The Story of PolyGram Records

The record label I chose was PolyGram Records. PolyGram Records was founded in 1929 as Hollandische Decca Distribute, and acted as the Netherlands distributor for Decca Records, a large record company. HDD became large enough that it was sold to Philips, a large multinational electronics firm, in 1942. During the 1940s, Philips, already a radio manufacturer, got into the gramophone record market. The various portions of Philips in the gramophone record business were consolidated as Philips Phonografische Industrie (PPI) in the late 1940s. Over the years, PolyGram acquired many record labels under their umbrella. These record labels included A&M, Decca, Island, Mercury, Def Jam, Polydor, and many others. They had nearly every musical genre under the sun. By 1988 they were considered one of the "Big Six" record companies. In 1998, Philips sold off the company, which was acquired by Seagram (the ginger ale company) and merged into Universal Music Group by 1999. 

Mmmmmm.... Browser Cookies

A chocolate chip cookie, loaded with sweet dough and delectable chunks of chocolate. You chew into it, and the chocolate and dough run down your tongue and tickle your taste buds. Yummy.

As it turns out, your most pleasant experience with cookies probably doesn't involve sugar at all. I'm not talking about sugar-free diet cookies - I'm talking about Internet cookies on the computer. Isn't it convenient to go home and be able to pull up Facebook without logging in? Cookies. If you want to close your browser window, you can without having to log back in when you open it back up. Cookies again. Every day I visit certain websites - Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube, and City-Data - and I know that if I've been on the site in the last few days, it will maintain my log-in - with the exception of Wikipedia, in which I have to log back in every 30 days (currently, this is around the 11th of each month)

Cookies are also a big part of why I get the ads I do. I am bombarded with ads for Honda products - because I frequently visit Honda related websites because I am a Honda enthusiast. (Yes, I drive a Honda, it's a 2011 Accord V6 sedan)

Political Ads - Fact or Fear?

For as long as there have been political ads, ads have catered to the fears of the populace. The ads don't say "This is why you should vote for X candidate" as often as they imply "This is why you SHOULDN'T vote for Y candidate". It goes on today, with candidates using the disagreements they have with their opponents as fodder for ads. If a candidate is for an issue, often times they will emphasize that their opponents are against that issue and the downfalls of their opponent's opinion.

There's a reason for this: negative ads get attention. The best remembered political ads of the past have been those of a negative bias. For instance, the "Daisy" television advertisement was used by Lyndon B. Johnson for his 1964 election campaign, implying that his opponent, Barry Goldwater, was weak on military issues by using a simulated nuclear explosion and a two year old in a field. Pulling at both the fears and heartstrings of voters, the ads said "the stakes are too high to stay home". LBJ ended up winning the election. Today's ads usually aren't that blunt or shocking, but the negative bias is there all the same.

The Long Arm of Disney

Disney. Most people think of it as cartoons and animation; after all, who can forget Disney classics such as The Lion King, Mulan, Aladdin, and even older ones such as Pinocchio and Fantasia, all wearing the Disney badge. Not everything that Disney makes has a castle or a funny-looking "y" (I thought it was Disnep when I was a small child) on it.

Disney's reach spreads far and wide. The company, established exactly 92 years ago today, employs 180,000 people. They operate ABC, one of the "Big Four" TV networks (along with NBC, CBS, and Fox). They own half of A&E Networks (which operates A&E and the History Channel) and 80% of ESPN. They even control 32% of Hulu!

On the big screen, they own all the Disney stuff, and also own Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm.

They own a large amount of real estate, including several parks including Magic Kingdom and Epcot and even parks overseas. They operate a cruise line with five ships.

They have even developed a town which now has 8,000 people (Celebration, FL)

Popular Mechanics vs. National Geographic

I decided to compare Popular Mechanics, a magazine about science and technology, to National Geographic.

Popular Mechanics is a magazine that covers subjects such as science, technology, cars, and DIY, in a format intended to be readable by a general audience. Nearly 90 percent of readers are men, and are usually young to middle age adults. National Geographic primarily covers geography and world issues. The average reader is middle aged, and around 65 percent are men.

As for ads, Popular Mechanics was chock-full. The 138-page issue was more than one-third ads, with the first and last 20 pages being mostly ads and ads interspersed throughout; the longest gaps between ads were less than ten pages. Most of the ads were for various electronic items and car care products, with a significant number for household products, power tools, and men's clothing and watches. A smattering of ads covered a variety other products from cigars to lawyers. A common theme to the ads was that they were all targeted to a primarily male audience. The products advertised did show some tendency toward nearby articles, with a higher concentration of, for instance, car care products nearer to the car articles. But there were still a lot of ads that had little to do with the subjects of the nearby articles.

Nat Geo primarily puts their ads near the beginning and end of their magazine, with the middle space being primarily dedicated to articles. The percentage of ads is less - maybe 20 percent. Ads tend toward more "sophisticated" items - watches and books making up a large percentage. Since ads and articles are largely separate, ads tend to be more random.

Hollywood Nights

Hollywood is king. They put out around 800 films a year, which are then shown on around 40,000 movie screens across the United States. Billions of dollars are involved in film production every year, and the American film industry, largely based in Hollywood, CA, has been the dominant force in the world's cinema since the 1920s. 

The dominance of Hollywood is staggering. The 10 highest grossing movies ever (adjusted for inflation) are Gone With The Wind, Avatar, Star Wars, Titanic, The Sound of Music, E.T, The Ten Commandments, Dr. Zhivago, Jaws, and Snow White. All classic, timeless movies.

All American. 

The United States isn't even the country that produces the most films; that honor goes to India, which produces around twice as many films as the United States every year. India's films, however, are primarily viewed in, well... India.

But no matter where you go in the world, the Hollywood influence is apparent. In the past five years, every movie that made the top-20 box office for the year was backed by an American company or its partners (1). The Hollywood studios have a near monopoly in the United States, and their influence around the world is very strong as well. With blockbuster movies, the American box office may be the tip of the iceberg. Hollywood films now make over 60 percent of their money outside the US (2), and demand for Hollywood films is insatiable around the world. For instance, protests ensued when China tried to remove the Hollywood film Avatar from theaters. Around the world, Hollywood films pull in 63 percent of all box office revenue (3).

1 - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/business/media/hollywood-works-to-maintain-its-world-dominance.html?_r=0

2 - http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/02/24/how-hollywood-conquered-the-world-all-over-again/

3 - http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/apr/02/hollywood-hold-global-box-office

The Nashville, TN Radio Market

I live in White House, TN, a small town around 20 miles north of Nashville, TN. While White House is not large enough to have a major radio station, our nearby major city of Nashville ensures that a large number of stations come in loud and clear to our radios.

This website provides a comprehensive profile of ratings of Nashville stations:

http://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb073

Analyzing the list, several trends emerge. While over a dozen different companies own at least one radio station, the top 10 radio stations (which control around 65 percent of the market) are all owned by one of three companies: Midwest Communications, iHeartMedia, and Cumulus Media. In addition to the top 10, iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media each own one station outside the top 10. This means that these three companies, between them, control around 70 percent of the market. Pick ten random people listening to radio in the Nashville area, and seven are on a Midwest Communications, iHeartMedia, or Cumulus Media station. 

You can find a fairly diverse range on Nashville radio. The most popular songs are there, but you can also get talk radio, classical, gospel, news, and public radio. Not surprisingly, a few genres control most of the market. 3 of the top 10 stations are country music, not surprising given Nashville's status as a country music center. 2, including the number-one rated Mix 92.9, play adult contemporary music. One each play hip-hop/R&B, sports, classic rock, oldies, and contemporary hits. 

The diversity of broadcast radio is trounced by that of satellite radio, and I can tell you this from personal experience. Satellite radio is easily accessible; many cars come with it, and aftermarket receivers are easily available. I have found stations dedicated to music from just one decade (every decade from 1950s-2000s), stations dedicated to comedy, news from a specific view point, and even stations dedicated to music from just one artist. The downside is that it costs a monthly fee.