Black
Entertainment Television (BET) launched an all-jazz music, ad-supported cable
network called BET on Jazz: The Cable Jazz Channel. At the press conference that
announced the up coming cable channel, many record companies made a
commitment to produce jazz music videos as with the new network. President and
CEO of BET, Bob Johnson, who also announced the music channel, mentioned that
“Not too many jazz videos come off the assembly line now because ‘there are so
few outlets for them. MTV and VH-1 play almost no jazz” (Dempsey 1993)
Although, presently the jazz channel “draws on hours of jazz performances
on film and tape and shows jazz oriented movies such as ‘Bird,’ ‘Young Man with a
Horn,’ ‘Round Midnight’ and ‘Paris Blues,’ there are no definite ways of getting
access to the channel wherever you are (Daily Variety 1993). Taking into
consideration that the channel was new at the time, there were concerns of the
challenges that were going to be faced as far as the channel being carried by cable
systems having a limited channel capacity. In an interview with a person highly
educated on the subject of jazz and a prominent jazz scholar, Barry Kernfeld, whose
also the editor of the 2nd edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz commented on
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BET’s challenges. As a resident of State College, PA, he mentioned that there was
little to no accessibility to the channel. “Unfortunately, there is no way that I could
get access to the BET jazz channel from State College PA. Jazz on television is not
really an option or nor is there an opportunity to get hold of the music here”
(Kernfeld interview). Not always will accessibility through commercial media help
your product in every way.
Marketing jazz music through radio and television commercializes the
product with which many people are in disagreement with. Being referred to as a
“sell-out” or just “crossing over” are both suggested terms when having
commercialization are concerned. “When you go commercial, it’s not about the
music any more, and jazz IS all about the music. If you go too far with the whole
glamorizing of it, it’s not okay, but if the main component and the focal part of it is
still the music, then it’s okay,” said Robert Borger, a music student at the
Pennsylvania State University who studies jazz. Borger is also the local disc jockey
for the school’s radio station WPSU the lion 90.7FM on the Jazz Spectrum section.
Artists are concerned about the way they are sold, and perhaps the reason the genre
isn’t at the forefront along with other styles is the willingness of the artist to “give
the people what they want.’”:
“Jazz is still trying to figure out how the music business works, and
it’s 1995, isn’t that incredible? The problem, to me, is that jazz
doesn’t keep its finger on the pulse of its consumer. A lot of the
difficulties jazz is having today are the result of years of negative
signals from the public itself that have been ignored. Jazz has tried to
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exist minus sex and sensuality, while the public says, ‘We want
those things.’ It has tried to exist minus the accouterments of
entertainment—lighting, the staging, the drama—while the public
says ‘We want those things,’ ” said T.S. Monk. (Heckman 1995)
Musician and son of the great jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk,
T.S. Monk addresses the ways that jazz should be marketed and merchandised.
After being a part of a world class ensemble he knows how to successfully market
and merchandise his product. “Because if the record company doesn’t want to sell
me properly, if they want to use traditional ways of selling a jazz record as though
it’s toilet paper—throw it on the wall and see what sticks—isn’t acceptable to me,”
said T.S. Monk (Heckman 1995)
As far as he’s concerned, jazz does not fight economically and does not
fight marketing wise to sell the product. “Everybody else in the music industry is
already in the 21st Century, and jazz is still in the middles if the 20th” (Los Angeles
Times F1). Eventually the jazz music industry began to take notice of this and
started applying strategies that would help the music.
In the current day basic marketing strategies have now started to be applied
to the jazz industry. Not only are venues like radio and television being used, but
the world wide web is too. Since 1996, THEJAZZSTORE.COM has been
distributing jazz and jazz related products. President and CEO of Unapix
Entertainment, Inc (who owns the website), David M. Fox, said “The jazz
marketplace is a strong niche business consisting of highly motivated people who
love jazz passionately” (Business wire, 3 July, 1998). Magazines are also another
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venue in which jazz has also been introducing itself to an extremely large base of
music consumer. JAZZIZ magazine, one of the leading and most respected Jazz
magazines today, has been successful in penetrating this sector of music to fans that
usually didn’t subscribe to music magazines-establishing a whole new audience
(Business wire 29 Nov. 1999).
They may be black or white, women or men, or young and the old: the radio
format is almost astonishingly democratic. Most of the 160+ radio stations around
the country have adopted the “smooth jazz” format and this has raised eyebrows in
the radio industry in realizing that this particular audience has big money. One such
station in New York City, WQCD (101.9FM) supports the genre and is often used
to help market. As a result of using the radio station, concerts in Carnegie Hall with
featured singers such as Diane Reeves and saxophonist Gerald Albright are being
sold out:
The jazzeratti have given everybody the impression that you have to
have an advanced degree to understand jazz, and of course you
don’t. The public response is proof. “People have been under the
impression that jazz was too intellectual or too complicated. The
word ‘jazz’ scared them to some degree.” (Morris 2001)
If participation in jazz correlates strongly with education and income, why
aren’t more college students numbers higher? Perhaps one of the reasons it doesn’t
reach our suggested audience are the forms in which the product is delivered in.
Because of these reasons, music industries have “got to reach out and find
innovative and different ways of taking music to the consumer” (Wan 2002).
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“If music is always identity, then the concert and the music being sold
suggest that class, education and affluence are powerful bonds that can create
subcultures that move beyond racial boundaries” (New York Times 5 Jun 1997).
Suggested by recent surveys, jazz tends to be an “adult music” for people between
the ages of 25-54, the age group which supposedly has the money to spend it and
who usually performs it. Many may feel that this genre is only applicable to an
older age group when in actuality it relates to all ages. Jazz is a music that appeals
across traditional race, age and gender lines. One of the reasons that jazz may not be
targeted towards the younger age groups are because of the misconceptions of the
music industries of young adults not taking to the style. The false impressions of the
industries have been far too common when it comes to marketing to the younger
crowds, and their losses are great in the market.
Although it is more easily said than done, selling jazz music isn’t such an
easy task. Consumers have always been reluctant to purchase music by new artists;
therefore it was an even harder task just to get the artist up on the shelves of the
music store. “Jazz business is not really down, it’s flat,” said Michael Kaufman, VP
of sales for the Verve Music Group (Graybow 1999). Strategies to target the
younger demographic will focus on educating consumers, particularly those of the
college age through some aggressive marketing and education programs.
According to Billboard’s article in 1992, labels were “repackaging formerly
recorded material with never-before-issued live performances, alternate studio
takes, and extensive archival notes and discography” (Billboard 1992). Most of the
major companies report that about 40%-50% of their total jazz sales come from
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reissues. One concern may be that the public isn’t being introduced to the newer
artist, who are up and coming, but opinions are that the older artists actually help
the marketing for the newer artists.
Bob Thiele, a veteran jazz executive who runs the new label Red Baron
Records, believes reissues “open the market for new sales.” He says, “They whet
the appetite to learn more about American jazz music. They give it a sense of
history that lends importance to the music itself” (Jeffery 1992). While there are
benefits that do affect the sales and acknowledgment of the newer jazz artist, there
are also pitfalls that exist at the other end of the spectrum. According to T.S. Monk
a high percentage of most of the jazz record companies’ revenue comes from
deceased artist which would, in turn, directly affect the sales and popularity of jazz
artist that are out and those who are up and coming.
Jazz on television is probability attributed to cable television adding
diversity in programming. Channels like: Bravo, A&E and BET on Jazz have
provided broadcast time for jazz performances. Music videos have helped transform
popular music. The interrelations between music video cable channels and record
promotion both have yet to affect jazz. For reasons like the market for jazz
recordings being too small and the expense of producing music videos too great,
jazz has a difficult time being produced in these forms.
Recently, jazz has been trying to make a comeback using different venues.
Radio and television are two of the many ways. Adding on to the many different jazz
festivals produced in cultural cities along with the results of numerous jazz radio stations
and programming, television has hopped on the bandwagon to try and help jazz popularize
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itself to where it was before. In January 2000, the PBS broadcast television station aired a
series by Kern Burns called Jazz, a documentary to one of America’s most influential
contributions to the world. Sales for jazz records were better than expected, as a result of
this program. Dusty compact discs of infamous dead musicians mentioned in the 10
episode documentary were being emptied from the shelves, and more copies of the series’
soundtrack were being requested by music stores. “Because of the popularity of the series,
many people are discovering jazz for the first time, or rediscovering their enthusiasm for
jazz” (PR Newswire, Jan. 2001).
With series such as Ken Burns’ Jazz and the BET on Jazz: the cable jazz channel,
jazz can be seen more than heard. As a result of the series, there was a boost in interest in
mainstream jazz music which reflected in a strong sale in “CDs, book, TV airing, and video
releasing coinciding, ‘this is one of the few times in consumer-products history when four
different media have come together,’ ” making it a historically unique marketing
opportunity (Billboard 10 Feb. 2001). Now the questions is: are programs such as these and
radio stations such as KJAZ in California available in a typical college campus setting such
as the one in State College, Pennsylvania at the Pennsylvania State University?
Jazz Marketing
Marketing music is one thing in itself, but marketing jazz defers from all the
other genres in more ways than one. For music that generally does a better job of
dealing with creativity than with marketing, jazz has to find inventive ways of
getting its music ‘out there.’ The music has to be marketed with every angle
conceivable being worked. By exploring and producing the more commercial
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strains of jazz, it will eventually hold the mass market appeal that other genres
have. Through television and radio, the media most accessible to people, jazz can
bring the music to a mass audience, therefore creating opportunities for jazz artists
to get into the mass media. Through radio commercial campaigns, broadcasting and
taping live performances, jazz can bust open the doors as it enters the world of mass
media in these forms.
According to Joe Lawson, BET’s VP of marketing, the channel will link up
with jazz radio stations for further cross-promotional opportunities.
Jazz is improvisational and so is jazz marketing. Getting the word
out can mean anything from booking artists on radio shows to
handing out fliers as people leave performances. Such strategies are
sentential when bringing people to jazz. One of the problems with
marketing jazz is that people aren’t familiar with some of the current
musicians. “What I’ve learned the most about jazz is you have to go
where the listeners already are,” said Madeline Dames, former
publicist for Jazz at the Bistro and a longtime jazz promoter (Wilson
2002).
“I think there are a lot of people out there who are hungry to hear new music
who are open and who don’t get the opportunity through traditional means like
radio,” Dave Alder, Virgin Entertainment Group senior VP of product and
marketing, notes (Wan 2002). Although radio and television are traditional means
in which people use to access music, they aren’t the only ways and because of this
cross promotional marketing methods are important. Marketers have to see what the
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consumer trends are in order to have the opportunity of an exceptional response for
their product. “Because we’re a mass marketing, blunt-instrument sort of operation
that sells an awful lot of records, we have wanted for a long time to apply the same
marketing techniques to a number of jazz or classical records to just try and broaden
the bases for those labels and those marketplaces,” said Bob Mercer, UTV Records
senior VP (Morris 2001).
“Commercial and public radio have expanded jazz programming, and there
are a few all- jazz stations.” (De Veaux 2) Along with radio, television has been an
intricate part in the expansion of jazz music as a whole. Ken Burn’s Jazz for
example, was a marketing effort unusual for public television which is considered
to be a major success for the advertisement of the genre. Whether it’s direct
marketing or cross promotional marketing, the music industry has to vary in each
form to attempt to get the music to the people.
Methodology
As part of the investigation several interviews were conducted with residents of the
community at State College, Pennsylvania who were knowledgeable, and have applicable
background in the genre of jazz music. To obtain wider understanding of the average
college students’ edification on the subject matter, a survey of 100 random Pennsylvania
State University students on their musical background, musical interest, and willingness to
learn more about jazz music (respondents defining jazz as they saw it), given the
opportunity was also conducted. By analyzing the findings and comparing them to a similar
survey done by the National Endowment for the Arts both in1982 and 1992 on information
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on the jazz audience; who they were, their education, income, age, race, gender and their
geography.
The first interview conducted was with jazz scholar Dr. Barry Kernfeld, editor of
the 2nd edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz and also the author of both What to
Listen for in Jazz and the Blackwell Guide to Recorded Jazz. Kernfeld had a lot of incite to
offer during the interview, from reasons that he feels jazz is where it is today to why he
himself is so devoted to the genre itself.
The second interview was with local disc jockey for WPSU the lion (90.7FM) the
student station and music education student, Robert Borger. Having a more vital view on
the jazz atmosphere on the Pennsylvania State University campus, Borger provided a
realistic outlook and comprehension of the reasons why jazz music holds the attention it
does. As part of the interview, Borger was asked about the program schedule his station
holds and the reasons of the sequence and layout of the format. When examining who and
when an audience response is received from the station, the programming schedule for the
radio station also has to be considered. For example; Figure 1.-WPSU the lion (90.7FM)
program schedule for the summer.
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The Lion 90.7fm Broadcast Schedule
Summer 2002 Schedule
Time
7am-8am
8am-9am
9am-11am
11am-1pm
1pm-3pm
Monday
Show displayed with red background is currently on air.
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Lion Overnights
Kumakucha
Totally Gospel
Jazz Spectrum
Rush Hour
Jazz Spectrum
Indie 500
State Your Face
3pm-5pm
State Your Face
5pm-6pm
6pm-7pm
7pm-9pm
9pm-10pm
Jam 91
10pm11pm
11pm12am
Metal Machine
12am-1am
Lion
1am-2am
Overnights
2am-3am
3am-5am
5am-7am
Radio Free Penn State
Lion SportsBlitz
RPM
Jam 91
Jam 91
Jam 91
LIVE
at Players
Nite Club
Metal Machine
Metal
Machine
Latin Mix
On The Good
Foot
On The Good
Foot
Indie 500
RPM
Jam 91
Jam 91
Jam 91
Lion Overnights
Lion Overnights
State Your
Face/ GDH
Avant Garde
Booty Call
Lion
Overnights
Lion Overnights
Figure 1. WPSU (90.7FM) program schedule (http://www.lion-radio.com/broadcastschedule)
As displayed, the jazz portion segment of the program is available from 9am-11am
Monday through Saturday. The schedule which is a temporary one for the summer is
similar to the schedule ran during the school year. According to Borger, the disc jockey for
the jazz spectrum at WPSU, the audience response is minimal. “Usually the people who
will call in and request or comment are my friends and people I know. The ways the
sections are chosen are random, there is really no particular strategy on where we place
which program in the schedule,” said Borger when asked if there was a reason the jazz
spectrum had a morning slot. In comparison to a smooth jazz station in San Diego, CA
KIFM (98.1FM) who played their jazz from 10pm to midnight and in turn moved it to the
daytime slot resulted in receiving a more exceptional response from there listeners. This,
however, may be an example of how the programming schedule may actually have an
affect on the listener’s response to it. Depending on the strategies used by radio stations as
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to when its played and the location of where it’s being heard (city versus a college town), it
may bring about a more responsive effect.
The other form of research used was the survey of musical interest and background
done on 100 random Pennsylvania State University students. The reason for using 100
students resulted from the actual survey being conducted at the Pennsylvania State
University during its second summer session which went from June 24 until August 3rd.
Such reasons as the majority of students actually enrolled in the school living off campus
and therefore being hard to find was only one of the many problems that were encountered
during the research. Another difficulty was the amount of High School camp programs
being ran on the campus during the summer time. Dealing with the factor that the majority
of the students inhabiting the campus were from high school programs, getting students
filling out the survey who weren’t actually Pennsylvania State University students had to
be taken into consideration. In order to avoid such a problem, the surveyors were asked if
they were actual students of the campus before filling it out.
In 1982 and 1992 the National for the Arts (NEA) funded a broad based statistical
investigation into the audiences of various art forms in the United States. The survey,
called the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) was this survey. It gathered
detailed information on the size demographics, characteristics and participation along with
other factors that affected jazz music.
Data/Results
After accumulating information from both interviews and getting a ‘general’
census of what and how jazz music is viewed in the area from the surveys. The
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following data was discovered in the survey administered to 100 random
Pennsylvania State University students. The results for the most part matched the
general consensus of jazz music as either not being very familiar with the term or
having little to no knowledge of it at all.
Music PSU students tend to listen to while
at school
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Hip Hop R&B Rap Rock Jazz Other
Hip Hop
Series1
30%
R&B
32%
Rap
8%
Rock
21%
Jazz
3%
Other
60%
Figure 2. Music PSU students tend to listen to while at school
According to the survey conducted on 100 PSU students’ musical
background, only 3 out of 100 prefer jazz to any other genre of music. While Hip
hop, Rhythm and Blue (R&B), and Rock music, for the most part, dominate in the
popular choice of music, jazz along with rap and other styles fall in the least
popular genres in the board spectrum of musical taste.
17
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Ways students acquire their music
60
40
54
20
25
11
Other
MP3
5
CD
Radio
Television
5
0
Figure 3. Ways student acquire their music.
Figure 3 shows that the medium used by most college students today, to
access their music, is the internet. Through the internet students are able to preview
‘per se’ songs before they are actually purchased. According to Stephen H.
Watkins’s article on why a website is useful when marketing, “The internet
provides you a means to get your message across to millions of people, at a cost that
is unmatched by any other advertising media, electronic or printed” (Watkins 2002).
The next most popular way in which the music is attained are compact discs (cds),
followed by radio then television and other forms.
The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) survey done by the
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in 1992 obtained the following
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information. The chart was attained from that survey in order to preview how the
musical tastes compare to a persons’ age.
Figure 9. Musical Taste and Age. (De Veaux 40)
When comparing the data from the survey conducted with 100 PSU students
to the 1992 SPPA survey, it is evident that the age group of 18-24 year olds had
almost one of the lowest jazz “likings” compared to the other age groups. In
relationship to the survey of the PSU students, which only had 3%of interest in
jazz; both surveys have a close comparison of how the level of interest in the age
group of 18-24 have, for the most part, stayed the same. Interest increased with age
in the graph and jazz fits in the category that rises to a peak somewhere in the
middle before declining with age.
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Background on jazz music
100
80
60
56
40
25
20
15
0
heard it
before
3
don't
my
know parents
much listen to
about it
it
heard it
before
Series1
25
I love it
don't know
my parents
much
listen to it
about it
56
1
15
S1
I hate it
I love it
I hate it
3
1
Figure 5.Background on jazz music.
When asked what background the surveyors had with jazz music, more than
half, 56% said that they didn’t know too much about jazz whereas 25% recall
having heard it several times before. Only about 1% detested the genre while 3%
favored it. Overall the familiarity with the genre was over 2/5 of the total surveys
which could be translated as to students being somewhat familiar with the style in
some sort of way.
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Figure 4. College Graduate Component of 1992 Audiences for Benchmark Arts
Activities (De Veaux 18)
The likings for jazz music rises with the person’s education level reports the
1992 SPPA survey. Those who liked jazz “best of all “ are slightly less likely than
those who “like” jazz to be either very young or very old: the highest rates are
found in the 35-44 age group. They are also slightly more likely to be more
educated” (De Veaux 35).
According to the SPPA 1992 survey, figure 4. expresses that college
graduates interest in ‘benchmark’ activities rise as opposed to interest in them
before a college degree. “Not that you need a musical background to understand or
participate in jazz but studies have shown that those who have taken music lessons
attend jazz performances at a higher rate” (De Veaux 53). Although there is a
higher rate of previous musical training on those who attend jazz performance it
doesn’t necessarily exclude those without it. “While many colleges and universities
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now offer courses in jazz history or appreciation, the large majority focuses on
European music and include such genres of jazz only as ancillary topics” (De
Veaux 53). For instance if a student is previously trained specifically in jazz, he or
she, may be more susceptible to be a jazz fan than a person who wasn’t trained
before in it, but this doesn’t necessarily suggest that a person needs to be educated
in it to be a fan.
Figure 7b. 1992 Frequency of Attendance and Age (De Veaux 30)
Figure 7b. of the 1992 SPPA survey illustrates that the age distribution of
those who attended events in the year of the survey correspond closely to the age
distribution of jazz attendees as a whole. Interestingly the participation by the 18-24
group (the first column in each set) never passes the percentage mark of 25% in
their frequency of attendance which almost matches the same frequency of
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attendance for the 55-64 group. Considering the fact that older age groups
percentage of attendance will decrease, their fluctuation is understandable because
of their ability and lack of stamina that it would take to attend numerous events. On
the other hand, the reasons for the younger age groups low frequency of attendance
are incomprehensible. This data correlates to the general consensus of the 18-24
groups’ involvement in jazz music as a whole.
Discussion
Overall the graphs which resulted from the conducted surveys along with
the 1992 SPPA survey showed that the particular age group of 18-24 (which include
college students) lack in activities having to do with jazz. In each case factors such
as age, education, and income all influence the general awareness of the genre.
Shown in Figure 3. most students at PSU access their music through the
internet and compact discs, leaving radio and television as a much less popular way
to retain music. In order to increase these two mediums as a resourceful and popular
way to access music, inventive forms of marketing need to be introduced.
Conclusion
Generational shifts are quite normal over the year, especially when it comes
to music. “Jazz has always lived not by the hipness of the public but by what
Cornell West calls ‘the network of apprenticeship,’ the ‘transition of skills and
sensibilities to new practioners.’ The cords of this network are fraying. Some of
them have snapped” (De Veaux 56). Making sure that the cords don’t snap is what
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all the forms of multi-media have as a responsibility. There are reasons to keep
cultures alive. Not letting the music diminish and dwindle to the point where
present people know nothing about jazz is one way that part of the American
culture can be kept alive.
Jazz is undergoing a historic transition from a music embedded in popular
culture to an official part of the art establishment and compared to other official
arts; jazz still retains traces of its origin in popular culture. Along with the
Constitution and baseball, jazz would be listed as one of American society’s major
contribution (Heckman 2000). As the Constitution and baseball are still prevalent to
the American culture so will jazz music remain.
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Works Cited
Books
De Veaux, Scott. Jazz in America: Who’s Listening? California: Seven Locks
Press: 1995.
Gleason. J. Ralph. Jam Session: An Anthology of Jazz. London: P. Davies, 1958.
Stokes, W. Royal. The Jazz Scene: An informal history from New Orleans to 1990.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Magazines
Atwood, Brent. “BET TO LAUNCH ALL-JAZZ CHANNEL PROGRAMMING
WILL START IN JANURAY ’96.” Billboard 14 Oct. 1995
Dempsey, John. “Black web eyes bebop, home shop.” Daily Variety 22 Sept. 1993
Jeffrey, Don. “JAZZ AT THE CROOSROADS; Spotlight; pg.J4.” Billboard 4 July
1992
Morris, Chris. “Advent of a New Jazz Age?-Artists, Labels, Retail Swing With Ken
Burns.” Billboard 10 Feb. 2001
Wan, Amy. “Such Chains As FYE Target Potential Customers By Tying Into
Events Like Ozzfest in Order To Promote Product.” Billboard 27 July 2002
Newspapers
Heckman, Don. “ALL THAT JAZZ; EDUCATORS AND MUSICIANS SEE
CHANGES ON THE WAY.” Los Angeles Times 21 Jan. 2000, home ed.:
F25
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Heckman, Don. “DRUMMING AND DOLLARS; THELONIOUS MONK’S SON
T.S. BRINGS IDEAS—SOME CREATIVE, REVOLUTIONARY ONES—
TO JAZZ MUSIC, BUT THEY ASLO DEAL WITH MARKETING,
MERCHENDISE.” Los Angeles Times. 12 Sept. 1995, home ed.: F1+.
Heckman, Don. “PRESPECTIVE; HEADS, JAZZ WINS; TAILS, IT LOSES; KEN
BURNS HAS INTRODUCED MILLIONS TO THE MUSIC, BUT DOES
THAT COMPENSATE FOR THE SERIES’ SHORTCOMINGS? A LOOK
AT BOTH SIDES OF THE COIN.” Los Angeles Times 28 Jan. 2001, home
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Jensen, Elizabeth. “PBS TO TRUMPET WITH KEN BURNS’ JAZZ’ SERIES;
TELEVISION * THE NETWORK MAPS OUT A MARKETING MIX OF
CORPORATE AND NONPROFIT TIE-INS. EVEN THE NBA GETS
INVOLVED.” Los Angeles Times 7 Sept. 2000, home ed.: F55.
Kolb, Elzy. “With Jazz as Its Muse, a Radio Station Does a Little Improvising.”
New York Times 2 Sept. 2001, late ed. final: 14NJ.
Watrous, Peter. “The Jazz is ‘Lite,’ the Profits Heavy; Radio Stations Enjoy Rising
Ratings as Music Purist Fume.” New York Times 5 Jun. 1997, late ed.:
C13+.
Newswire & On-Line Sources
Blaukopf, Henry. “Bird Lives!” Allaboutjazz.com 23 July 2002. 23 June 2002
<http://allaboutjazz.com/birdlives/bl-46.htm>.
Graybow, Steve. “JAZZ BLUE NOTES; Verve Summit Looks At Ways to Help
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Sell Jazz.” Billboard 13 Dec. 1999. 14 Dec 1999
Henderson, Alex. “The 1998 JazzTimes Convention.” Allaboutjazz.com
Dec 1998 <http://www.allaboutjazz.com/articles/a1298_02.htm
Morris, Chris. “With Verve/Legacy Flap, Marketing Jazz Doesn’t Seem so ‘Pure.’”
Billboard 10 Feb. 2001. 6 Feb. 2001 <http://web.lexisnexis.com/universe/printdoc>.
Watkins, Stephen H. Sr. “Why Do YOU Need A Website?” Jazzusa.com 23 July
2002. <http://www.jazzusa.com/stories/whyweb.htm>
Wilson, Calvin. “ALL THIS JAZZ.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch 16 June 2002. 16 June
2002 <http://ptg.djnr.com/cc>
“BET On Jazz: The Jazz Channel and Madacy Entertainment Partner for a New
Jazz CD Collection.” PR Newswire 7 May 2001.8 May 200
<http://www.prnewswire.com>
“BET On Jazz: The Cable Jazz Channel Season Premieres.” Entertainment Editors
28 Oct. 1998. 27 Oct. 1997 <http://www.businesswire.com>.
“Billboard Spotlight: Jazz- “Jazz” Burns: Did The PBS Documentary Create
Lasting Heat?” Billboard 9 June 2001. 17 Oct. 2001
“EMusic.com Offers ‘Jazz’ in MP3; Downloadable Music From Seminal Artists
Featured in Ken Burns’ PBS Documentary.” PR Newswire 25 June 2001. 26
June 2001 <http://www.prnewswire.com>
“The Lion 90.7FM.” WKPS the Lion 90.7FM 23 July 2002 < http://www.lionradio.com>
“Music.com and JAZZIZ Magazine Announce Strategic Partnership.” Business
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Editors 29 Nov. 1999. 30 Nov. 1999 <http://www.businesswire.com>
“Unapix Entertainment Increases Stake in the Jazz Store to 90%.” Business Editors
3 June 1998. 4 June 1998 <http://www.businesswire.com>.
Interviews
Kernfeld, Barry. Personal interview. 11 July 2002.
Borger, Robert. Personal interview. 18 July 2002.
Program
“Our language.” Jazz. Ken Burn’s: Jazz. PBS. Bessie Smith, Bix Beiderbecke,
Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Louis Armstrong, the Cotton
Club. WNET, New York, 10 Jan. 2001.
Charts
Jazz in America: Who’s Listening? Chart. California: National Endowment for the
Arts. 1995; Figure 1. 1992 Frequencies of Attendance for Benchmark Arts
Activities, Figure 7b. 1992 Frequency of Attendance and Age, Figure 9.
Musical Taste and Age, 1992
Bibliography
Carr, Roy. A century of Jazz. New York: Da Capo Press, 1997.
Demory, S. Richard and Megill, D. Donald. Introduction to Jazz History. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1993.
Lees, Gene. Jazz Lives: one hundred portraits in jazz. Toronto: The Canadian
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Longstreet, Stephen. Storyville to Harlem: fifty years in the jazz scene. New
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1986.
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