Music genre
A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Academics have argued that categorizing music by genre is inaccurate and outdated. Music can be divided into different genres in many different ways; the artistic nature of music means that these classifications are subjective and controversial, some genres may overlap. There are varying academic definitions of the term genre itself. In his book Form in Tonal Music, Douglass M. Green distinguishes between form, he lists madrigal, canzona and dance as examples of genres from the Renaissance period. To further clarify the meaning of genre, Green writes, "Beethoven's Op. 61 and Mendelssohn's Op. 64 are identical in genre – both are violin concertos – but different in form. However, Mozart's Rondo for Piano, K. 511, the Agnus Dei from his Mass, K. 317 are quite different in genre but happen to be similar in form."
Some, like Peter van der Merwe, treat the terms genre and style as the same, saying that genre should be defined as pieces of music that share a certain style or "basic musical language." Others, such as Allan F. Moore, state that genre and style are two separate terms, that secondary characteristics such as subject matter can differentiate between genres. A music genre or subgenre may be defined by the musical techniques, the style, the cultural context, the content and spirit of the themes. Geographical origin is sometimes used to identify a music genre, though a single geographical category will include a wide variety of subgenres. Timothy Laurie argues that since the early 1980s, "genre has graduated from being a subset of popular music studies to being an ubiquitous framework for constituting and evaluating musical research objects". Among the criteria used to classify musical genres are the trichotomy of art and traditional musics. Alternatively, music can be divided on three variables: arousal and depth.
Arousal reflects the energy level of the music. These three variables help explain why many people like similar songs from different traditionally segregated genres. Musicologists have sometimes classified music according to a trichotomic distinction such as Philip Tagg's "axiomatic triangle consisting of'folk','art' and'popular' musics", he explains that each of these three is distinguishable from the others according to certain criteria. The term art music refers to classical traditions, including both contemporary and historical classical music forms. Art music exists in many parts of the world, it emphasizes formal styles that invite technical and detailed deconstruction and criticism, demand focused attention from the listener. In Western practice, art music is considered a written musical tradition, preserved in some form of music notation rather than being transmitted orally, by rote, or in recordings, as popular and traditional music are. Most western art music has been written down using the standard forms of music notation that evolved in Europe, beginning well before the Renaissance and reaching its maturity in the Romantic period.
The identity of a "work" or "piece" of art music is defined by the notated version rather than by a particular performance, is associated with the composer rather than the performer. This is so in the case of western classical music. Art music may include certain forms of jazz, though some feel that jazz is a form of popular music. Sacred Christian music forms an important part of the classical music tradition and repertoire, but can be considered to have an identity of its own; the term popular music refers to any musical style accessible to the general public and disseminated by the mass media. Musicologist and popular music specialist Philip Tagg defined the notion in the light of sociocultural and economical aspects: Popular music, unlike art music, is conceived for mass distribution to large and socioculturally heterogeneous groups of listeners and distributed in non-written form, only possible in an industrial monetary economy where it becomes a commodity and in capitalist societies, subject to the laws of'free' enterprise... it should ideally sell as much as possible.
Popular music is found on most commercial and public service radio stations, in most commercial music retailers and department stores, in movie and television soundtracks. It is noted on the Billboard charts and, in addition to singer-songwriters and composers, it involves music producers more than other genres do; the distinction between classical and popular music has sometimes been blurred in marginal areas such as minimalist music and light classics. Background music for films/movies draws on both traditions. In this respect, music is like fiction, which draws a distinction between literary fiction and popular fiction, not always precise. Country music known as country and western, hillbilly music, is a genre of popular music that originated in the southern United States in the early 1920s; the polka is a Czech dance and genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the early 1950s, developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and particular
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, hip hop and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, pitch corrected vocals, a smooth, lush style of vocal arrangement. Electronic influences are becoming an increasing trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness and grit inherent in hip hop may be reduced and smoothed out. Contemporary R&B vocalists are known for their use of melisma, popularized by vocalists such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Craig David, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Contemporary R&B originated at the end of the disco era, in the late-1970s, when Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones added more electronic elements to the sound of the time to create a smoother dancefloor-friendly sound; the first result was Off the Wall, which—according to Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic—"was a visionary album, that found a way to break disco wide open into a new world where the beat was undeniable, but not the primary focus" and "was part of a colorful tapestry of lush ballads and strings, smooth soul and pop, soft rock, alluring funk".
Richard J. Ripani wrote that Janet Jackson's Control was "important to the development of R&B for a number of reasons", as she and her producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, "crafted a new sound that fuses the rhythmic elements of funk and disco, along with heavy doses of synthesizers, sound effects, a rap music sensibility." Ripani wrote that "the success of Control led to the incorporation of stylistic traits of rap over the next few years, Janet Jackson was to continue to be one of the leaders in that development." That same year, Teddy Riley began. This combination of R&B style and hip hop rhythms was termed new jack swing and was applied to artists such as Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, Al B. Sure!, Guy and Bell Biv DeVoe. In contrast to the works of Boyz II Men and similar artists, other R&B artists and groups from this same period began adding more of a hip-hop sound to their work, like the innovative group Jodeci; the synthesizer-heavy rhythm tracks of new jack swing were replaced by grittier East Coast hip hop-inspired backing tracks, resulting in a genre labeled hip hop soul by Mary J. Blige and producer Sean Combs who had mentored group Jodeci in the beginning and helped them with their unique look.
The style became less popular by the end of the 1990s, but experienced a resurgence. In 1990, Mariah Carey released Vision of Love, it was immensely popular peaking at number 1 in many worldwide charts including the Billboard Hot 100, it propelled Mariah's career. The song is said to have popularized the use of melisma and brought it in to mainstream R&B. During the mid-1990s, Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album sold over 40 million copies worldwide becoming the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Janet Jackson's 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", a collaboration between both acts, which became the longest-running No. 1 hit in Hot 100 history. Carey released a remix of her 1995 single "Fantasy", with Ol' Dirty Bastard as a feature, a collaboration format, unheard of at this point.
Carey, Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in 1994 and 1995 -- II and CrazySexyCool. In the late 1990s, neo soul, which added 1970s soul influences to the hip hop soul blend, led by artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and Maxwell. Hill and Missy Elliott further blurred the line between 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 and Lauryn Hill for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999. At the end of 1999, Billboard magazine ranked Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson as the first and second most successful artists of the 1990s. 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 and Toni Braxton are some of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Following periods of fluctuating success, urban music attained commercial dominance during the early 2000s, which featured massive crossover success on the Billboard charts by R&B and hip hop artists. In 2001, Alicia Keys released "Fallin"', it peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. It won three Grammy Awards in 2002, including Song of the Year, Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, it was nominated for Record of the Year. Beyoncé's solo studio debut album Dangerously in Love has sold over 5 million copies in the United States and earned five Grammy Awards. Usher's Confessions sold 1.1 million copies in its first week and over 8 million copies in 2004, since it has been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America and, as of 2016, has sold over 10 million copies in the US and over 20 million copies worldwide. Confessions had four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number one singles—"Yeah!", "Burn", "Confessions Part II" and "My Boo".
In 2004, all 12 songs that topped Billboard Hot 100 were
HitQuarters
HitQuarters is an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It is noted for its in-depth interviews with industry figures, as well as its A&R and manager contact directory, free artist promo pages and song sale facility, demo reviews and A&R chart, is the sister site to the songwriting tip sheet SongQuarters; the site has been sporadically active since May 2017, no posts have been made on its Twitter and Facebook accounts since March and May 2015 respectively. The website haa a strong focus on offering unsigned and independent artists and producers in tools to help develop their music careers, whether through attracting the attentions of record label A&R and management, pitching songs and tracks and marketing music independently, or just learning more about how the music industry works. To this aim the website features an extensive contact database known as HitTracker, where users can find contact information for A&R, managers and songwriters based on their track records, a news bulletin service, free artist promo pages, demo review feature judged by A&Rs, producers and managers, an archive of several hundred interviews with industry figures that are geared towards offering constructive career advice and industry know-how.
Members of HitQuarters that have gone on to find success include Christelle, The Knife, Dominique Young Unique, Bobby Creekwater, Lesley Roy and State of Shock. One of HitQuarters' most prominent features is its weekly in-depth interviews with major industry figures such as A&Rs, managers, songwriters and publishers. Interviewees include pop impresario and entertainment mogul Simon Cowell, industry executives and A&R Martin Kierszenbaum, Mike Caren, Jason Flom, Peter Edge, Chris Hicks, Richard Russell, Miles Leonard and Ron Fair, managers Jonathan Dickins, Louis Walsh and Eric Härle, songwriters Diane Warren, Wayne Hector, Rami Yacoub and Andreas Carlsson, producers RedOne, Chris Braide, Steve Mac, JR Rotem, Richard X and Phil Ek, songwriter, producer and A&R Linda Perry; the website runs a regular demo review feature where a changing panel of industry experts review songs uploaded to the site by unsigned artists, assessing their hit potential and offering advice on how the tracks can be improved.
Judges included Visible Noise CEO Julie Weir, producers Colin Richardson and Eddie Galan and producer and publisher Steve "Blast" Wills. HitQuarters founded the world's first A&R chart that measured the success of individual A&R representatives based on points accumulated from their respective artists' chart success. Most notably, 2004 saw Wind-Up Records' Diana Meltzer become the first woman to top HitQuarters' World Top 100 A&R Chart, a considerable achievement in what is traditionally a male dominated field. Previous number 1s included Clive Davis, Tommy Mottola, Dr. Dre, Mark Williams. HitQuarters is a companion site to SongQuarters, an online tip sheet for "songwriting leads to major and developing artists", it shares the same contact directory as HitQuarters and its members automatically had access to the HitQuarters site. It was a subscription-based service with 7-day trials available for those wanting to try it out first; the songwriting leads are split into three categories according to the level of the artist they relate to:'Top 500','Newly Signed and Developing' and'Unsigned and Up-and-coming'.
Official HitQuarters Facebook page, no posts since 2015 Official Twitter, no posts since 2015
Blackout (musician)
Winston Thomas, better known by his stage name BlackOut or DJ BlackOut, founder & CEO of BlackOut Movement, is an American Grammy Award Winning record producer and composer. Blackout is signed to Nicki Minaj's recording company Pink Friday Records. Blackout is co-founder of the music tech startup company, RecordGram. BlackOut was born "Winston Thomas" in Freeport, NY, his Father is from Jamaica while is Mother is from Mandeville, Jamaica. He got his start working local clubs in the New York area, it was in the club that he met Wyclef Jean. Blackout joined the Refugee Camp as a deejay for the artist and got his first taste of touring in the music industry. During his time with the Refugee Camp, Blackout made it his hobby, it wasn't long before he began playing gigs nationwide. He became linked with Jada Kiss and toured with him for three years. While playing a gig in a South Beach club, D. J. Blackout slipped a CD of beats to Ja Rule; this chance meeting would mark the beginning of Blackout’s career as a music producer.
One of BlackOut's beats was selected to be on Ja Rule's Blood In My Eye Album. Soon after, BlackOut started his own production company Blackout Movement. Full steam ahead, BlackOut and his new company catapulted to the top of the game 1 year when the company produced the debut album from hip-hop artist Mims, including the popular single “This Is Why I'm Hot”. Blackout Movement has since worked with some of the leading artists in the industry. In 2012, Blackout signed to Pink Friday record label. BlackOut is co-founder of RecordGram, a music tech startup. RecordGram is 1 of 7 music tech companies to be accepted into Project Music, the music tech accelerator program in Nashville. BlackOut produces various genres of music. Hip Hop, Pop, R&B, Dance Music. BlackOut states "being a DJ, I am exposed to a lot of all the time; that keeps me up to date" BlackOut chiefly produces with Akai MPC4000 and Pro Tools, just been using Native Instruments' MASCHINE and LOGIC to create as he travels. Official website
Single (music)
In the music industry, a single is a type of release a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, a single is a song, released separately from an album, although it also appears on an album; 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. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks; the biggest digital music distributor, iTunes Store, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as does popular music player Spotify. Any more than three tracks on a musical release or thirty minutes in total running time is either an extended play or, if over six tracks long, an album; when mainstream music was purchased via vinyl records, singles would be released double-sided.
That is to say, they were released with an A-side and B-side, on which two singles would be released, one on each side. Moreover, only the most popular songs from a released album would be released as a single. In more contemporary forms of music consumption, artists release most, if not all, of the tracks on an album as singles; the basic specifications of the music single were set in the late 19th century, when the gramophone record began to supersede phonograph cylinders in commercially produced musical recordings. Gramophone discs were manufactured in several sizes. By about 1910, the 10-inch, 78 rpm shellac disc had become the most used format; the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century. The crude disc-cutting techniques of the time and the thickness of the needles used on record players limited the number of grooves per inch that could be inscribed on the disc surface, a high rotation speed was necessary to achieve acceptable recording and playback fidelity.
78 rpm was chosen as the standard because of the introduction of the electrically powered, synchronous turntable motor in 1925, which ran at 3600 rpm with a 46:1 gear ratio, resulting in a rotation speed of 78.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format and performers tailored their output to fit the new medium; the 3-minute single remained the standard into the 1960s, when the availability of microgroove recording and improved mastering techniques enabled recording artists to increase the duration of their recorded songs. The breakthrough came with Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone". Although CBS tried to make the record more "radio friendly" by cutting the performance into halves, separating them between the two sides of the vinyl disc, both Dylan and his fans demanded that the full six-minute take be placed on one side, that radio stations play the song in its entirety; as digital downloading and audio streaming have become more prevalent, it has become possible for every track on an album to be available separately.
The concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a more promoted or more popular song within an album collection. The demand for music downloads skyrocketed after the launch of Apple's iTunes Store in January 2001 and the creation of portable music and digital audio players such as the iPod. In September 1997, with the release of Duran Duran's "Electric Barbarella" for paid downloads, Capitol Records became the first major label to sell a digital single from a well-known artist. Geffen Records released Aerosmith's "Head First" digitally for free. In 2004, Recording Industry Association of America introduced digital single certification due to significant sales of digital formats, with Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" becoming RIAA's first platinum digital single. In 2013, RIAA incorporated on-demand streams into the digital single certification. Single sales in the United Kingdom reached an all-time low in January 2005, as the popularity of the compact disc was overtaken by the then-unofficial medium of the music download.
Recognizing this, On 17 April 2005, Official UK Singles Chart added the download format to the existing format of physical CD singles. Gnarls Barkley was the first act to reach No.1 on this chart through downloads alone in April 2006, for their debut single "Crazy", released physically the following week. On 1 January 2007 digital downloads became eligible from the point of release, without the need for an accompanying physical. Sales improved in the following years, reaching a record high in 2008 that still proceeded to be overtaken in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch vinyl discs. Other, less common, formats include singles on Digital Compact Cassette, DVD, LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc; the most common form of the vinyl single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its play speed, 45 rpm, the standard diameter, 7 inches; the 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable and higher-fidelity replacement for the 78 rpm shellac discs.
The first 45
Rodney Jerkins
Rodney Roy Jerkins known by his stage name Darkchild, is an American record producer and songwriter. He has collaborated with a broad range of popular artists, including H. E. R. Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Aaliyah, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Sam Smith, Jennifer Lopez, Toni Braxton, Destiny's Child. Songs and albums which Jerkins has produced have sold over 250 million records worldwide. Jerkins has won multiple Grammy Awards. Among his most successful productions are "The Boy Is Mine" for Brandy and Monica, "You Rock My World" for Michael Jackson, "It's Not Right but It's Okay" for Whitney Houston, "Say My Name" for Destiny's Child, "If You Had My Love" for Jennifer Lopez, "Déjà Vu" for Beyoncé, "He Wasn't Man Enough" for Toni Braxton, "Telephone" for Lady Gaga, "Overprotected" for Britney Spears Jerkins' father, Frederick, is an Evangelical pastor. Jerkins began playing piano at age five, he would follow his father, who both played at church gatherings.
At age 14, Jerkins was mentored by his idol, Teddy Riley, but he did not accept a contract offer to work with the producer due to an aspiration to build an "empire" without such support. Jerkins' first recorded output was a "gospel rap" collaboration with his brother, Fred Jerkins III, entitled On the Move, he incorporated the name "Darkchild", at the age of 17, subsequently accepting a worldwide publishing deal with the EMI Music Corporation. The producer proceeded to establish a commercial music career working with artists such as Joe, Mary J. Blige and Brandy. Jerkins has produced and written for Brandy, Patti LaBelle, The Saturdays, Toni Braxton, Vanessa Williams, Will Smith, Keyshia Cole, Michael Jackson, Ayumi Hamasaki, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Mary Mary, Kirk Franklin, Kierra Sheard, The Black Eyed Peas, Destiny's Child, Spice Girls, TLC, Janet Jackson, Danity Kane, Beyoncé, Linda Király, Lady Gaga, Tamia, Pussycat Dolls, Whitney Houston, Natasha Bedingfield, Mary J. Blige, Lionel Richie, Tiffany Evans, JYJ, Wonder Girls, Austin Brown, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Utada Hikaru, Hala Al Turk, Nelly Furtado, Justin Bieber, Brian McKnight and LMFAO.
In the 2010s, he has produced songs for Mariah Carey, Leona Lewis, JLS, Kylie Minogue, Ayumi Hamasaki, The Saturdays'. Jerkins was a music mentor on season 10 of American Idol; when asked by Ryan Seacrest in 2013 the favourite people he's produced for he said "Definitely The Saturdays. Without a doubt. I had a lot of fun working with them and was impressed with their voices, they were down to earth and I like that a lot in an artist. I wish them all the best in America and think they could end up as big as The Spice Girls."In preparation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony, Jerkins produced a song featuring the Palestinian 2013 Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf. In 2017, he produced Makings Of You for Tamar Braxton. In 1999, Jerkins joined Sony/Epic Records to promote power vocalist Rhona, Pop/R&B girl group So Plush and rapper Fats. Fats appeared on two tracks Jerkins produced for Michael Jackson's album Invincible, So Plush released the single "Things I've Heard Before". Subsequently, So Plush's singles, "Damn" and "Things I've Heard Before", were pressed and made available as promos, Rhona's album was released in Japan.
In 2005 Darkchild Records reappeared when Jerkins signed brand new acts including Shamari Fears of R&B group Blaque, female MC Asia Lee, dancehall artist Atiba, gospel singer Anesha Birchett. In 2006, he was appointed VP of repertoire for The Island Def Jam Group. Jerkins released his wife Joy Enriquez's second album Atmosphere of Heaven, which features a religious direction, on his independent gospel imprint JoyFul Child Records; the Darkchild name has been loaned to Darkchild Gospel, a record company run by Jerkins' brother, Fred Jerkins III. which released the latest album from Virtue – Testimony. In late 2008, Jerkins joined Nicholas Longano, Ray Brown, Jonathan E. Eubanks in creating Music Mogul, Inc. MusicMogul.com represents an browser-based online destination where celebrity artists can unite with their fans. Aspiring artists and producers have a chance to be discovered as the next superstar, it is responsible for discovering up and coming producer/songwriter Keri Malena out of Dallas Texas, making a good name for himself producing quality music.
As a result of this exposure, MALENA ICON, as he is called, is now appearing on major label releases such as, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Keyshia Cole, Jamie Foxx, among others. Each quarter, members vote for the best video performances; the top performers are flown to Los Angeles to compete in front of a panel of celebrity judges. The winner gets a demo deal with Darkchild Productions. Jerkins has been married to singer Joy Enriquez since April 4, 2004, they have four children: Rodney David Jerkins, Jr. born on May 28, 2008. Heavenly Joy Jerkins, born on November 17, 2009. Hannah Joy Jerkins, born on October 19, 2012 Royal David Jerkins, born in 2015, he has resided in New Jersey. In 2015, his daughter Heavenly Joy was a contestant on season 10 of America's Got Talent. 1996: Aaliyah - "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" 1998: Brandy and Monica – "The Boy Is Mine" 1998: Brandy – "Angel in Disguise" 1998: Monica – "Angel of Mine" 1998: Whitney Houston – "It's Not Right but It's Okay" 1999: Destiny's Child – "Say My Name" 1999: Jennifer Lopez – "If You Had My Love" 2000: Toni Braxton – "He Wasn't Man Enough" 2000: Spice Girls – "Holler" 2001: Michael Jackson – "You Rock My World" 200
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, opinion, reviews and style, is known for its music charts, including the Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular songs and albums in different genres, it hosts events, owns a publishing firm, operates several TV shows. Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson acquired Hennegen's interest in 1900 for $500. In the early years of the 20th century, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses and burlesque shows, created a mail service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the music industry as the jukebox and radio became commonplace. 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 Hennegan's children, until it was sold to private investors in 1985, has since been owned by various parties. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio by William Donaldson and James Hennegan on November 1, 1894, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry, was known as Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the primary 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 and Tireless Industry of the Bill Poster". 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 Hennegan's interest in the business in 1900 for $500 to save it from bankruptcy.
That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a weekly paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, San Francisco and Paris, re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment such as fairs, circuses and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of outdoor events in 1901. Billboard covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism and new shows, it had a "stage gossip" column covering the private lives of entertainers, a "tent show" section covering traveling shows, a sub-section called "Freaks to order". According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson published news articles "attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting'good taste' and fighting yellow journalism"; as railroads became more developed, Billboard set up a mail forwarding system for traveling entertainers. The location of an entertainer was tracked in the paper's Routes Ahead column Billboard would receive mail on the star's behalf and publish a notice in its "Letter-Box" column that it has mail for them.
This service was first introduced in 1904, became one of Billboard's largest sources of profit and celebrity connections. By 1914, there were 42,000 people using the service, it was used as the official address of traveling entertainers for draft letters during World War I. In the 1960s, when it was discontinued, Billboard was still processing 1,500 letters per week. In 1920, Donaldson made a controversial move by hiring African-American journalist James Albert Jackson to write a weekly column devoted to African-American performers. According to The Business of Culture: Strategic Perspectives on Entertainment and Media, the column identified discrimination against black performers and helped validate their careers. Jackson was the first black critic at a national magazine with a predominantly white audience. According to his grandson, Donaldson established a policy against identifying performers by their race. Donaldson died in 1925. Billboard's editorial changed focus as technology in recording and playback developed, covering "marvels of modern technology" such as the phonograph, record players, wireless radios.
It began covering coin-operated entertainment machines in 1899, created a dedicated section for them called "Amusement Machines" in March 1932. Billboard began covering the motion picture industry in 1907, but ended up focusing on music due to competition from Variety, it created a radio broadcasting station in the 1920s. The jukebox industry continued to grow through the Great Depression, was advertised in Billboard, which led to more editorial focus on music; the proliferation of the phonograph and radio contributed to its growing music emphasis. Billboard published the first music hit parade on January 4, 1936, introduced a "Record Buying Guide" in January 1939. In 1940, it introduced "Chart Line", which tracked the best-selling records, was followed by a chart for jukebox records in 1944 called Music Box Machine charts. By the 1940s, Billboard was more of a music industry specialist publication; the number of charts it published grew after World War II, due to a growing variety of music interests and genres.
It had eight charts by 1987, covering different genres and formats, 28 charts by 1994. By 1943, Billboard had about 100 employees; the magazine's offices moved to Brighton, Ohio in 1946 to New York City in 1948. A five-column tabloid format was adopted in November 1950 and coated paper was first used in Billboard's print issues in January 1963, allowing for photojournalis
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