The postwar period was one of the most interesting, complex, and dynamic periods in the history of American popular music. The entertainment industry grew rapidly after the war and by 1947, record companies achieved retail sales of over $214 million. The previous peak for record sales occurred in 1921. The independent record labels became an important force in the entertainment industry. Independent labels had chess records, which were the most important blues race label that signed the most popular blues recording artists in Chicago, including Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. These were founded by Leonard and Phil Chess, who were Polish Jewish immigrants. In popular music and technology, Magnetic tape had better sound quality than previous methods of recording; recordings could be edited and overdubbed. Greatest innovator in this field was Les Paul, his early experiments with overdubbing were on wax discs rather than magnetic tape. They also had radio, that increased influence of disc jockeys on popular music and the first commercial FM broadcast that took place in 1939. In 1948, Columbia Records introduced twelve-inch, 33 1/3 rpm, long-playing discs (LPs). In 1949, RCA Victor introduced seven-inch, 45 rpm discs—the format for hit singles. …show more content…
It was combined a number of seemingly contradictories tendencies like was inspired by rural folk music yet performed by urban intellectuals. It also drew inspiration from the populist protest songs of Woody Guthrie yet was used by the record industry to generate millions of dollars in profits. Many urban folk recordings were seemingly harmless singalongs, designed to invite audience participation. But only a few years after the initial burst of public interest in this music, some of its best-known practitioners were being persecuted for their political