1.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
2.
Missy Elliott
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Melissa Arnette Missy Elliott, often known professionally as Missy Misdemeanor Elliott, is an American rapper, dancer, and record producer. Following several collaborations and guest appearances, she launched her career in 1997 with her debut album Supa Dupa Fly. The album debuted at three on the Billboard 200, the highest-charting debut for a female rapper at the time. Elliotts following album Da Real World, produced the singles Shes a Bitch, All n My Grill, with the release of Miss E. So Addictive, Under Construction, and This Is Not a Test, Elliott established an international career that yielded hits including Get Ur Freak On, One Minute Man,4 My People, Gossip Folks, and Work It. The latter won her a Grammy Award for Best Female Rap Solo Performance, Elliott went on to win five Grammy Awards, melissa Arnette Elliott was born on July 1,1971, in Portsmouth, Virginia. She is the child of mother Patricia Elliott, a power-company dispatcher, and father Ronnie. Elliott grew up in a church choir family, and singing was a normal part of her youth. At the age of four in 1975, she wanted to be a performer, in later years, she feared no one would take her seriously, because she was always the class clown. While her father was an active Marine, the family lived in Jacksonville, North Carolina, Elliott blossomed during this part of her life. She enjoyed school for the friendships she formed though she had little interest in school work and she would later get well above average marks on intelligence tests, and she was advanced two years ahead of her former class. Her move in grades caused isolation, and she purposely failed, when her father returned from the Marines, they moved back to Virginia, where they lived in extreme poverty. Life in Virginia saw many hardships, Elliott tells of domestic abuse by her father. She refused to stay over at friends homes out of fear that, on her return home, when Elliott was eight, she was molested by a cousin. In one violent incident, Ronnie Elliott dislocated his wifes shoulders and, during another, at fourteen, Elliotts mother decided to end the situation, she fled with her daughter under the guise of taking a joyride on a local bus. In reality, the pair had found refuge at a members home where their possessions were stored in a loaded U-Haul truck. Elliott tells that she feared her father would kill them both for leaving and she later stated, When we left, my mother realized how strong she was on her own, and it made me strong. It took her leaving to realize, Elliott graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1990
3.
MC Lyte
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MC Lyte is an American rapper who first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first solo female rapper to release a full album with 1988s critically acclaimed Lyte as a Rock. She has long considered one of hip-hops pioneer feminists. Lana Michelle Moorer was born in 1970, raised in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, she began rapping at the age of 12. After making the label Robinson cut a deal with Atlantic with one condition, originally, her stage name was Sparkle. At age 14, she began recording her first track, although it took two years before it was able to be released, in 1987, when she was 17, Lyte began publicly outshining other MCs. She was also featured in the remix and music video of I Want Your by Irish singer Sinéad OConnor which debuted in May 1988 on MTV, in September 1988, she released her first album, Lyte as a Rock. Written over the course of years, the album was noted for such hits as Paper Thin, its title track, and the battle rap 10% Dis. Both rappers released battle records against each other, Lyte followed her debut with 1989s Eyes on This, which spawned the hits Cha Cha Cha and Cappucino. Both albums were notable for Lytes uncensored lyrical matter and she sweetened up a little on 1991s Act Like You Know, noted for its new jack swing sound and the hit single Poor Georgie. Lytes fourth album, 1993s Aint No Other, became her first to reach gold status and was notable for her first top 40 pop hit, Ruffneck. Ruffneck was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Single and she later went on to become a featured artist on hits by Janet Jackson Two years afterward, Lytes fifth album, Bad As I Wanna B, featured production from Jermaine Dupri and Sean Combs. Its hits were Keep on, Keepin On and Cold Rock a Party and it was her second gold album. Her 1998 follow-up, Seven & Seven, however, was not as successful and she left East West America by the end of the decade. Lyte released the independently produced record The Undaground Heat, featuring Jamie Foxx, in 2003, the single was nominated for both a Grammy and a BET Award. MC Lytes song My Main Aim was the song of the video game NBA Live 2005 by EA Sports. In 2005, she released two songs produced by Richard Wolfie Wolf called Can I Get It Now and Dont Walk Away, in 2007, she released a song called Mad at Me and, in 2008, two songs called Juke Joint and Get Lyte. In 2009 a song titled Brooklyn was released, as well as Craven, dear John was released on September 9,2014 and peaked on the Billboard Twitter Trending 140 chart at number three. After twelve years without an album, MC Lytes eighth album, Legend, Ball and Check are also singles from the album
4.
The Fighting Temptations
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Through the choirs music, Darrin brings the church community back together all the while seeking a relationship with Lilly. The film is notable for its soundtrack and ensemble cast, the film received mixed reviews upon release. Aunt Sally Walker, Darrins great-aunt, attempts to defend MaryAnn but fails, MaryAnn and Darrin are last seen on a bus saying goodbye to Aunt Sally, as they sadly wave to each other. In 2003, Darrin has grown up to become an advertising executive in New York City with a bad habit of lying. His only true friend and secretary, Rosa Lopez, does a job at keeping his credit problems under control. However, Darrin has achieved so much under false pretenses, having faked his college degree and high school diploma, eventually, his lies soon catch up with him and get him in trouble with his paranoid boss and Darrin loses his job. After being tracked down by an investigator, Darrin soon finds out that Aunt Sally has died. Darrin returns to his hometown of Monte Carlo, Georgia, and on the way, when Darrin arrives, he finds a new friendship in Lucious, the towns happy-go-lucky, womanizing cab driver. At Aunt Sallys funeral, Shirley Caesar makes an appearance as a character who was an old friend of Sally. Upon taking charge of the choir, Darrin discovers that it has fallen into decline over the years. Paulina holds a grudge against Darrin because of his mother and for stealing her spot as choir director, after several setbacks, Darrin eventually recruits many new members, most of which he does so by promising half of the competitions prize money to them. Several weeks later, Paulina reveals that Darrin forgot to enter the choir into the auditions on time, luckily, the audition judge, Luther Washington, who is also the towns prison warden, lets them perform in a show for his prisoners when their booked act cancels. Thanks to Lillys beautiful looks and voice, the choir performs well, Washington also lets Darrin borrow three convicts who can sing. The three convicts are Bee-Z Briggs, Lightfoot, and Mr. Johnson, after weeks of success, the choir has become more popular, as more people have joined both it and the church. Lilly starts to trust Darrin and develops feelings for him as well. However, Paulina takes a message for Darrin in a call from Rosa and learns of his past troubles. The next afternoon at a barbecue, Paulina deliberately reveals Darrins secrets with a polite demeanor. Lilly, furious and heartbroken about this, tells Darrin that she doesnt care what he does, she was using him because he was using her
5.
A-side and B-side
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The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78,45, and 33 1/3 rpm phonograph records, whether singles, extended plays, or long-playing records. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits with both A-side and B-side releases, others took the opposite approach, producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side, the earliest 10-inch,78 rpm, shellac records were single sided. Double-sided recordings, with one song on side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records. There were no record charts until the 1930s, and radio stations did not play recorded music until the 1950s, in this time, A-sides and B-sides existed, but neither side was considered more important, the side did not convey anything about the content of the record. The term single came into use with the advent of vinyl records in the early 1950s. At first, most record labels would randomly assign which song would be an A-side, under this random system, many artists had so-called double-sided hits, where both songs on a record made one of the national sales charts, or would be featured on jukeboxes in public places. As time wore on, however, the convention for assigning songs to sides of the record changed. By the early sixties, the song on the A-side was the song that the company wanted radio stations to play. It was not until 1968, for instance, that the production of albums on a unit basis finally surpassed that of singles in the United Kingdom. In the late 1960s stereo versions of pop and rock songs began to appear on 45s. The majority of the 45s were played on AM radio stations, by the early 1970s, double-sided hits had become rare. Album sales had increased, and B-sides had become the side of the record where non-album, non-radio-friendly, with the advent of cassette and compact disc singles in the late 1980s, the A-side/B-side differentiation became much less meaningful. With the decline of cassette singles in the 1990s, the A-side/B-side dichotomy became virtually extinct, as the dominant medium. However, the term B-side is still used to refer to the tracks or coupling tracks on a CD single. With the advent of downloading music via the Internet, sales of CD singles and other media have declined. B-side songs may be released on the record as a single to provide extra value for money. There are several types of material released in this way, including a different version, or, in a concept record
6.
CD single
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This article is about the 12cm single. Not to be confused with 8cm single, the standard in the Red Book for the term CD single. A CD single is a single in the form of a standard size compact disc. It is not to be confused with the Mini CD single, the format was introduced in the mid-1980s but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s. With the rise in digital downloads in the early 2010s, sales of CD singles have decreased, commercially released CD singles can vary in length from two songs up to six songs like an EP. Some contain multiple mixes of one or more songs, in the tradition of 12 vinyl singles, depending on the nation, there may be limits on the number of songs and total length for sales to count in singles charts. Containing four tracks, it had a limited print run. CD singles were first made eligible for the UK Singles Chart in 1987, the Mini CD single format was originally created for use for singles in the late 1980s, but met with limited success, particularly in the US. The smaller CDs were more successful in Japan and have become more common in Europe. By 1989, the CD3 was in decline in the US and it was common in the 1990s for US record companies to release both a two-track CD and a multi-track maxi CD. In the UK, record companies would also release two CDs but, usually, these consisted of three tracks or more each. Pressure from record labels made singles charts in some countries become song charts, allowing album cuts to chart based only on airplay, without a single ever being released. At the end of the 1990s, the CD was the single format in the UK, but in the US. In Australia, the Herald Sun reported the CD single is set to become extinct, while CD singles no longer maintain their own section of the store, copies are still distributed but placed with the artists albums. That is predominantly the case for popular Australian artists such as Jessica Mauboy, Kylie Minogue and, most recently, Delta Goodrem, the ARIA Singles Chart are now predominantly compiled from legal downloads, and ARIA also stopped compiling their physical singles sales chart. On a Mission by Gabriella Cilmi was the last CD single to be stocked in Kmart, Target and Big W, sanity Entertainment, having resisted the decline for longer than the other major outlets, has also ceased selling CD singles. In Greece and Cyprus, the term CD single is used to describe a play in which there may be anywhere from three to six different tracks. These releases charted on the Greek Singles Chart with songs released as singles, in September 2003, there was talk of ringtones for mobile phones outstripping CD singles sales for the year 2004
7.
Funk
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Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid- 1960s when African American musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul music, jazz, and rhythm and blues. Like much of African-inspired music, funk typically consists of a groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves. Funk uses the same richly-colored extended chords found in jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths. Other musical groups, including Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic, soon began to adopt, Funk samples have been used extensively in genres including hip hop, house music, and drum and bass. It is also the influence of go-go, a subgenre associated with funk. The word funk initially referred to a strong odor and it is originally derived from Latin fumigare via Old French fungiere and, in this sense, it was first documented in English in 1620. In 1784 funky meaning musty was first documented, which, in turn, in early jam sessions, musicians would encourage one another to get down by telling one another, Now, put some stank on it. At least as early as 1907, jazz songs carried titles such as Funky, as late as the 1950s and early 1960s, when funk and funky were used increasingly in the context of jazz music, the terms still were considered indelicate and inappropriate for use in polite company. According to one source, New Orleans-born drummer Earl Palmer was the first to use the word funky to explain to other musicians that their music should be made more syncopated, the style later evolved into a rather hard-driving, insistent rhythm, implying a more carnal quality. This early form of the set the pattern for later musicians. The music was identified as slow, sexy, loose, riff-oriented, a great deal of funk is rhythmically based on a two-celled onbeat/offbeat structure, which originated in sub-Saharan African music traditions. New Orleans appropriated the bifurcated structure from the Afro-Cuban mambo and conga in the late 1940s, New Orleans funk, as it was called, gained international acclaim largely because James Browns rhythm section used it to great effect. Funk creates an intense groove by using strong guitar riffs and bass lines, like Motown recordings, funk songs used bass lines as the centerpiece of songs. Slap basss mixture of thumb-slapped low notes and finger popped high notes allowed the bass to have a rhythmic role. In funk bands, guitarists typically play in a style, often using the wah-wah sound effect. Guitarist Ernie Isley of The Isley Brothers and Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic were notably influenced by Jimi Hendrixs improvised solos, Eddie Hazel, who worked with George Clinton, is one of the most notable guitar soloists in funk. Ernie Isley was tutored at an age by Jimi Hendrix himself. Jimmy Nolen and Phelps Collins are famous funk rhythm guitarists who both worked with James Brown, on Browns Give It Up or Turnit a Loose, Jimmy Nolens guitar part has a bare bones tonal structure
8.
Hip hop music
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It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements, MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, while often used to refer solely to rapping, hip hop more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. Hip hops early evolution occurred as sampling technology and drum machines became available and affordable. Turntablist techniques such as scratching and beatmatching developed along with the breaks and Jamaican toasting, rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks or chants along rhythmically with an instrumental or synthesized beat. The Sugarhill Gangs 1979 song Rappers Delight is widely regarded to be the first hip hop record to gain popularity in the mainstream. The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more complex styles, prior to the 1980s, hip hop music was largely confined within the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began to spread to scenes in dozens of countries. New school hip hop was the wave of hip hop music, originating in 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D. M. C. The Golden age hip hop period was a period between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. Notable artists from this era include the Juice Crew, Public Enemy, & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One, EPMD, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that often focuses on the violent lifestyles, in the West Coast hip hop style, G-funk dominated mainstream hip hop for several years during the 1990s. I. G. In the 1990s, hip hop began to diversify with other regional styles emerging, such as Southern rap, at the same time, hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music, examples being Neo soul and nu metal. Hip hop became a pop music genre in the mid-1990s. The popularity of hip hop music continued through the 2000s, with hip hop influences also increasingly finding their way into mainstream pop, the United States also saw the success of regional styles such as crunk, a Southern genre that emphasized the beats and music more than the lyrics. Starting in 2005, sales of hip hop music in the United States began to severely wane, during the mid-2000s, alternative hip hop secured a place in the mainstream, due in part to the crossover success of artists such as OutKast and Kanye West. Creation of the hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was known as disco rap. Cowboy later worked the hip hop cadence into a part of his stage performance, the first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop
9.
Contemporary R&B
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Contemporary R&B, also known as simply R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance. The genre features a record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel. Electronic influences are becoming a trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Craig David, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston. That same year, Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings that included hip hop influences and this combination of R&B style and hip hop rhythms was termed new jack swing and was applied to artists such as Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, Al B. Guy, Jodeci and Bell Biv DeVoe, the style became less popular by the end of the 1990s, but later experienced a resurgence. In 1990 Mariah Carey released Vision of Love as her debut single and it was immensely popular peaking at number 1 in many worldwide charts including the Billboard Hot 100, and it propelled Mariahs carrier. The song is said to have popularized the use of melisma. During the mid-1990s, Whitney Houstons The Bodyguard, Original Soundtrack Album sold over 40 million copies becoming the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Janet Jacksons self-titled fifth studio album janet. which came after her historic multimillion-dollar contract with Virgin Records, sold over twenty million copies worldwide. Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey recorded several Billboard Hot 100 No.1 hits, including One Sweet Day, Carey also released a remix of her 1995 single Fantasy, with Ol Dirty Bastard as a feature, a collaboration format that was unheard of at this point. Carey, Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in 1994 and 1995—Daydream, II and CrazySexyCool. In the late 1990s, neo soul, which added 1970s soul influences to the hip hop soul blend, arose, led by such as DAngelo, Erykah Badu. Hill and Missy Elliott further blurred the line between R&B and hip hop by recording both styles, beginning in 1995, the Grammy Awards enacted the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, with II by Boyz II Men becoming the first recipient. The award was received by TLC for CrazySexyCool in 1996, Tony Rich for Words in 1997, Erykah Badu for Baduizm in 1998. At the end of 1999, Billboard magazine ranked Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson as the first, simultaneously, in the second half of the 1990s, The Neptunes and Timbaland set influential precedence on contemporary R&B and hip hop music. R&B acts such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher, in 2001, Alicia Keys released Fallin as her debut single. It peaking at one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40
10.
Columbia Records
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Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. the United States division of Sony Corporation. It was founded in 1887, evolving from an enterprise named the American Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the sound business. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of singers, instrumentalists. It is one of Sony Musics three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records, rather, as above, it was connected to CBS, a broadcasting media company which had purchased the company in 1938, and had been co-founded in 1927 by Columbia Records itself. Though Arista Records was sold to Bertelsmann Music Group, it would become a sister label of Columbia Records through its mutual connection to Sony Music. The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887 by stenographer, lawyer and New Jersey native Edward Easton and it derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington. As was the custom of some of the regional companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own. Columbias ties to Edison and the North American Phonograph Company were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Companys breakup, thereafter it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the XP record, a brown wax record. According to Gracyk, the molded brown waxes may have sold to Sears for distribution. Columbia began selling records and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their Toy Graphophone of 1899. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in American recorded sound. In order to add prestige to its catalog of artists. The firm also introduced the internal-horn Grafonola to compete with the extremely popular Victrola sold by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company, during this era, Columbia used the famous Magic Notes logo—a pair of sixteenth notes in a circle—both in the United States and overseas. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players, Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation, in late 1923, Columbia went into receivership
11.
Sony Music
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Sony Music Entertainment is an American music company owned by Sony. It is incorporated as a partnership of Sony Music Holdings Inc. through Sony Entertainment. The company was first founded in 1929 as American Record Corporation and renamed Columbia Recording Corporation in 1938, in 1966, the company was reorganized to become CBS Records. Sony Corporation bought the company in 1987 and renamed it Sony Music Entertainment in 1991, the buyout led to the dissolution of BMG, which relaunched as BMG Rights Management. Sony Music Entertainment is one of the Big Three record companies, being the second largest after Universal Music Group, in 1929, ARC was founded through a merger of several record companies. In 1934, in the midst of Great Depression, the Columbia Phonograph Company, ARC was acquired in 1938 by the Columbia Broadcasting System, which, in turn, had been formed by the Columbia Phonograph Company, but then sold off. ARC was renamed Columbia Recording Corporation, RCA Victor Records executive Ted Wallerstein convinced CBS head William S. Paley to buy ARC and Paley made Wallerstein head of the newly acquired record company. The renamed company made Columbia its flagship label and Okeh its subsidiary label and this allowed ARCs leased labels Brunswick Records and Vocalion Records to revert to their former owner Warner Bros. which sold them to Decca Records. Columbia kept the Brunswick catalogue recorded from December 1931 onward on the Columbia label and he was succeeded by James Conkling as head of Columbia Records. In 1951, Columbia severed its ties with the EMI-owned record label of the same name, Okeh Records continued to be distributed by EMI on the Columbia label. Columbia founded Epic Records in 1953 and in 1956, Conkling left Columbia and he would help establish the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences before eventually becoming the first president of the newly launched Warner Bros. His successor, Goddard Lieberson began the first of two stints as head of the record company, and in 1958, Columbia founded another label, Date Records, which initially issued rockabilly music. In 1960, Columbia/CBS began negotiations with its international distributor Philips Records with the goal of starting its own global record company. Philips acquisition of US-based Mercury Records in 1961 paved the way for this, elsewhere, CBSs Mexican record company, Discos Columbia, was renamed Discos CBS by 1963. In 1964, Columbia set out acquiring record companies in countries for its CBS Records International Unit. EMI continued to distribute Epic and Okeh label material on the Columbia label in the UK until the deal with EMI expired in 1968 when CBS took over distribution. In late 1965, the Date subsidiary label was revived and this label released the first string of hits for Peaches & Herb and scored a few minor hits from various other artists. Dates biggest success was Time of the Season by the Zombies, the label was discontinued in 1970
12.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
13.
Walter Murphy
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Walter Anthony Murphy, Jr. is an American composer, arranger, pianist, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for the instrumental A Fifth of Beethoven, further classical–disco fusions followed, such as Flight 76, Rhapsody in Blue, Toccata and Funk in D Minor, Bolero, and Mostly Mozart, but were not as successful. He has had a partnership with Seth MacFarlane, composing music for his films and TV shows such as Family Guy, The Cleveland Show. Murphy was born on December 19,1952, in New York City, at age four, he attended music lessons hosted by Rosa Rio, studying an array of instruments, including the organ and piano. Rio frequently opted for him to star in advertisements for the Hammond organ. There, Murphy studied jazz and classical piano, referring to his studies, in 1972, he married Laurie Robertson, who worked in the plastics industry. In the early 1970s, Murphy was the leader of a band called WAM and they gigged in the New York tri-state area, often at the New Rochelle club Pearlys. In 1976, Murphy played piano on Peter Lemongellos second album Do I Love You, in college, Murphys interests included rock music, particularly that which was adapted from classical music, such as Joy by Apollo 100 and A Lovers Concerto by The Toys. Later, in 1976, he was writing a song for a commercial, when a producer gave him the idea of updating classical music. Response was generally unimpressive, but Fifth caught the interest of Private Stock Records owner Larry Uttal, Murphy signed on to Private Stock and recorded the album A Fifth of Beethoven. The first single and title track, A Fifth of Beethoven, was released on May 29,1976 and it was a hit, starting out at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually reaching number 1 within 19 weeks, where it stayed for one week. The single sold two million copies, while the album sold about 750,000 copies, the second single, a rendition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakovs Flight of the Bumblebee titled Flight 76, was less successful, reaching only number 44 on the Hot 100. The record was credited to Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band upon encouragement from Private Stock, who believed it would become a hit if credited to a group rather than an individual. Following the success of A Fifth of Beethoven, Murphy toured with his band and made guest appearances on such as Don Kirshners Rock Concert, The Midnight Special, Dinah. In addition, as a result of the success, Murphy and his wife were able to move out of their two-room apartment in Yonkers. On the success of the single, he said, Its really sad that the kids today can only relate to Beethoven via a version of his music. He hoped that maybe if theyve heard this much of his symphony, theyll go out, in 1977, A Fifth of Beethoven was licensed to RSO Records for inclusion on the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever, giving it a new lease on life. Also that year, Murphy recorded the album Rhapsody in Blue, two singles were released, a disco treatment of George Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue, and the self-penned instrumental Uptown Serenade
14.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
15.
Crazy in Love
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Crazy in Love is the lead single from American singer Beyoncés 2003 debut solo album, Dangerously in Love. It features a guest verse from rapper Jay Z, the artists wrote and composed the song in collaboration with Rich Harrison and Eugene Record, the former also produced it with Beyoncé. Using samples from The Chi-Lites 1970 song Are You My Woman, Crazy in Love is an R&B and pop song that incorporates elements of hip hop, soul. Its lyrics describe a romantic obsession that causes the protagonist to act out of character, columbia Records released Crazy in Love on May 18,2003, as the lead single from Dangerously in Love. It was a hit in the United States and United Kingdom. With global sales of 2.9 million, Music critics praised Crazy in Loves hook, Jay Zs contribution, and Beyoncés assertive delivery of the lyrics. VH1 declared it the greatest song of the 2000s decade, while Rolling Stone ranked it as the 118th best song of all time in 2010, at the 46th Grammy Awards, Crazy in Love won Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. The songs accompanying video features Beyoncé in various dance sequences. It won three awards at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, and its director, Jake Nava, since 2003, Crazy in Love has been a staple in Beyoncé’s live performances and concert tours. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers recognized Crazy in Love as one of the most performed songs of 2004, artists including David Byrne have covered the song, and it has been used in various television shows and other media. In July 2002, Beyoncé had already recorded songs which would appear on Dangerously in Love. These delays allowed Beyoncé to record songs for the album. Before meeting Beyoncé, Rich Harrison had conceptualized the beat of the song and he sampled the hooks instrumentation from the 1970 song Are You My Woman. Originally written and composed by Eugene Record, frontman of the Chicago-based vocal group The Chi-Lites, people do not really get it and you will leave them with a foul taste in their mouth. Harrison was pleasantly surprised when he got a call from Beyoncé, however, things did not turn up according to his plans the following day as he was late and was still suffering the effects of a hangover. Nevertheless, Beyoncé became friendlier to the sample, much to Harrisons delight, Harrison confessed that it was not easy for him to come up with the lyrics to Crazy in Love in that length of time. But two hours later, he had written the verses, and the hook, in spite of being hung over, Harrison had also made provision for a backing track, he played all the instruments on the track. Harrison sang back to her and said, Thats the hook and it also inspired the title of the song
16.
Gossip Folks
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Gossip Folks is a song by American hip-hop artist Missy Elliott, featuring Ludacris. The song appears on her 2002 album Under Construction and was chosen as single release. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 in the UK, Gossip Folks also went to number one on the dance charts. The song is Missys response to rumors about her. The refrain of Gossip Folks samples the 1981 song Double Dutch Bus by Frankie Smith, the music video for Gossip Folks was directed by Dave Meyers. In the beginning Elliott is walking through the hallway when students start announcing her entrance, as Missys verse starts, Missy and the students begin dancing through the chorus. The second verse starts in the cafeteria where Missy has her group of students have a fight with another group. Also in the cafeteria are Tweet, Eve, and Trina cheering while sitting on a cafeteria table, in the middle of the video a clip of Funky Fresh Dressed featuring Ms. Jade was played. The Funky Fresh Dressed segment of the video features Elliott and Ms. Jade with green skin in a classroom, Missy begins to aggravate the teacher Faizon Love while Ms. Jade takes over the class with a yardstick as a symbol of power. Ludacriss verse begins directly after the Funky Fresh Dressed segment and he appears to be the principal. The Bus Driver, that appears in the last ten seconds, is Darryl McDaniels, toward the end of the video a mural dedicated to the late R&B/hip hop stars Aaliyah, Lisa Lopes, and Jam Master Jay is shown. The video features young dancers, including Monica Parales of the former girl group School Gyrls, and Alyson Stoner. & Royal Garden Remix Extended Mousse T, & Royal Garden Remix Instrumental Mousse T
17.
Cop That Shit
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Cop That Shit, also known in its censored form as Cop That Disc, is the lead single taken from hip-hop duo Timbaland & Magoos third studio album, Under Construction, Part II. The track features vocals from Missy Elliott, the single was released on September 29,2003 in Europe, but was not released in the United Kingdom until March 8,2004. The track itself refers to people downloading and burning music instead of buying it, all of the tracks verses are resung verses from classic rap songs, however some of the lyrics are changed to show the artists originality. Timbalands verse is a rewriter of I Know You Got Soul by Eric B, & Rakim, Missys verse is a rewrite of Paper Thin by MC Lyte, and Magoos verse is a rewrite of I Got It Made by Special Ed. The video also features a rap interlude by rapper Sebastian, the video also features dancer, Mari Koda, who would later star in the dance movie Step Up 3D
18.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
19.
Sampling (music)
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In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a sound recording in a different song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, by the late 1960s, the use of tape loop sampling influenced the development of minimalist music and the production of psychedelic rock and jazz fusion. Hip hop music was the first popular music based on the art of sampling – being born from 1970s DJs who experimented with manipulating vinyl on two turntables and an audio mixer. Historically, sampling was most often done with a sampler — a specialized piece of hardware — but today, however, vinyl emulation software may also be used, and turntablists continue to sample using traditional methods. Often samples consist of one part of a song, such as a rhythm break, for instance, hip hop music developed from DJs looping the breaks from songs to enable continuous dancing. Samples can also consist of words and phrases, including those in non-musical media such as movies, TV shows. Sampling does not necessarily mean using pre-existing recordings, a number of composers and musicians have constructed pieces or songs by sampling field recordings they made themselves, and others have sampled their own original recordings. The use of sampling is controversial legally and musically, in the 1970s, when hip hop was confined to local dance parties, it was unnecessary to obtain copyright clearance in order to sample recorded music at these parties. Aside from legal issues, sampling has been championed and criticized. Hip-hop DJs today take different approaches to sampling, with critical of its obvious use. Some critics, particularly those with a rockist outlook, have expressed the belief all sampling is lacking in creativity, while others say sampling has been innovative and revolutionary. Those whose own work has been sampled have also voiced a variety of opinions about the practice. Once recorded, samples can be edited, played back, or looped, types of samples include, The drums and percussion parts of many modern recordings are really a variety of short samples of beats strung together. Many libraries of such beats exist and are licensed so that the user incorporating the samples can distribute their recording without paying royalties, such libraries can be loaded into samplers. Though percussion is an application of looping, many kinds of samples can be looped. A piece of music may have an ostinato which is created by sampling a phrase played on any kind of instrument, there is software which specializes in creating loops. Whereas loops are usually a phrase played on a musical instrument, Music workstations and samplers use samples of musical instruments as the basis of their own sounds, and are capable of playing a sample back at any pitch. Many modern synthesizers and drum machines also use samples as the basis of their sounds, most such samples are created in professional recording studios using world-class instruments played by accomplished musicians
20.
Song structure
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Song structure or the musical forms of songs in traditional music and music are typically sectional, repeating forms used in songs, such as strophic form and is a part of the songwriting process. Other common forms include thirty-two-bar form, verse-chorus form, and the twelve-bar blues, popular music songs traditionally use the same music for each verse of stanza of lyrics. Pop and traditional forms can be used even with songs that have differences in melodies. The most common format is intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus and outro. The formal sections found in songs have been identified as the verse, chorus, bridge, hook, the foundation of popular music is the verse and chorus structure. Pop and rock songs nearly always have both a verse and a chorus, both are essential elements, with the verse usually played first. Exceptions abound, with She Loves You by The Beatles being an example in the rock music genre. Each verse usually employs the melody, while the lyrics usually change for each verse. The chorus usually consists of a melodic and lyrical phrase which is repeated, pop songs may have an introduction and coda, but these elements are not essential to the identity of most songs. Pop songs often connect the verse and chorus via a bridge, the verse and chorus are usually repeated throughout a song though the bridge, intro, and coda are usually only used once. Some pop songs may have a section, particularly in rock or blues influenced pop. During the solo section one or more instruments play a line which may be the melody used by the singer, or. The introduction is a section that comes at the beginning of the piece. Generally speaking, an introduction will contain just music and no words and it usually builds up suspense for the listener so when the downbeat drops in, it creates a release or surprise. In some songs, the intro is one or more bars of the tonic chord, the introduction may also be based around the chords used in the verse, chorus, or bridge, or a stock turnaround progression may be played, such as the I–vi–ii–V progression. In some cases, a contains only drums or percussion parts which set the rhythm. Alternately the introduction may consist of a sung by the lead singer. In popular music, a verse roughly corresponds to a poetic stanza because it consists of rhyming lyrics most often with an AABB or ABAB rhyme scheme, when two or more sections of the song have almost identical music and different lyrics, each section is considered one verse
21.
Antti Jokinen
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Antti Jokinen is a Finnish music video and film director, as well as a former college basketball player. Jokinen attended East Carolina University on a scholarship and later graduated with a major in broadcast. After his studies in the USA Jokinen moved back to Finland, later on the two formed Solar Films Ltd. which nowadays has become of the leading film production companies in Finland. Jokinen moved from the Finnish music videos to TV by landing a job to one episode for a Finnish TV series Tähtilampun alla for his newly established production company Solar Films. This lead him to direct another TV series, Tähtitehdas also for Solar Films, the two also continued working together producing multiple music videos for the Finnish and European artists such as Sash. The videos eventually got him an agent in the USA, Jokinen moved back to USA and become a full-time music video director. In the spring of 2009 Jokinen started to shoot his first full-length film The Resident, starring Hilary Swank, the film was released in March 2011. While directing The Resident Jokinen had started to gain funding for a film called Nicholas North, the shooting was set to start in 2010 in Finland. Finnish press reported that Julianne Moore has been cast to play the lead and it was reported in the press that the budget for the film would be 16 million euros. After moving back to Finland Jokinen directed a drama film Puhdistus set in Estonia, the film was selected as the Finnish entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, Once again the film was produced by Markus Selin and Solar Films. In 2014 Jokinen is working on the Finnish film Kätilö Wildeye which will have its premier in Finland in 2015, in 2015 Jokinen is starting to film his second English film The Criminal. According to Hollywood Reporter Keanu Reeves is playing the lead in the film, Jokinen was engaged to Finnish chef Sara La Fountain. After moving to Finland Jokinen met a Finnish actress, Krista Kosonen, later on Jokinen cast Kosonen to play the leading role in his upcoming film, Kätilö. Jokinen has a son with a Finnish model Niina Kurkinen, Jokinen and Kurkinen had a relationship in the early 2000s. Kurkinen landed one of her first roles in a Finnish TV series Kirjava Silta in 2000, directed by Jokinen and produced by Markus Selin, official website Antti Jokinen at the Internet Movie Database
22.
Cuba Gooding Jr.
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Cuba Gooding Jr. is an American actor. For his portrayal of O. J. Simpson in the FX drama series The People v. O. J. Simpson, American Crime Story and he co-starred in the sixth season of the FX anthology series American Horror Story, subtitled Roanoke. His other films include As Good as It Gets, American Gangster, Lee Daniels The Butler, Gooding was born on January 2,1968 in The Bronx, New York City. His mother, Shirley, is a singer with the Sweethearts, Gooding has three siblings, April, Omar, and Tommy. His paternal grandfather, Dudley MacDonald Gooding, was a native of Barbados and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1972 after his fathers music group had their hit single Everybody Plays the Fool, two years later, the elder Gooding left the family. He served as president in three of them. He became a born-again Christian at age 13, in 1994, Gooding married his high school sweetheart, Sara Kapfer, with whom he has three children. In 2014, Kapfer filed for separation from Gooding. Gooding filed for divorce in January 2017, goodings first job as an entertainer was as a breakdancer performing with singer Lionel Richie at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. After high school, Gooding studied Japanese martial arts for three years, before turning his focus toward acting, early on, he landed guest starring roles on shows like Hill Street Blues, Amen and MacGyver and also had a tiny part in the popular comedy Coming to America. Goodings first major role was in John Singletons inner-city crime drama Boyz n the Hood, in which he played the lead, a box office surprise and critical hit, the film is now considered a modern classic. He followed this success with supporting roles in films such as A Few Good Men, Judgment Night, Lightning Jack. Most significantly, it earned Gooding an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and his exuberant Show me the money. Line in the film became a catch phrase. Additionally, his Oscar acceptance speech has often cited for its enthusiasm. Additionally, though not well received critically, the family comedy Snow Dogs was a commercial success, other roles of note during this time include Theo Caulder in the psychological thriller Instinct and the voice of Buck in the Disney animated film Home on the Range. On top of this, Gooding had allegedly turned down roles in films such as Amistad in the aftermath of his Oscar win. Ultimately, neither his earlier successes nor his leading roles in a couple of independent films
23.
Mike Epps
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Michael Elliot Mike Epps is an American stand-up comedian, actor, film producer, writer, and rapper. He is best known for playing Day-Day Jones in Next Friday and its sequel, Friday After Next and he was the voice of Boog in Open Season 2, but was replaced by Matthew J. Munn in Open Season 3. As of 2010, Epps was the producer on a documentary about the life story of a former member of Tupac Shakurs Outlawz, Napoleon. He is also known for playing L. J. in Resident Evil, Apocalypse and Resident Evil, Extinction in 2004 and 2007 respectively. Recently, Mike has been criticised by so many people, for bringing a kangaroo onto the stage during his concerts, during the concert he pushes the kangaroo around, Epps was born at Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of Mary Reed and Tommy Epps. Epps natural comedic ability was encouraged at an age. Epps moved to Atlanta where he worked at the Comedy Act Theater, Epps ended up on the Def Comedy Jam tour and starred in two of HBOs Def Comedy Jam broadcasts. Epps began his career by joining the Def Comedy Jam tour in 1995. Epps first on-screen appearance came in Vin Diesels directorial debut, Strays in 1997, in 1999, Epps was then cast as Ice Cubes co-star in the sequel, Next Friday. This came after weeks of auditions after Ice Cube attended a stand-up set Epps did and his role as Day-Day Jones was a breakthrough for the new actor, who was already familiar to much of the audience from his stand-up work. Later that year, Epps had a cameo in 3 Strikes, Epps had a voice role in the 2001 movie Dr. Dolittle 2 as Sonny the Bear and finished the year with a featured role as comical pimp Baby Powder in How High, starring Method Man and Redman. Epps reunited with Ice Cube in 2002 as the thief to Ice Cubes bounty hunter in All About the Benjamins. Epps also got to another bear character in the 2008 film Open Season 2 after Martin Lawrence declined the role. In 2010, Epps also released a comedy special, Under Rated & Never Faded. Epps name has become synonymous with a style of humor. Aside from featuring Cube, the thread of these films was the hilarious prominence of marijuana-smoking comic characters. Epps most recently starred alongside Jordin Sparks and Whitney Houston in the 2012 remake of Sparkle, in his first non-comedic role as the main antagonist, a stand-up comic by day, an evil and abusive drug kingpin by night in engaged in an affair with the titular characters sister. Epps performance was received by critics and audiences
24.
Gospel music
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Gospel music is a music genre in Christian music. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music varies according to culture. Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, Gospel music usually has dominant vocals with Christian lyrics. Gospel music can be traced to the early 17th century, with roots in the oral tradition. Hymns and sacred songs were repeated in a call and response fashion, most of the churches relied on hand clapping and foot stomping as rhythmic accompaniment. Most of the singing was done a cappella, the first published use of the term Gospel Song probably appeared in 1874. The original gospel songs were written and composed by such as George F. Root, Philip Bliss, Charles H. Gabriel, William Howard Doane. The advent of radio in the 1920s greatly increased the audience for gospel music, following World War II, gospel music moved into major auditoriums, and gospel music concerts became quite elaborate. Gospel blues is a form of gospel music. Southern gospel used all male, tenor-lead-baritone-bass quartet make-up, progressive Southern gospel is an American music genre that has grown out of Southern gospel over the past couple of decades. Christian country music, sometimes referred to as gospel music, is a subgenre of gospel music with a country flair. It peaked in popularity in the mid-1990s, bluegrass gospel music is rooted in American mountain music. Celtic gospel music infuses gospel music with a Celtic flair, and is popular in countries such as Ireland. British black gospel refers to Gospel music of the African diaspora, some proponents of standard hymns generally dislike gospel music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, with distance, there is a greater acceptance of such gospel songs into official denominational hymnals. Gospel music in general is characterized by dominant vocals referencing lyrics of a Christian nature, subgenres include contemporary gospel, urban contemporary gospel, Southern gospel, and modern gospel music. Several forms of gospel music utilize choirs, use piano or Hammond organ, tambourines, drums, bass guitar and, increasingly, electric guitar. In comparison with hymns, which are generally of a statelier measure, several attempts have been made to describe the style of late 19th and early 20th century gospel songs in general
25.
Hip hop
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Hip hop is a subculture and art movement developed by African-Americans and Latinos from the inner-city South Bronx neighbourhood in New York City in the late 1970s. Jamaican immigrant DJ Kool Herc also played a key role in developing hip hop music, at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Herc mixed samples of existing records and DJed percussion breaks, mixing this music with his own Jamaican-style toasting to rev up the crowd and dancers. These youths mixed these influences with existing musical styles associated with African Americans prior to the 1970s, Hip hop music became popular outside of the African-American community in the late 1980s, with the mainstream commercial success of gangsta rap. Critic Greg Tate described the hip hop movement as the only avant-garde still around, Hip hop culture has spread to both urban and suburban communities throughout the United States and subsequently the world. These elements were adapted and developed considerably, particularly as the art spread to new continents and merged with local styles in the 1990s. Sampling older culture and re-using it in a new context or a new format is called flipping in hip hop culture. Hip hop music follows in the footsteps of earlier African-American-rooted musical genres such as blues, jazz, rag-time, funk, cowboy later worked the hip hop cadence into his stage performance. The group frequently performed with artists who would refer to this new type of music by calling them hip hoppers. The name was meant as a sign of disrespect, but soon came to identify this new music. The song Rappers Delight, by The Sugarhill Gang, released in 1979, begins with the phrase I said a hip, hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop, and you dont stop. Lovebug Starski, a Bronx DJ who put out a single called The Positive Life in 1981, and DJ Hollywood then began using the term when referring to this new disco rap music. Bill Alder, an independent consultant, once said, There was hardly ever a moment when rap music was underground, one of the very first so-called rap records, was a monster hit. Hip hop pioneer and South Bronx community leader Afrika Bambaataa also credits Lovebug Starski as the first to use the hip hop. Bambaataa, former leader of the Black Spades gang, also did much to popularize the term. In the 1970s, an urban movement known as Hip Hop began to develop in the South Bronx in New York City. It focused on emceeing over breakbeats, house parties and neighbourhood block party events, Hip hop music has been a powerful medium for protesting the impact of legal institutions on minorities, particularly police and prisons. Jamaican-born DJ Clive Kool Herc Cindy Campbell pioneered the use of DJing percussion breaks in hip hop music, beginning at Hercs home in a high-rise apartment at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, the movement later spread across the entire borough. Herc created the blueprint for hip hop music and culture by building upon the Jamaican tradition of impromptu toasting, on August 11,1973 DJ Kool Herc was the DJ at his sisters back-to-school party
26.
AllMusic
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AllMusic is an online music guide service website. It was launched in 1991 by All Media Guide which later became All Media Network, AllMusic was launched in 1991 by Michael Erlewine of All Media Guide. The aim was to discographic information on every artist whos made a record since Enrico Caruso gave the industry its first big boost and its first reference book was published the following year. When first released onto the Internet, AMG predated the World Wide Web and was first available as a Gopher site, the AMG consumer web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in July 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. All Media Network, LLC. was formed by the founders of SideReel. com. The following are contributors to AllMusic, as of this date, All Media Network also produced the AllMusic guide series that includes the AllMusic Guide to Rock, the All Music Guide to Jazz and the All Music Guide to the Blues. Vladimir Bogdanov is the president of the series, in August 2007, PC Magazine included AllMusic in its Top 100 Classic Websites list. All Media Network AllGame AllMovie SideReel All Music Guide to the Blues All Music Guide to Jazz Stephen Thomas Erlewine Official website
27.
Billboard (magazine)
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Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and it is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows, Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegens interest in 1900 for $500, in the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the industry as the jukebox, phonograph. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegans children, until it was sold to investors in 1985. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1,1894 by William Donaldson, initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards, posters and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co. managed magazine production, the first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns like The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable, a department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The title was changed to The Billboard in 1897, after a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegans interest in the business in 1900 for $500, to save it from bankruptcy. That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London and he also re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment like fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of events in 1901. Billboard also covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism, economics and it had a stage gossip column covering the private lives of entertainers, a tent show section covering traveling shows and a sub-section called Freaks to order. According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson also published articles attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting good taste
28.
Dutch Top 40
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The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart compiled by Stichting Nederlandse Top 40. It started as a program titled Veronica Top 40, on the offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained The Veronica Top 40 until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting, joost den Draaijer was the initiator of the top 40 in the Netherlands. On January 2,1965, the first Top 40 was compiled, in 1974, the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40 bought the Top 40 and named it De Nederlandse Top 40. Currently, Radio 538 is airing the Dutch Top 40 on radio, jeroen Nieuwenhuize presents the program every Friday afternoon from 14.00 until 18.00. As of February 2014 the chart is a combination of airplay, streaming, the more often a song gets played on the radio, the higher its place in the Top 40. For year end chart positions, #1 position gets 40 points and this way you just count up all numbers and sort them from most points till least points. There is a set of rules, of some have existed since 1972. Some of these have been criticised as a hindrance, singles must remain minimal two weeks in the chart. If a single officially no longer belongs in the top 40, example, Missy Elliotts Lose Control, Remained two weeks on #40 in the chart, because it did not sell enough and also wasnt played enough on the radio. Singles that highly change position upwards are noted as having superstip status and these singles are not allowed to fall down in chart position the following week. Recent example, Guus Meeuwis Ik Wil Dat Ons Land Juicht, The song entered the chart at #11, the following week it was meant to drop in chart position, but remained on the #5 position. The following two weeks, it went from #5 to #39, because of this rule, this single is the biggest fall down in the Dutch Top 40. However this is not always the case, sometimes singles with a superstip do drop for some reason Re-entry only takes place when the single re-enters within the top 30, if differently, these re-entried singles are ignored. Example, Racoon recently re-entered the Dutch Top 40 at #31 though with the song Love You More, singles with double A-side are noted separately in the top 40, due the different number of airplay the two songs get. Example, Robbie Williams first single off his 2005 album Intensive Care was Tripping with the B-side being Make Me Pure, while Tripping topped the chart by peaking at #1, Make Me Pure peaked at #15 in the Top 40. This is a listing of significant achievements and milestones based upon the Dutch Top 40 charts. & Pharrell Williams — Blurred Lines Avicii — Wake Me Up Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne — Rather Be OMI — Cheerleader 10 weeks Heintje — Ich bau dir ein Schloß4 Non Blondes — Whats Up
29.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
30.
GfK Entertainment Charts
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The GfK Entertainment Charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment GmbH on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Following a lawsuit in March 2014 by Media Control AG, Media Control® GfK International had to change its name, dissemination of the charts is conducted by various media outlets, some of which include VIVA music channel, and the Swiss charts website. Other entities that present the charts are MusicLoad and MIX1, furthermore, GfK Entertainment also runs a dedicated website providing chart-related news and access to most of the charts. Charts have been published in Germany since 1959, in a magazine called Der Musikmarkt, since 1959, the growing desire to have a well-developed music program has made Bundesverband Musikindustrie work together with charts providers to improve the way the charts are determined. For this purpose, different research institutes were tested, out of which Media Control, hence, the first official charts were made available in the magazine Der Musikmarkt in September 1977. Initially, there used to be 50 positions only, which later in January 1980, was extended to 75 slots, since 1989, however, GfK Entertainment has adapted the international standards providing 100 positions, now called Offizielle Top 100 Charts. In 2001, the Top-100 singles charts was modified to reflect the sales of the singles, Media Control developed Music Video charts in 2001, which later, in 2004, was renamed as DVD charts. While music-videos have their own charts, in 2001, GfK Entertainment made it possible for the music-video singles to have the ability to enter the Top-100 singles chart. Similarly, in 2002, it was available for music-video albums to chart on the Top-100 album chart. If not, then, the DVD album could qualify for the DVD chart only, in the same vein, if an audio CD contains at least 50% of video recording, then, it could qualify to chart on the DVD chart. In 2003, Media Control joined forces with GfK, thus the name officially being changed to Media Control GfK International GmbH. In 2004, Germany became one of the first music markets wherein sales charts were reflected by online digital downloads, digital-only releases came into existence on 13 July 2007, for online downloads only, which also altered the way the sales figures were conducted up to that point. Consequently, chart positions would no longer be affected by the number of music downloads as before. Thus, the albums would not necessarily be the ones ending up in the number-one position on the charts. In March 2014, GfK announced that the official chart providers name in Germany will change from Media Control GfK International GmbH to GfK Entertainment, there are currently 3,000 outlets that report their sales on weekly bases in Germany. The weekly sales data is transmitted to GfK Entertainment via communication network channel and this is the list of categories, for each of which charts are provided by GfK Entertainment
31.
AllMovie
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AllMovie is an online guide service website with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. As of 2013, AllMovie. com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by All Media Network, AllMovie was founded by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine, who also founded AllMusic and AllGame. The AllMovie database was licensed to tens of thousands of distributors and retailers for point-of-sale systems, websites, the AllMovie database is comprehensive, including basic product information, cast and production credits, plot synopsis, professional reviews, biographies, relational links and more. AllMovie data was accessed on the web at the AllMovie. com website and it was also available via the AMG LASSO media recognition service, which can automatically recognize DVDs. In late 2007, Macrovision acquired AMG for a reported $72 million, the AMG consumer facing web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in August 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. The buyers also include the founders of SideReel and Ackrell Capital investor Mike Ackrell. All Media Network offices are located in San Francisco, California, AllMusic AllGame SideReel All Media Network Official website
32.
TiVo Corporation
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TiVo Corporation is an American technology company. The company holds over 6,000 pending and registered patents, the company also provides analytics and recommendation platforms for the video industry. In 2016, Rovi acquired digital video recorder maker TiVo Inc. Macrovision Corporation was established in 1983. The 1984 film The Cotton Club was the first video to be encoded with Macrovision technology when it was released in 1985, by the end of the 1980s, most major Hollywood studios were utilizing their services. John O. Ryan and William A. Krepick led the company through an IPO in 1997 priced at $9.00 a share. In July 2005, the company hired Alfred J. Amoroso as chief officer and president to succeed William A. Krepick. Macrovision acquired Gemstar-TV Guide on May 2,2008, in a deal worth about $2.8 billion. The combined company would seek to be “the homepage for the TV experience, the divestiture of the software business unit closed on April 1,2008, becoming Acresso Software. Macrovision also ultimately sold off parts of Gemstar-TV Guide not focused on entertainment, including TryMedia, eMeta, TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Network. The company also bought two companies providing entertainment metadata, All Media Guide on November 6,2007, and substantially all the assets of Muze, on July 16,2009, Macrovision Solution Corporation announced the official change of its name to Rovi Corporation. Rovi announced its first product on January 7,2010 – TotalGuide, on March 16,2010, Rovi acquired MediaUnbound for an undisclosed amount. MediaUnbound had helped build static and dynamic personalization and recommendation engines for such as Napster, eMusic. On June 16,2010, the announced the Rovi Advertising Network which bundled guide advertising. On December 23,2010, the announced its intention to acquire Sonic Solutions. Sonic provided digital video processing, playback and distribution technologies and owned RoxioNow an OTT technology provider, on March 1,2011, Rovi announced its acquisition of online video guide SideReel. The company announced Amorosos intention to retire on May 26,2011, tom Carson, formerly the executive vice president of sales and marketing, was appointed CEO and President in December 2011. Continuing on this path, the made a similar announcement in January 2014 indicating its intent to sell the DivX. On April 1,2013, Rovi acquired Integral Reach, a provider of predictive analysis services, the technology would be integrated into Rovis audience analysis services
33.
Dotdash
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About. com is an American Internet-based network of content that publishes articles and videos about various subjects on its topic sites, of which there are nearly 1,000. It is operated by About, Inc, the website competes with other online resource sites and encyclopedias. By March 2014,61,428,000 unique visitors were registered by comScore for About. com, making it the 16th-most-visited online property during that month. As of August 2012, About. com is the property of IAC, owner of Ask. com and numerous other online brands, and its revenue is generated by advertising. Founded in 1996 as The Mining Company, the site was launched on April 21,1997 by Scott Kurnit, owner of General Internet, Bill Day, and a group of other entrepreneurs in New York City. The original goal was to maintain 1,800 topic areas, but after five years of operation, the company changed its name to About Inc. and the website address from miningco. com to about. com in May 1999. The company was acquired by Primedia, Inc. in 2000 through a deal valued at US$690 million, whereby Primedia swapped 45.2 million shares for About, at the time of the acquisition announcement, About Inc. Following the purchase, which was finalized in the first quarter of 2001, in February 2005, The New York Times Company announced it was buying About. com, a purchase that was completed in the first half of the year for US$410 million. Google and Yahoo were reportedly among the other bidders, following the Times Co. acquisition, Peter C. Horan was appointed as About Inc. s president and CEO, in March 2007, About. coms patronage was measured at 33.5 million unique visitors. On May 7,2007, About Inc. acquired ConsumerSearch. com, initially conceived of in January 2007, About. coms first fully owned foreign venture, the China-based Abang. com, debuted in December 2007. At the time of the launch, the company had a Japan-based online entity, Allabout. co. jp, the About Group generated US$102.7 million in 2007, which represented a 135-percent increase from the time of the Times Co. acquisition. Meyer stepped down from the executive role in March 2008 and was replaced by Cella Irvine. Martin Nisenholtz, SVP of digital operations, temporarily replaced Irvine following her departure in May 2011, in July 2011, Darline Jean was named CEO of the About Group, after the companys second-quarter revenues totaled US$27.8 million. Jean previously served as Abouts chief financial officer and her new appointment became effective on September 1,2011, a media report published in August 2012 indicated that Answers. com had reached a preliminary agreement to acquire About. com for US$270 million. However, on August 26, Barry Dillers IAC announced that it would acquire About. com instead for US$300 million in cash. A source for the TechCrunch publication later confirmed that Answers. coms offer was valued at US$270 million. In the corresponding press release, IAC explained that the acquisition will help bolster and accompany its existing properties, Jean fulfilled her role as chief executive during the transition period, while ownership was transferred to IAC, and then left About shortly after the sale was finalized
34.
The New York Times Company
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The New York Times Company is an American media company which publishes its namesake, The New York Times. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. has served as chairman since 1997 and it is headquartered in Manhattan, New York. The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City, the company moved into the cable channel industry purchasing a 40% interest in the Popcorn Channel, a theatrical movie preview and local movie times, in November 1994. The company completed its purchase of The Washington Posts 50 percent interest in the International Herald Tribune for US$65 million on January 1,2003, on March 18,2005, the company acquired About. com, an online provider of consumer information for US$410 million. In 2005, the company reported revenues of US$3.4 billion to its investors, the Times, on August 25,2006, acquired Baseline StudioSystems, an online database and research service on the film and television industries for US$35 million. The company announced that it had finalized the sale of its Broadcast Media Group on May 7,2007, for approximately $575 million. On July 14,2009, the announced that WQXR was to be sold to WNYC. This US$45 million transaction, which involved Univision Radios WCAA moving to the 96.3 FM frequency from 105.9 FM, ended the Times 65-year-long ownership of the station. On December 27,2011, The Boston Globe reported that the company would sell its Regional Media Group to Halifax Media Holdings LLC, owners of The Daytona Beach News-Journal, the Boston Globe and The Telegram & Gazette of Worcester were not part of the sale. In 2011, the Times sold Baseline StudioSystems back to its owners, Laurie S. Silvers and Mitchell Rubenstein. Facing falling revenue from print advertising in its publication in 2011, The New York Times. As of 2012, it has been successful, garnering several hundred thousand subscriptions. In 2013, the New York Times Company sold The Boston Globe and other New England media properties to John W. Henry, according to the Times Company, the move was made in order to focus more on its core brands. Alongside its namesake newspaper, the company owns the International New York Times. Since 1967, the company has listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYT. In 2015, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim became the top New York Times stockholder, at the April 2005 board meeting, Class B shareholders elected nine of the fourteen directors of the company. The company sponsors a series of national and local awards designed to highlight the achievements of individuals, in 2007, it inaugurated its first Nonprofit Excellence Award, awarded to four organizations for the excellence of their management practices. Only nonprofits in New York City, Long Island, or Westchester were eligible, jointly with the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the American Library Association, The New York Times Company sponsors an award to honor librarians for service to their communities
35.
Prometheus Global Media
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Prometheus Global Media was a New York City-based B2B media company. The company was formed in December 2009, when Nielsen Company sold its entertainment and media division to a private equity-backed group led by Pluribus Capital Management, Guggenheim acquired Pluribuss stake in the company in January 2013, giving it full ownership under the division of Guggenheim Digital Media. On December 17,2015, it was announced that Guggenheim would spin out its media properties to a group led by former executive Todd Boehly, known as Eldridge Industries. Two Nielsen properties, Editor & Publisher, and Kirkus Reviews, were not included in the sale, Editor & Publisher would instead be sold to the Duncan McIntosh Company, and Kirkus Reviews would be sold to Herbert Simon. The companys first CEO was Richard Beckman, previously an executive and publisher at Condé Nast and Fairchild Publications, the new format was meant to compete against up-and-coming blogs focusing on industry news, such as Deadline. com and TheWrap, along with its then-struggling rival Variety. The changes had a significant impact on the performance, by 2013, ad sales were up more than 50%. In late 2011, Prometheus went through a number of cost-cutting measures, in April 2013, Guggenheim re-acquired Backstage and made its CEO John Amato president of the Billboard Group—a new group consisting of Billboard, Backstage, and Sonicbids. In a January 2014 restructuring, Levinsohn was shifted to a development role. The remaining properties, consisting of Adweek and Film Expo Group, are led by Jeff Wilbur, the acquisition did not include Mediabistros expo business, which were retained under the name Mecklermedia. On January 13,2015, Adweek and Film Expo Group were merged into Mediabistro to form a new Prometheus subsidiary, at the same time, its blogs were re-launched under the new Adweek Blog Network banner, and all of Mediabistros social media-oriented blogs were merged into SocialTimes. In March 2015, Guggenheim Partners reported that its president Todd Boehly was exploring the possibility of forming his own company, the resultant company is known as Eldridge Industries
36.
Amazon (company)
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Amazon. com, also called Amazon, is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company that was founded on July 5,1994, by Jeff Bezos and is based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest Internet-based retailer in the world by total sales, the company also produces consumer electronics—notably, Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Echo—and is the worlds largest provider of cloud infrastructure services. Amazon also sells certain low-end products like USB cables under its in-house brand AmazonBasics. Amazon has separate retail websites for the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Japan, China, India, and Mexico. Amazon also offers international shipping to other countries for some of its products. In 2016, Dutch, Polish, and Turkish language versions of the German Amazon website were launched. In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the United States by market capitalization, in 1994, Bezos left his employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co. a Wall Street firm and moved to Seattle. He began to work on a plan for what would eventually become Amazon. com. Bezos incorporated the company as Cadabra on July 5,1994, Bezos changed the name to Amazon a year later after a lawyer misheard its original name as cadaver. In September 1994, Bezos purchased the URL Relentless. com and briefly considered naming his online store Relentless, the domain is still owned by Bezos and still redirects to the retailer. The company went online as Amazon. com in 1995, Bezos placed a premium on his head start in building a brand, telling a reporter, Theres nothing about our model that cant be copied over time. But you know, McDonalds got copied, and it still built a huge, multibillion-dollar company. A lot of it comes down to the brand name, brand names are more important online than they are in the physical world. Additionally, a beginning with A was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of any list that was alphabetized. Since June 19,2000, Amazons logotype has featured a curved arrow leading from A to Z, representing that the company carries every product from A to Z, with the arrow shaped like a smile. After reading a report about the future of the Internet that projected annual Web commerce growth at 2, 300% and he narrowed the list to what he felt were the five most promising products, which included, compact discs, computer hardware, computer software, videos and books. Amazon was founded in the garage of Bezos home in Bellevue, the company began as an online bookstore, an idea spurred off with discussion with John Ingram of Ingram Book, along with Keyur Patel who still holds a stake in Amazon. Amazon was able to access books at wholesale from Ingram, in the first two months of business, Amazon sold to all 50 states and over 45 countries
