The music industry or music business sells compositions, recordings and performances of music. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate within the industry are the musicians who compose and perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music (e.g., music publishers, producers, studios, engineers, record labels, retail and online music stores, performance rights organizations); those that present live music performances (booking agents, promoters, music venues, road crew); professionals who assist musicians with their careers (talent managers, business managers, entertainment lawyers); those who broadcast music (satellite and broadcast radio); journalists; educators; musical instrument manufacturers; as well as many others.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the music industry was dominated by the publishers of sheet music. By the middle of the century records had supplanted sheet music as the largest player in the music business: in the commercial world people began speaking of "the recording industry" as a loose synonym of "the music industry". Since 2000, sales of recorded music have dropped off substantially, while live music has increased in importance. Four "major corporate labels" dominate recorded music — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI — each of which consists of many smaller companies and labels serving different regions and markets. The live music industry is dominated by Live Nation, the largest promoter and music venue owner. Live Nation is a former subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, which is the largest owner of radio stations in the United States. Other important music industry companies include Creative Artists Agency (a management and booking company) and Apple Inc. (which runs the world's largest music store, the iTunes Store).

History

18th Century

Until the 18th century, the processes of formal composition and of the printing of music took place for the most part with the support of patronage from aristocracies and churches. In the mid-to-late 18th century, performers and composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began to seek commercial opportunities to market their music and performances to the general public. After Mozart's death, his wife (Constanze Weber) continued the process of commercialization of his music through an unprecedented series of memorial concerts, selling his manuscripts, and collaborating with her second husband, Georg Nissen, on a biography of Mozart.

19th Century

In the 19th century, sheet-music publishers dominated the music industry. In the United States, the music industry arose in tandem with the rise of blackface minstrelsy. In the late part of the century the group of music publishers and songwriters which dominated popular music in the United States became known as Tin Pan Alley.

20th Century

At the dawn of the early 20th century, the recording of sound began to function as a disruptive technology in music markets. With the invention of the phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison in 1877, and the onset of widespread radio communications, the way music is heard was changed forever. Opera houses, concert halls, and clubs continued to produce music and perform live, but the power of radio allowed obscure bands to become popular on a nationwide and sometimes worldwide scale.

The "record industry" eventually replaced the sheet music publishers as the industry's largest force. A multitude of record labels came and went. Some note-worthy labels of the earlier decades include the Columbia Records, Crystalate, Decca Records, Edison Bell, The Gramophone Company, Invicta, Kalliope, Pathé, Victor Talking Machine Company and many others.

Many record companies died out as quickly as they had formed, and by the end of the 1980s, the "Big 6" — EMI, CBS, BMG, PolyGram, WEA and MCA — dominated the industry. Sony bought CBS Records in 1987 and changed its name to Sony Music in 1991. In mid-1998, PolyGram merged into Universal Music Group (formerly MCA), dropping the leaders down to a "Big 5". They became the "Big 4" in 2004 when Sony acquired BMG.

Genre-wise, music entrepreneurs expanded their industry models into areas like folk music, in which composition and performance had continued for centuries on an ad hoc self-supporting basis. Forming an independent record label, or "indie" label, continues to be a popular choice for up-and-coming musicians to have their music heard, despite the financial backing associated with major labels.

21st Century

In the 21st century, consumers spent less money on recorded music than they had in 1990s, in all formats. Total revenues for CDs, vinyl, cassettes and digital downloads in the world dropped 25% from $38.6 billion in 1999 to $27.5 billion in 2008 according to IFPI. Same revenues in the U.S. dropped from a high of $14.6 billion in 1999 to $10.4 billion in 2008. ''The Economist'' and ''The New York Times'' report that the downward trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future —Forrester Research predicts that by 2013, revenues in USA may reach as low as $9.2 billion. This dramatic decline in revenue has caused large-scale layoffs inside the industry, driven retailers (such as Tower Records) out of business and forced record companies, record producers, studios, recording engineers and musicians to seek new business models.

In the early years of the decade, the record industry took aggressive action against illegal file sharing. In 2001 it succeeded in shutting down Napster (the leading on-line source of digital music), and it has threatened thousands of individuals with legal action. This failed to slow the decline in revenue and proved a public-relations disaster. However, some academic studies have suggested that downloads did not cause the decline. Legal digital downloads became widely available with the debut of the iTunes Store in 2003. The popularity of internet music distribution has increased and in 2009 more than a quarter of all recorded music industry revenues worldwide are now coming from digital channels. However, as ''The Economist'' reports, "paid digital downloads grew rapidly, but did not begin to make up for the loss of revenue from CDs." The 2008 British Music Rights survey showed that 80% of people in Britain wanted a legal P2P service, however only half of the respondents thought that the music's creators should be paid. The survey was consistent with the results of earlier research conducted in the United States, upon which the Open Music Model was based.

The turmoil in the recorded music industry changed the twentieth-century balance between artists, record companies, promoters, retail music-stores and the consumer. , big-box stores such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy sell more records than music-only stores, which have ceased to function as a player in the industry. Recording artists now rely on live performance and merchandise for the majority of their income, which in turn has made them more dependent on music promoters like Live Nation (which dominates tour promotion and owns a large number of music venues.) In order to benefit from all of an artist's income streams, record companies increasingly rely on the "360 deal", a new business-relationship pioneered by Robbie Williams and EMI in 2007. At the other extreme, record companies can offer a simple manufacturing and distribution deal, which gives a higher percentage to the artist, but does not cover the expense of marketing and promotion. Many newer artists no longer see any kind of "record deal" as an integral part of their business plan at all. Inexpensive recording hardware and software made it possible to record reasonable quality music in a bedroom and distribute it over the internet to a worldwide audience. This, in turn, caused problems for recording studios, record producers and audio engineers: the ''Los Angeles Times'' reports that as many as half of the recording facilities in that city have failed. Changes in the music industry have given consumers access to a wider variety of music than ever before, at a price that gradually approaches zero. However, consumer spending on music-related software and hardware increased dramatically over the last decade, providing a valuable new income-stream for technology companies such as Apple Inc.

Business structure

The music industry is a complex system of many different organizations, firms and individuals and has undergone dramatic changes in the 21st century. However, the majority of the participants in the music industry still fulfill their traditional roles, which are described below.

Recorded music and compositions

There are three types of property that are created and sold by the recording industry: compositions, recordings and media (such as CDs or MP3s). There may be many recordings of a single composition and a single recording will typically be distributed into many media.

Compositions

Compositions are created by songwriters or composers and are originally owned by the composer. The composer may sell the copyright to another party. Compositions are (traditionally) licensed or "assigned" to publishing companies. A publishing contract specifies the business relationship between the copyright owner and the publishing company. The publishing company (or a collection society operating on behalf of many such publishers, songwriters and composers) collects fees (known as "publishing royalties") when the composition is used. A portion of the royalties are paid by the publishing company to the copyright owner, depending on the terms of the contract. Typically (although not universally), the publishing company will provide the owner with an advance against future earnings when the publishing contract is signed. A publishing company will also promote the compositions, such as by acquiring song "placements" on television or in films.

Recordings

Recordings are created by recording artists, often with the assistance of record producers and audio engineers. They were traditionally made in recording studios (who are paid a daily or hourly rate) in a recording session. In the 21st century, advances in recording technology have allowed many producers and artists to create "home studios", bypassing the traditional role of the recording studio. The record producer oversees all aspects of the recording, making many of the logistic, financial and artistic decisions in cooperation with the artist. Audio engineers (including recording, mixing and mastering engineers) are responsible for the audio quality of the recording. A recording session may also require the services of an arranger or studio musicians.

Recordings are (traditionally) owned by record companies. A recording contract specifies the business relationship between a recording artist and the record company. In a traditional contract, the company provides an advance to the artist who agrees to record music that will be owned by the company. The A&R department of a record company is responsible for finding new talent and overseeing the recording process. The company pays for the recording costs and the cost of promoting and marketing the record. For physical media (such as CDs), the company also pays to manufacture and distribute the physical recordings. Smaller record companies (known as "indies") will form business relationships with other companies to handle many of these tasks. If contractually bound to do so, the record company pays the recording artist a portion of the income from the sale of the recordings, generally known as a mechanical royalty. (This is distinct from the publishing royalty, described above.) This portion is similar to a percentage, but may be limited or expanded by a number of factors (such as free goods, recoupable expenses, bonuses, etc.) that are specified by the record contract. Some recording artists, especially (but not exclusively) session musicians and orchestra members, are under contract to provide work for hire; they're typically only paid one-time fees or regular wages for their services, rather than royalties.

Physical media

Physical media (such as CDs) are sold by music retailers and are owned by the consumer. A music distributor delivers the physical media from the manufacturer to the retailer and maintains relationships with retailers and record companies. The music retailer pays the distributor, who in turn pays the record company for the recordings. The record company pays mechanical royalties to the publisher, composer, and songwriter via a collection society. The record company then pays royalties, if contractually obligated, to the recording artist. In the case of digital downloads, there is no physical media other than the consumer's hard drive. The distributor is optional in this situation; large online shops may pay the labels directly, but digital distributors do exist to service vendors large and small. When purchasing digital downloads, the consumer may be required to agree to record company and vendor licensing terms beyond those which are inherent in copyright; for example, some may allow freely sharing the recording, but others may restrict the user to storing the music on a specific number of hard drives.

Other uses of recorded music and compositions

Sheet music provides an income stream that is paid exclusively to the composers and their publishing company. When a recording is broadcast, performance rights organisations (such as the ASCAP and BMI in the US or MCPS and PRS in the UK), collect a third type of royalty known as a performance royalty, which is paid to composers and recording artists. This royalty is typically much smaller than publishing or mechanical royalties. When recordings are used in television and film, the composer and their publishing company are typically paid through a synchronization license. Subscription services (such as Rhapsody) also provide an income stream directly to record companies, and through them, to artists, contracts permitting.

Regional variations and industry evolution

The industry is further complicated by the fact that the definition of "royalty" and "copyright" varies from country to country and region to region, which changes the terms of some of these business relationships.

In addition to these traditional business relationships, new ways of doing business are being developed in the 21st century. The traditional lines that once divided artist, publisher, record company, distributor, retail and consumer electronics have become blurred. Artists may own their own publishing companies, artist management companies may promote and market recordings on behalf of their clients, artists may promote and market themselves using only free services such as YouTube or social media, consumer electronics companies have become digital music retailers, and so on, in many variations. New digital music distribution technologies have also forced both government and industry to re-examine the definitions of intellectual property and the rights of all the parties involved.

Live music

A promoter brings together a performing artist and a venue owner and arranges contracts. A booking agency represents the artist to promoters, makes deals and books performances. Consumers usually buy tickets either from the venue or from a ticket distribution service such as Ticketmaster. In the US, Live Nation is the dominant company in all of these roles: they own most of the large venues in the US, they are the largest promoter, and they own Ticketmaster.

Choices about where and when to tour are decided by the artist's management and the artist, sometimes in consultation with the record company. Record companies may provide tour support; they may finance a tour in the hopes that it will help promote the sale of recordings. However, in the 21st century, it has become more common to release recordings to promote tours, rather than book tours to promote records.

Successful artists will usually employ a road crew: a semi-permanent touring organization that travels with the artist. This is headed by a tour manager and provides stage lighting, live sound reinforcement, musical instrument tuning and maintenance and transportation. On large tours, the road crew may also include an accountant, stage manager and catering. Local crews are typically hired to help move equipment on and off stage. On small tours, all of these jobs may be handled by just a few roadies, or by the musicians themselves.

Artist management, representation and staff

Artists may hire a number of people from other fields to assist them with their career. The artist manager oversees all aspects of an artist's career in exchange for a percentage of the artist's income. An entertainment lawyer assists them with the details of their contracts with record companies and other deals. A business manager handles financial transactions, taxes and bookkeeping. Unions, such as AFTRA in the U.S., provide health insurance and other services for musicians.

Other income streams

A successful artist functions in the market as a brand and, as such, may derive income from many other streams, such as merchandise or internet-based services. These are typically overseen by the artist's manager and take the form of relationships between the artist and companies that specialize in these products.

Statistics

Nielsen SoundScan reported that the big four accounted for 81.87% of the US music market in 2005:

Universal Music Group (USA based) — 31.71%

Sony Music Entertainment (USA based) — 25.61%

Warner Music Group (USA based) — 15%

EMI Group (UK based) — 9.55%

Independent labels — 18.13%

and in 2004, 82.64%:

Universal Music Group—29.59%

Sony Music Entertainment—28.46% (13.26% Sony, 15.20% BMG)

Warner Music Group—14.68%

EMI Group—9.91%

Independent labels—17.36%

The global market was estimated at $30–40 billion in 2004. Total annual unit sales (CDs, music videos, MP3s) in 2004 were 3 billion.

According to an IFPI report published in August 2005, the big four accounted for 71.7% of retail music sales:

Universal Music Group—25.5%

Sony Music Entertainment—21.5%

EMI Group—13.4%

Warner Music Group—11.3%

Independent labels—28.3%

Prior to December 1998, the industry was dominated by the "Big Six": Sony Music and BMG had not yet merged, and PolyGram had not yet been absorbed into Universal Music Group. After the PolyGram-Universal merger, the 1998 market shares reflected a "Big Five", commanding 77.4% of the market, as follows, according to MEI World Report 2000:

Universal Music Group — 28.8%

Sony Music Entertainment — 21.1%

EMI — 14.1%

Warner Music Group — 13.4%

Independent labels — 22.6%

Note: the IFPI and Nielsen Soundscan use different methodologies, which makes their figures difficult to compare casually, and impossible to compare scientifically.

Total value by country

According to the IFPI more than 95% of the total revenue from music in 2003 was derived from the 30 major countries in the proportions shown above, organized roughly by geographic location. In the industry, it is commonly accepted that the three major music markets are the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Albums sales and market value

The following table shows album sales and market value in the world in the 1990s–2000s.

#	Country	Album Sales Share	Share of World Market Value

Singles sales

Physical single sales in the world in the 1990s–2000s and digital single sales in 2005.

#	Country	Physical Sales Share	Digital Sales Share in 2005

Recorded music retail sales

Interim physical retail sales in 2005 - all figures in millions.

Approximately 21% of the gross CD revenue numbers in 2003 can be attributed to used CD sales growing to approximately 27% in 2007 (the growth is attributed to increasing on-line sales of used product by outlets such as Amazon.com, the growth of used music media is expected to continue to grow as the cost of digital downloads continues to rise.)

COUNTRY		UNITS				VALUE		CHANGE
		! Singles	! CD	! DVD	! Total Units	! $US	! Local Currency	! Units	! Value
1	USA	14.7	300.5	11.6	326.8	4783.2	4783.2	−5.70%	−5.30%
2	Japan	28.5	93.7	8.5	113.5	2258.2	239759	−6.90%	−9.20%
3	UK	24.3	66.8	2.9	74.8	1248.5	666.7	−1.70%	−4.00%
4	Germany	8.5	58.7	4.4	71	887.7	689.7	−7.70%	−5.80%
5	France	11.5	47.3	4.5	56.9	861.1	669.1	7.50%	−2.70%
6	Italy	0.5	14.7	0.7	17	278	216	−8.40%	−12.30%
7	Canada	0.1	20.8	1.5	22.3	262.9	325	0.70%	−4.60%
8	Australia	3.6	14.5	1.5	17.2	259.6	335.9	−22.90%	−11.80%
9	India	–	10.9	–	55.3	239.6	11500	−19.20%	−2.40%
10	Spain	1	17.5	1.1	19.1	231.6	180	−13.40%	−15.70%
11	Netherlands	1.2	8.7	1.9	11.1	190.3	147.9	−31.30%	−19.80%
12	Russia	–	25.5	0.1	42.7	187.9	5234.7	−9.40%	21.20%
13	Mexico	0.1	33.4	0.8	34.6	187.9	2082.3	44.00%	21.50%
14	Brazil	0.01	17.6	2.4	24	151.7	390.3	−20.40%	−16.50%
15	Austria	0.6	4.5	0.2	5	120.5	93.6	−1.50%	−9.60%
16	Switzerland **	0.8	7.1	0.2	7.8	115.8	139.2	n/a	n/a
17	Belgium	1.4	6.7	0.5	7.7	115.4	89.7	−13.80%	−8.90%
18	Norway	0.3	4.5	0.1	4.8	103.4	655.6	−19.70%	−10.40%
19	Sweden	0.6	6.6	0.2	7.2	98.5	701.1	−29.00%	−20.30%
20	Denmark	0.1	4	0.1	4.2	73.1	423.5	3.70%	−4.20%
	Top 20	74.5	757.1	42.8	915.2	12378.7		−6.60%	−6.30%

In its June 30, 2000 annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Seagram reported that Universal Music Group made 40% of the worldwide classical music sales over the preceding year.

Music industry organizations

Academy of Country Music aka ACM

Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies aka AARC

American Association of Independent Music aka A2IM

American Federation of Musicians aka AFM

American Federation of Television and Radio Artists aka AFTRA

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers aka ASCAP

Asosiasi Industri Rekaman Indonesia aka ASIRI

Association of Independent Music aka AIM

Australian Recording Industry Association aka ARIA

Billboard Magazine, known for the Billboard Hot 100

British Phonographic Industry (BPI)

Broadcast Music Incorporated aka BMI

Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)

Country Music Association

Federation of the Italian Music Industry (FIMI)

Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (GEMA) in Germany

Harry Fox Agency (for-profit branch of the NMPA)

Indian Music Industry (IMI)

International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)

Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA)

Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (LARAS)

Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS)

Musicians' Union

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS)

National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM)

National Music Publishers Association (NMPA)

Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI)

PRS for Music

Recording Artists' Coalition aka RAC

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)

Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ)

Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)

Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA)

Society of European Stage Authors & Composers (SESAC)

SoundExchange

See also

List of record labels and :Category:Record labels

List of best-selling music artists – World's top-selling music artists chart.

MIDEM –The World's Music market.

Album cover

''Music Directory Canada'' (book)

Notes

References

Further reading

Lebrecht, Norman: ''When the Music Stops: Managers, Maestros and the Corporate Murder of Classical Music'', Simon & Schuster 1996

Imhorst, Christian: The ‘Lost Generation’ of the Music Industry, published under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License 2004

Gerd Leonhard: ''Music Like Water – the inevitable music ecosystem''

The Methods Reporter: Music Industry Misses Mark with Wrongful Suits

Music CD Industry – a mid-2000 overview put together by Duke University undergraduate students

d’Angelo, Mario: ''Does globalisation mean ineluctable concentration ?'' in The Music Industry in the New Economy, Report of the Asia-Europe Seminar, Lyon, Oct. 25–28, 2001, IEP de Lyon/Asia-Europe Foundation/Eurical, Editors Roche F., Marcq B., Colomé D., 2002, pp. 53–54.

d'Angelo, Mario: ''Perspectives of the Management of Musical Institutions in Europe'', OMF, Musical Activities and Institutions Sery, ParisIV-Sorbonne University, Ed. Musicales Aug. Zurfluh, Bourg-la-Reine, 2006.

The supply of recorded music: A report on the supply in the UK of prerecorded compact discs, vinyl discs and tapes containing music. Competition Commission, 1994.

Tschmuck, Peter: ''Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry'', Springer 2006.

Ulrich Dolata: ''The Music Industry and the Internet. A Decade of Disruptive and Uncontrolled Sectoral Change''. Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies. Discussion Paper 2011-02. full text online

External links

New York Metro article by Michael Wolff analyzing the decline of the record industry

Salon article on Courtney Love's criticism of record industry business practices

Federal Trade Commission press release regarding price fixing

Antitrust settlement in Nevada price-fixing case

Songwriter Janis Ian's critique of the record industry's policies

The Net is the Independent Artist's Radio – August 10, 2005 MP3 Newswire article

''Music Downloads: Pirates- or Customers?''. Silverthorne, Sean. Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, 2004.

The British Library – Music Industry Guide (sources of information)

The ASCAP Resource Guide: Recording Industry

BPI: Music business – Industry Structure

Academic articles about the music industry The Music Business Journal

bg:Музикална индустрия ca:Indústria musical cs:Hudební vydavatelství de:Musikindustrie es:Compañía discográfica eo:Muzikeldonejo fr:Industrie musicale gl:Selo discográfico id:Perusahaan rekaman it:Industria musicale he:תעשיית המוזיקה hu:Zeneipar mk:Музичка индустрија nl:Muziekindustrie ja:レコード会社 pt:Indústria da música si:සංගීත කර්මාන්තය sk:Hudobné vydavateľstvo sv:Musikbranschen zh:音樂產業

Black music is a term encompassing music produced or inspired by black people. In the 20th century, this term has come to usually refer to the many music genres of African American music, especially in the United States and Brazil.

See also

African music

Afro-American music

Grime (music)

Caribbean music

Spiritual

Afro-Brazilian Culture

French hip hop

Black Brazilian

Brazilian hip hop

es:Música negra

name	Steve Albini
alt	Steve Albini playing guitar, wearing a black t-shirt and ripped blue jeans
background	solo_singer
born	July 22, 1962Pasadena, California
instrument	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums, drum machine
genre	Noise rockPost-hardcorePunk rockAlternative rock
occupation	Recording engineer, musician, record producer
years active	1982–present
associated acts	Big BlackRapemanFlourShellac
notable instruments	}}

Steven Frank Albini (pronounced ) (born July 22, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman, and Flour, and is currently a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner, and engineer of Electrical Audio, a recording studio complex located in Chicago, and has worked with musical acts such as Nirvana, Pixies, Manic Street Preachers, Cheap Trick, PJ Harvey, The Jesus Lizard, Bush, Electrelane, and Scrawl, among others.

Early life

In his youth, Albini's family moved often, before settling in Missoula, Montana in 1974. The activities of bored teenagers in rural Missoula provided much inspiration for later Albini-penned songs. While recovering from a broken leg, Albini began playing bass guitar. According to Thrill Jockey's ''Looking for a Thrill'', Albini was exposed to punk rock by a schoolmate and subsequently bought every Ramones recording available.

He took bass lessons in high school for one week and started playing in bands. He played with drummer Joey Cregg, son of former Mayor Bill Cregg, in the punk band Just Ducky, which quickly disbanded. While growing up in Montana, he became a fan of bands such as The Stooges, the Ramones, Television, Suicide, Wire, The Fall, The Velvet Underground, Throbbing Gristle, Kraftwerk, The Birthday Party, Pere Ubu, Public Image Ltd., Rudimentary Peni and Killing Joke.

After high school, Albini moved to Evanston, Illinois, to attend college at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. In the Chicago area, Albini was active as a writer in local zines such as ''Matter'' (and later the Boston zine ''Forced Exposure''), covering the then-nascent punk rock scene, gaining a reputation for iconoclasm and outspokenness that continues to this day. Around this time he began recording musicians.

As an artist

Big Black (1982–1987)

In 1982 Albini formed Big Black, and recorded the ''Lungs'' EP. Jeff Pezzati (Naked Raygun) and Santiago Durango joined shortly thereafter, and the trio (along with a drum machine credited as "Roland") released two more EPs: ''Bulldozer'' (1983) and ''Racer-X'' (1984). Pezzati was later replaced on bass by Dave Riley, with whom the group recorded two sparse albums: ''Atomizer'' (1986) and ''Songs About Fucking'' (1987), as well as the ''Headache'' EP (1987), and two 7" releases: ''Heartbeat'' and ''He's a Whore/The Model''. Influenced by PiL, The Birthday Party, Killing Joke, Wire and Gang of Four, they gained a reputation for confrontation, sarcasm and abrasiveness, breaking up in 1987 on the eve of the release of their second album.

Rapeman (1987–1988)

Albini went on to form the controversially named Rapeman in 1988, with former members of Scratch Acid, Rey Washam (later of Didjits), and David Wm. Sims (later of The Jesus Lizard). They broke up after the release of one EP, ''Budd'', and an album, ''Two Nuns and a Pack Mule'' (1988). They also had a 7" on the Sub Pop Singles Club.

Shellac (1992–present)

Albini formed Shellac in 1992. With fellow bandmates Bob Weston (formerly of Volcano Suns), and Todd Trainer (of Rifle Sport, Breaking Circus and Brick Layer Cake), they initially released three EPs: ''The Rude Gesture: A Pictorial History'', ''Uranus'' and ''The Bird is the Most Popular Finger''. Those were followed by four studio albums: ''At Action Park'' (1994), ''Terraform'' (1998), ''1000 Hurts'' (2000) and ''Excellent Italian Greyhound'' (2007). All were released, as before, on vinyl, as well as CD.

Recording work

:''See List of Steve Albini's recording projects for a chronological list of Albini's recording work''

As of 2008, Albini is most active as a record producer. However, he dislikes the term and prefers to receive no credit on album sleeves or notes, or to be credited as a ''recording engineer'' if the record company insists on any credit at all.

A key influence on Albini was producer John Loder, who came to prominence in the late '70s with a reputation for recording albums quickly and inexpensively, but nonetheless with distinctive qualities and a sensitivity towards a band's sound and aesthetic.

Unlike any other engineer/record producer with his experience and prominence, Albini does not receive royalties for anything he records or mixes; rather he charges a flat daily fee when recording at his own facility, described by Michael Azerrad (Azerrad, 2001) as among the most affordable for a world-class recording studio. In fact, Albini initially charged only for his time, allowing free use of his studio to friends or musicians he respected who were willing to engineer their own recording sessions and purchase their own magnetic tape (Azerrad, 2001). When recording elsewhere, Albini uses an admittedly arbitrary sliding scale:

Albini estimates that he has engineered the recording of 1,500 to 2,000 albums, mostly by rather obscure musicians. More prominent artists that Albini has worked with include Nirvana, The Breeders, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Helmet, Chevelle, Robert Plant, Fred Schneider, The Stooges, Mogwai, The Jesus Lizard, Owls, Pixies, Don Caballero, PJ Harvey, Manic Street Preachers, Jarvis Cocker, The Fleshtones, The Wedding Present, Bush, Joanna Newsom, Nina Nastasia, The Frames, Jawbreaker, The Membranes, Superchunk, Low, Dirty Three, Cheap Trick, Slint, Veruca Salt, Zao and Neurosis. He has also shown interest in recording modern hardcore bands such as California's Trash Talk and Amsterdam's Vitamin X.

In Albini's opinion, putting producers in charge of recording sessions often destroys records, while the role of the recording engineer is to solve problems in capturing the sound of the musicians, not to threaten the artists' control over their product. In 2004, Albini summarized his opinions regarding record producers: "It always offended me when I was in the studio and the engineer or the assumed producer for the session would start bossing the band around. That always seemed like a horrible insult to me. The band was paying money for the privilege of being in a recording studio, and normally when you pay for something, you get to say how it's done. So, I made up my mind when I started engineering professionally that I wasn't going to behave like that." (Young, 2004).

Nevertheless, albums recorded by Albini bear a distinctive sonic signature. In ''Our Band Could Be Your Life'', Michael Azerrad describes Albini's work on Pixies' ''Surfer Rosa'', but the description applies to many of Albini's efforts: "The recordings were both very basic and very exacting: Albini used few special effects; got an aggressive, often violent guitar sound; and made sure the rhythm section slammed as one." (Azerrad, 344) Another Albini trademark is his habit of generally keeping vocals "low in the mix," or much less prominent than is usual in rock music. This is said to have been a point of contention by the label during the recording of Nirvana's ''In Utero'' (Cameron, 2001).

On ''In Utero'' one can find a typical example of Albini's recording practices. Common practice in popular music is to record each instrument on a separate track at different times and then blend the different recordings together at a later time; see multi-track recording for more information. However, Albini prefers to record "live in the studio" as much as possible: the musicians perform together as a group in the same room. Albini places particular importance on the selection and use of microphones in achieving a desired sound, including painstaking placement of different microphones at certain points around a room to best capture ambience and other qualities.

Punditry

Additionally, he is famous (or notorious) in the indie world as an opinionated pundit on the music industry and on trends in indie music, beginning with his earliest writing for zines such as ''Matter'' and ''Forced Exposure'', to his commentary on the poor ethics of big record labels, and how their practices filter through to the independent labels. He has been a strong supporter of labels who have tried to break the mold, especially Touch and Go Records, with whom all of his bands have released recordings. He is a supporter of analog recording over digital, as can be evidenced by a 1987 quote on the back cover of the CD version of Big Black's ''Songs About Fucking'': "The future belongs to the analog loyalists. Fuck digital." A CD issue of the LP ''Atomizer'' and the EP ''Headache'' was released under the title ''The Rich Man's 8-Track Tape'', further making his opinion of the format abundantly clear. Albini has recently succumbed to technological pressure of modern recording as his Electrical Audio Studios has installed their first digital setup for recording, although Electrical Audio engineer Greg Norman has stated that Albini refuses to use or even talk about the digital setup at the studios.

Recognition

Albini is the subject of a tribute of sorts in the song "Steve Albini," by Los Angeles-area indie rock band The Black Watch, on their ''Seven Rollercoasters'' EP (1997). The Great Plains song "Letter to a Fanzine" (1986), cataloging 1980s college rock fanboy obsessions, includes the spoken line "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Steve Albini". Also, a song titled "Steve Albini's Blues" appears on the Songs: Ohia album ''Didn't it Rain'' (2002). Steve Albini was also canonized in two tracks by Wesley Willis, "Steve Albini" and "Steve Albini (Reprise)".

Although not a tribute, Albini is mentioned several times as being "in collusion with Virgin Trains" on The Fall's track "50 Year Old Man" from the album ''Imperial Wax Solvent''.

Albini's Electrical Audio is a sponsor for the Winnemac Electrons of the Chicago Metropolitan Baseball Association.

Northern Irish rock band Therapy? named an instrumental on their first demo tape ''Beefheart/Albini''.

In March 2010, electronic musician Kid606 released ''Songs About Fucking Steve Albini'', an album of "psychedelic love songs" made using analog equipment and two-track analog tape. The recording aesthetic and farcical take on the album's subject matter tie it to Big Black's music, the title itself being a riff on Big Black's ''Songs About Fucking''. The album cover also bears a comical manga-esque drawing of Albini.

Personal life

Albini told the website I Wanna Know What I Wanna Know in June 2011 that he was an atheist and lacked a belief in a supernatural.

References

Sources

, also archived from the dead ''Baffler'' site. (Reprinted in ''Maximum RocknRoll'' #133 (June 1994) and later various websites.)

Michael Azerrad, 2001. ''Our Band Could Be Your Life''. Little Brown, ISBN 0-316-78753-1.

Andrew Young, 2004. Albini laments age of over-production. MTSU Sidelines Online. Article based on a lecture Albini gave to the Audio Engineering Society at Middle Tennessee State University.

Albini, 1983. Steve Albini. Matter, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1983; the first press for Albini's Big Black.

Keith Cameron, 2001. "This Is Pop". MOJO magazine, Issue 90, May 2001.

External links

Electrical Audio Albini's studio in Chicago

Three Pandering Sluts the transcript of a stormy exchange from 1994 provoked in the letters page of the Chicago Reader, where Albini accuses music critic Bill Wyman of being a recording industry stooge.

Audio interview on public radio program The Sound of Young America

Lecture at Middle Tennessee State University video of Steve Albini giving lecture to Middle Tennessee State University audio class

Steve Albini - Sound Engineer Extraordinaire Article about Steve Albini in Sound On Sound magazine

"The Hard Golden Tone of Shellac: An Interview with Steve Albini" 1994 article reprinted in 2008 by ''Crawdaddy!''

Steve Albini interview with Kevin McGowan from March 2010

Steve Albini answers questions about bands and music on a poker forum, July, 2007

Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:American atheists Category:American audio engineers Category:American male singers Category:American music journalists Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American record producers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Medill School of Journalism alumni Category:Big Black members Category:Musicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:Musicians from Montana Category:People from Missoula, Montana Category:People from Pasadena, California Category:Pigface members Category:People from Evanston, Illinois Category:Musicians from California Category:English-language singers

cs:Steve Albini de:Steve Albini es:Steve Albini fr:Steve Albini gl:Steve Albini it:Steve Albini nl:Steve Albini ja:スティーヴ・アルビニ no:Steve Albini pl:Steve Albini pt:Steve Albini ru:Альбини, Стив sv:Steve Albini tr:Steve Albini uk:Стів Альбіні

Name	Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
Birth place	Paddington, London, England
Death place	Nyeri, Kenya
Nickname	B-P
Branch	British Army
Serviceyears	1876–1910
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Commands	Chief of Staff, Second Matabele War (1896–1897)5th Dragoon Guards in India (1897)Inspector General of Cavalry, England (1903)
Battles	Anglo-Ashanti Wars, Second Matabele War, Siege of Mafeking, Second Boer War
Awards	Ashanti Star (1895),Matabele Campaign, British South Africa Company Medal (1896),Queen's South Africa Medal (1899), King's South Africa Medal ( 1902),Boy Scouts Silver WolfBoy Scouts Silver Buffalo Award (1926),World Scout Committee Bronze Wolf (1935),Großes Dankabzeichen des ÖPB (1927)Großes Ehrenzeichen der Republik am Bande (1931)Goldene Gemse (1931) Grand-Cross in the Order of Orange-Nassau (1932),Order of Merit (1937),Wateler Peace Prize (1937)Order of St Michael and St George,Royal Victorian Order,Order of the Bath
Laterwork	Founder of the international Scouting Movement; writer; artist
Signature	Baden-Powell_signature.svg }}

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB (; 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941), also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement.

After having been educated at Charterhouse School, Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the Second Boer War in South Africa, Baden-Powell successfully defended the town in the Siege of Mafeking. Several of his military books, written for military reconnaissance and scout training in his African years, were also read by boys. Based on those earlier books, he wrote ''Scouting for Boys'', published in 1908 by Pearson, for youth readership. During writing, he tested his ideas through a camping trip on Brownsea Island with the local Boys' Brigade and sons of his friends that began on 1 August 1907, which is now seen as the beginning of Scouting.

After his marriage to Olave St Clair Soames, Baden-Powell, his sister Agnes Baden-Powell and notably his wife actively gave guidance to the Scouting Movement and the Girl Guides Movement. Baden-Powell lived his last years in Nyeri, Kenya, where he died and was buried in 1941.

Early life

Baden-Powell was born as Robert Stephenson Smyth Powell, or more familiarly as Stephe Powell, at 6 Stanhope Street (now 11 Stanhope Terrace), Paddington in London, on 22 February 1857. He was named for his godfather, Robert Stephenson, the railway and civil engineer; his third name was his mother's maiden name. His father Reverend Baden Powell, a Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University, already had four teenage children from the second of his two previous marriages. On 10 March 1846 at St Luke's Church, Chelsea, Reverend Powell married Henrietta Grace Smyth (3 September 1824 – 13 October 1914), eldest daughter of Admiral William Henry Smyth and 28 years his junior. Quickly they had Warington (early 1847), George (late 1847), Augustus (1849) and Francis (1850). After three further children who died when very young, they had Stephe, Agnes (1858) and Baden (1860). The three youngest children and the often ill Augustus were close friends. Reverend Powell died when Stephe was three, and as tribute to his father and to set her own children apart from their half-siblings and cousins, the mother changed the family name to ''Baden-Powell''. Subsequently, Stephe was raised by his mother, a strong woman who was determined that her children would succeed. Baden-Powell would say of her in 1933 "The whole secret of my getting on, lay with my mother."

After attending Rose Hill School, Tunbridge Wells, during which his favourite brother Augustus died, Stephe Baden-Powell was awarded a scholarship to Charterhouse, a prestigious public school. His first introduction to Scouting skills was through stalking and cooking game while avoiding teachers in the nearby woods, which were strictly out-of-bounds. He also played the piano and violin, was an ambidextrous artist, and enjoyed acting. Holidays were spent on yachting or canoeing expeditions with his brothers.

Military career

In 1876, R.S.S. Baden-Powell, as he styled himself then, joined the 13th Hussars in India with the rank of lieutenant. He enhanced and honed his military scouting skills amidst the Zulu in the early 1880s in the Natal province of South Africa, where his regiment had been posted, and where he was Mentioned in Despatches. During one of his travels, he came across a large string of wooden beads, worn by the Zulu king Dinizulu, which was later incorporated into the Wood Badge training programme he started after he founded the Scouting Movement. Baden-Powell's skills impressed his superiors and he was Brevetted Major as Military Secretary and senior Aide-de-camp of the Commander-in-Chief and Governor of Malta, his uncle General Sir Henry Augustus Smyth. He was posted in Malta for three years, also working as intelligence officer for the Mediterranean for the Director of Military Intelligence. He frequently travelled disguised as a butterfly collector, incorporating plans of military installations into his drawings of butterfly wings.

Baden-Powell returned to Africa in 1896 to aid the British South Africa Company colonials under siege in Bulawayo during the Second Matabele War. This was a formative experience for him not only because he had the time of his life commanding reconnaissance missions into enemy territory in Matobo Hills, but because many of his later Boy Scout ideas took hold here. It was during this campaign that he first met and befriended the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham, who introduced Baden-Powell to the American Old West and ''woodcraft'' (i.e., scoutcraft), and here that he wore his signature Stetson campaign hat and kerchief for the first time. After Rhodesia, Baden-Powell took part in a successful British invasion of Ashanti, West Africa in the Fourth Ashanti War, and at the age of 40 was promoted to lead the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1897 in India. A few years later he wrote a small manual, entitled ''Aids to Scouting,'' a summary of lectures he had given on the subject of military scouting, to help train recruits. Using this and other methods he was able to train them to think independently, use their initiative, and survive in the wilderness.

Baden-Powell was accused of illegally executing a prisoner of war, Matabele chief Uwini, in 1896, who had been promised his life would be spared if he surrendered. Uwini was shot by firing squad under Baden-Powell's instructions. Baden-Powell was cleared by an inquiry, and later claimed he was "released without a stain on my character".

Baden-Powell returned to South Africa prior to the Second Boer War and was engaged in further military actions against the Zulus. By this time, he had been promoted to be the youngest colonel in the British Army. He was responsible for the organisation of a force of Legion of Frontiersmen to assist the regular army. While arranging this, he was trapped in the Siege of Mafeking, and surrounded by a Boer army, at times in excess of 8,000 men. Although wholly outnumbered, the garrison withstood the siege for 217 days. Much of this is attributable to cunning military deceptions instituted at Baden-Powell's behest as commander of the garrison. Fake minefields were planted and his soldiers were ordered to simulate avoiding non-existent barbed wire while moving between trenches. Baden-Powell did most of the reconnaissance work himself. In one instance noting that the Boers had not removed the rail line, Baden-Powell loaded an armoured locomotive with sharpshooters and successfully sent it down the rails into the heart of the Boer encampment and back again in a strategic attempt to decapitate the Boer leadership.

Contrary views of Baden-Powell's actions during the Siege of Mafeking pointed out that his success in resisting the Boers was secured at the expense of the lives of the native African soldiers and civilians, including members of his own African garrison. Pakenham stated that Baden-Powell drastically reduced the rations to the natives' garrison. However, in 2001, after subsequent research, Pakenham decidedly retreated from this position.

During the siege, a cadet corps, consisting of white boys below fighting age, was used to stand guard, carry messages, assist in hospitals and so on, freeing the men for military service. Although Baden-Powell did not form this cadet corps himself, and there is no evidence that he took much notice of them during the Siege, he was sufficiently impressed with both their courage and the equanimity with which they performed their tasks to use them later as an object lesson in the first chapter of ''Scouting for Boys''. The siege was lifted in the Relief of Mafeking on 16 May 1900. Promoted to major-general, Baden-Powell became a national hero. After organising the South African Constabulary, the national police force, he returned to England to take up a post as Inspector General of Cavalry in 1903. In 1907 he was appointed to command a division in the newly-formed Territorial Force.

In 1910 Lieutenant-General Baden-Powell decided to retire from the Army reputedly on the advice of King Edward VII, who suggested that he could better serve his country by promoting Scouting.

On the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Baden-Powell put himself at the disposal of the War Office. No command was given him, for, as Lord Kitchener said: "he could lay his hand on several competent divisional generals but could find no one who could carry on the invaluable work of the Boy Scouts." It was widely rumoured that Baden-Powell was engaged in spying, and intelligence officers took great care to inculcate the myth.

Scouting movement

On his return from Africa in 1903, Baden-Powell found that his military training manual, ''Aids to Scouting'', had become a best-seller, and was being used by teachers and youth organisations. Following his involvement in the Boys' Brigade as Brigade Secretary and Officer in charge of its scouting section, with encouragement from his friend, William Alexander Smith, Baden-Powell decided to re-write ''Aids to Scouting'' to suit a youth readership. In August 1907 he held a camp on Brownsea Island for twenty-two boys from local Boys Brigade companies and sons of friends of Baden-Powell's from public schools Eton and Harrow to test out the applicability of his ideas. Baden-Powell was also influenced by Ernest Thompson Seton, who founded the Woodcraft Indians. Seton gave Baden-Powell a copy of his book ''The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians'' and they met in 1906. The first book on the Scout Movement, Baden-Powell's ''Scouting for Boys'' was published in six instalments in 1908, and has sold approximately 150 million copies as the fourth best-selling book of the 20th century.

Boys and girls spontaneously formed Scout troops and the Scouting Movement had inadvertently started, first as a national, and soon an international obsession. The Scouting Movement was to grow up in friendly parallel relations with the Boys' Brigade. A rally for all Scouts was held at Crystal Palace in London in 1909, at which Baden-Powell discovered the first Girl Scouts. The Girl Guide Movement was subsequently founded in 1910 under the auspices of Baden-Powell's sister, Agnes Baden-Powell. Baden-Powell's friend, Juliette Gordon Low, was encouraged by him to bring the Movement to America, where she founded the Girl Scouts of the USA.

In 1920, the 1st World Scout Jamboree took place in Olympia, and Baden-Powell was acclaimed Chief Scout of the World. Baden-Powell was created a Baronet in the 1921 New Year Honours and Baron Baden-Powell, of Gilwell, in the County of Essex, on 17 September 1929, Gilwell Park being the International Scout Leader training centre. After receiving this honour, Baden-Powell mostly styled himself "Baden-Powell of Gilwell".

In 1929, during the 3rd World Scout Jamboree, he received as a present a new 20 horse power Rolls-Royce car (chassis number GVO-40, registration OU 2938) and an Eccles Caravan. This combination well served the Baden-Powells in their further travels around Europe. The caravan was nicknamed Eccles and is now on display at Gilwell Park. The car, nicknamed Jam Roll, was sold after his death by Olave Baden-Powell in 1945. Jam Roll and Eccles were reunited at Gilwell for the 21st World Scout Jamboree in 2007. Recently it has been purchased on behalf of Scouting and is owned by a charity, B-P Jam Roll Ltd. Funds are being raised to repay the loan that was used to purchase the car. Baden-Powell also had a positive impact on improvements in youth education. Under his dedicated command the world Scouting Movement grew. By 1922 there were more than a million Scouts in 32 countries; by 1939 the number of Scouts was in excess of 3.3 million.

At the 5th World Scout Jamboree in 1937, Baden-Powell gave his farewell to Scouting, and retired from public Scouting life. 22 February, the joint birthday of Robert and Olave Baden-Powell, continues to be marked as Founder's Day by Scouts and Thinking Day by Guides to remember and celebrate the work of the Chief Scout and Chief Guide of the World.

In his final letter to the Scouts, Baden-Powell wrote:

...I have had a most happy life and I want each one of you to have a happy life too. I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Happiness does not come from being rich, nor merely being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so you can enjoy life when you are a man. Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy. Be contented with what you have got and make the best of it. Look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one. But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people. Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best. 'Be Prepared' in this way, to live happy and to die happy — stick to your Scout Promise always — even after you have ceased to be a boy — and God help you to do it.

Personal life

In January 1912, Baden-Powell met Olave St Clair Soames, on the ocean liner, ''Arcadian'', heading for New York to start one of his Scouting World Tours. She was 23, while he was 55; they shared the same birthday, 22 February. They became engaged in September of the same year, causing a media sensation due to Baden-Powell's fame. To avoid press intrusion, they married in secret on 31 October 1912, at St Peter's Church in Parkstone. The Scouts of England each donated a penny to buy Baden-Powell a wedding gift, a car (note that this is not the Rolls-Royce they were presented with in 1929). There is a monument to their marriage inside St Mary's Church, Brownsea Island.

Baden-Powell and Olave lived in Pax Hill near Bentley, Hampshire from about 1919 until 1939. The Bentley house was a gift of her father. Directly after he had married, Baden-Powell began to suffer persistent headaches, which were considered by his doctor to be of psychosomatic origin and treated with dream analysis. The headaches disappeared upon his moving into a makeshift bedroom set up on his balcony. The Baden-Powells had three children, one son and two daughters, who all acquired the courtesy title of "The Honourable" in 1929 as children of a baron. The son succeeded his father in 1941 to the Baden-Powell barony and the title of Baron Baden-Powell.

Arthur Robert Peter (Peter), later 2nd Baron Baden-Powell (1913–1962). He married Carine Crause-Boardman in 1936, and had three children: Robert Crause, later 3rd Baron Baden-Powell; David Michael (Michael), current heir to the titles, and Wendy.

Heather (1915–1986), who married John King and had two children: Michael, who died in the sinking of SS Heraklion, and Timothy;

Betty (1917–2004), who married Gervas Charles Robert Clay in 1936 and had a daughter: Gillian, and three sons: Robin, Nigel and Crispin.

In addition, when Olave's sister Auriol Davidson née Soames died in 1919, Olave and Robert took her three nieces, Christian (1912–1975), Clare (1913–1980), and Yvonne, (1918–1995?), into their family and brought them up as their own children. In 1939, he and his wife moved to a cottage he had commissioned in Nyeri, Kenya, near Mount Kenya, where he had previously been to recuperate. The small one-room house, which he named ''Paxtu'', was located on the grounds of the Outspan Hotel, owned by Eric Sherbrooke Walker, Baden-Powell's first private secretary and one of the first Scout inspectors. Walker also owned the Treetops Hotel, approx 17 km out in the Aberdare Mountains, often visited by Baden-Powell and people of the Happy Valley set. The Paxtu cottage is integrated into the Outspan Hotel buildings and serves as a small Scouting museum.

Baden-Powell died on 8 January 1941 and is buried in Nyeri, in St. Peter's Cemetery His gravestone bears a circle with a dot in the centre, which is the trail sign for "Going home", or "I have gone home": When his wife Olave died, her ashes were sent to Kenya and interred beside her husband. Kenya has declared Baden-Powell's grave a national monument.

Personal beliefs

Tim Jeal, who wrote the biography ''Baden-Powell'', argues that Baden-Powell's distrust of communism led to his implicit support, through naïveté, of fascism. In 1939 Baden-Powell noted in his diary: "Lay up all day. Read ''Mein Kampf''. A wonderful book, with good ideas on education, health, propaganda, organisation etc. – and ideals which Hitler does not practise himself." Baden-Powell admired Benito Mussolini early in the Italian fascist leader's career.

Some very early Scouting "Thanks" badges had a swastika symbol on them. According to biographer Michael Rosenthal, Baden-Powell used the swastika because he was a Nazi sympathiser. Jeal, however, argues that Baden-Powell was naïve of the symbol's growing association with fascism and maintained that his use of the symbol related to its earlier, original meaning of "good luck" in Sanskrit, for which purpose the symbol had been used for centuries prior to the rise of fascism. In conflict with the idea that Powell was a Nazi supporter is the fact that Baden-Powell was a target of the Nazi regime in the Black Book, which listed individuals who were to be arrested during and after an invasion of Great Britain as part of Operation Sea Lion. Scouting was regarded as a dangerous spy organisation by the Nazis. Baden-Powell used the swastika as a "Thanks" badge for the Scout Movement well before Hitler used it, and when Hitler did start to use it, Baden-Powell ceased to use it. Previously, the swastika had been used by Rudyard Kipling as a logo on his books.

Artist and writer

Baden-Powell made paintings and drawings almost every day of his life. Most have a humorous or informative character. He published books and other texts during his years of military service both to finance his life and to educate his men.

Baden-Powell was regarded as an excellent storyteller. During his whole life he told 'ripping yarns' to audiences. After having published ''Scouting for Boys'', Baden-Powell kept on writing more handbooks and educative materials for all Scouts, as well as directives for Scout Leaders. In his later years, he also wrote about the Scout Movement and his ideas for its future. He spent the last decade of his life in Africa, and many of his later books had African themes. Currently, many pages of his field diary, complete with drawings, are on display at the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Texas.

Sexuality

Early discussion of Baden-Powell's sexuality focused on his relationship with his close friend Kenneth McLaren. Tim Jeal's later biography discusses the relationship and concludes that there is no conclusive evidence that this friendship was physical. Jeal then examines Baden-Powell's views on women, his appreciation of the male form, his military relationships and his marriage, indicating that Baden-Powell could be a repressed homosexual. Jeal's conclusion is shared by some biographers and disputed by others, but not yet examined in any detail by scholars.

Works

;Military books

1884: ''Reconnaissance and Scouting''

1885: ''Cavalry Instruction''

1889: ''Pigsticking or Hoghunting''

1896: ''The Downfall of Prempeh''

1897: ''The Matabele Campaign''

1899: ''Aids to Scouting for N.-C.Os and Men''

1900: ''Sport in War''

1901: ''Notes and Instructions for the South African Constabulary''

1914: ''Quick Training for War''

;Scouting books

1908: ''Scouting for Boys''

1909: ''Yarns for Boy Scouts''

1912: ''The Handbook for the Girl Guides or How Girls Can Help to Build Up the Empire'' (co-authored with Agnes Baden-Powell)

1913: ''Boy Scouts Beyond The Sea: My World Tour''

1916: ''The Wolf Cub's handbook''

1918: ''Girl Guiding''

1919: ''Aids To Scoutmastership''

1921: ''What Scouts Can Do: More Yarns''

1922: ''Rovering to Success''

1929: ''Scouting and Youth Movements''

est 1929: ''Last Message to Scouts''

1935: ''Scouting Round the World''

;Other books

1905: ''Ambidexterity'' (co-authored with John Jackson)

1915: ''Indian Memories''

1915: ''My Adventures as a Spy'' 1916: ''Young Knights of the Empire: Their Code, and Further Scout Yarns''

1921: ''An Old Wolf's Favourites''

1927: ''Life's Snags and How to Meet Them''

1933: ''Lessons From the Varsity of Life''

1934: ''Adventures and Accidents''

1936: ''Adventuring to Manhood''

1937: ''African Adventures''

1938: ''Birds and beasts of Africa''

1939: ''Paddle Your Own Canoe''

1940: ''More Sketches Of Kenya''

;Sculpture 1905 ''John Smith''

Awards

In 1937 Baden-Powell was appointed to the Order of Merit, one of the most exclusive awards in the British honours system, and he was also awarded 28 decorations by foreign states, including the Grand Officer of the Portuguese Order of Christ, the Grand Commander of the Greek Order of the Redeemer (1920), the Commander of the French Légion d'honneur (1925), the First Class of the Hungarian Order of Merit (1929), the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog of Denmark, the Grand Cross of the Order of the White Lion, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix, and the Order of Polonia Restituta.

The Silver Wolf Award worn by Robert Baden-Powell is handed down the line of his successors, with the current Chief Scout, Bear Grylls wearing this original award.

The Bronze Wolf Award, the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting, was first awarded to Baden-Powell by a unanimous decision of the then ''International Committee'' on the day of the institution of the Bronze Wolf in Stockholm in 1935. He was also the first recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award in 1926, the highest award conferred by the Boy Scouts of America.

In 1927, at the Swedish National Jamboree he was awarded by the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund with the "''Großes Dankabzeichen des ÖPB''.

In 1931 Baden-Powell received the highest award of the First Austrian Republic (''Großes Ehrenzeichen der Republik am Bande'') out of the hands of President Wilhelm Miklas. Baden-Powell was also one of the first and few recipients of the ''Goldene Gemse'', the highest award conferred by the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund.

In 1931, Major Frederick Russell Burnham dedicated Mount Baden-Powell in California to his old Scouting friend from forty years before. Today their friendship is honoured in perpetuity with the dedication of the adjoining peak, Mount Burnham.

Baden-Powell was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on numerous occasions, including 10 separate nominations in 1928.

As part of the Scouting 2007 Centenary, Nepal renamed Urkema Peak to Baden-Powell Peak.

Styles

:''The family name legally changed from Powell to Baden-Powell by Royal Licence on 30 April 1902.''

1857–1860: Robert Stephenson Smyth Powell

1860–1876: Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1876: Sub-Lieutenant Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1876–1884: Lieutenant Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1884–1892: Captain Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1892–1896: Major Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1896-25 April 1897: Major (Bvt. Lieutenant-Colonel) Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

25 April – 7 May 1897: Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

7 May 1897–1901: Lieutenant-Colonel (Bvt. Colonel) Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1901–1902: Major-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1902–1907: Major-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, CB

1907–12 October 1909: Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, CB

12 October – 9 November 1909: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, KCVO, CB

9 November 1909–1912: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, KCB, KCVO

1912–1923: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, KCB, KCVO, KStJ

1923–1927: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Bt, GCVO, KCB, KStJ

1927–1929: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Bt, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, KStJ

1929–1937: Lieutenant-General The Right Honourable The Lord Baden-Powell, Bt, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, KStJ

1937–1941: Lieutenant-General The Right Honourable The Lord Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, KStJ

See also

Baden-Powell House

Scouting memorials

Notes

Related readings: biographies

|location=London |publisher=Grant Richards |year=1900}}

External links

What would Baden-Powell do?

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alt	A mid-twenties African American man wearing a sequined military jacket and dark sunglasses. He is walking while waving his right hand, which is adorned with a white glove. His left hand is bare.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Michael Joseph Jackson
alias	Michael Joe Jackson, MJ, King of Pop
birth date	August 29, 1958
birth place	Gary, Indiana, U.S.
death date	June 25, 2009
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
instrument	vocals, guitar, drums, percussion, keyboards
genre	R&B, pop, rock, soul, dance, funk, disco, new jack swing
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, record producer, actor, businessman, philanthropist
years active	1964–2009
label	Motown, Epic, Legacy
associated acts	The Jackson 5
relatives	Janet Jackson (sister)
website	130pxMichael Jackson's signature }}

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album ''Thriller'' is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including ''Off the Wall'' (1979), ''Bad'' (1987), ''Dangerous'' (1991), and ''HIStory'' (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.

Life and career

Early life and The Jackson 5 (1958–1975)

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small 3-room house in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city near Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy. A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt ''Off the Wall'' should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.

''Thriller'' and ''Motown 25'' (1982–83)

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. The album topped the ''Billboard'' 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." ''Thriller'' was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Thanks to the ''Bad'' album, Bruce Swedien and Humberto Gatica won one Grammy in 1988 for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Michael Jackson won one Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone" in 1989. ''HIStory'' received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. However, the sales for ''Invincible'' were lower than those of his previous releases, due in part to a lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute. The album also came out at a bad time for the music industry in general. Jackson rehearsed in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG. With ''Thriller'', Christopher Connelly of ''Rolling Stone'' commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers. In "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media. "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage to ''West Side Story'', and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. He also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years. In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and public persona.

In ''Bad'', Jackson's concept of the predatory lover can be seen on the rock song "Dirty Diana". The lead single "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" is a traditional love ballad, while "Man in the Mirror" is an anthemic ballad of confession and resolution. "Smooth Criminal" was an evocation of bloody assault, rape and likely murder. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that ''Dangerous'' presents Jackson as a very paradoxical individual. He comments the album is more diverse than his previous ''Bad'', as it appeals to an urban audience while also attracting the middle class with anthems like "Heal the World". The first half of the record is dedicated to new jack swing, including songs like "Jam" and "Remember the Time". The album is Jackson's first where social ills become a primary theme; "Why You Wanna Trip on Me", for example, protests against world hunger, AIDS, homelessness and drugs. ''Dangerous'' contains sexually charged efforts such as the multifaceted love song, "In the Closet". The title track continues the theme of the predatory lover and compulsive desire. The second half includes introspective, pop-gospel anthems such as "Will You Be There", "Heal the World" and "Keep the Faith"; these songs show Jackson opening up about various personal struggles and worries. In the ballad "Gone Too Soon", Jackson gives tribute to his friend Ryan White and the plight of those with AIDS.

''HIStory'' creates an atmosphere of paranoia. Its content focuses on the hardships and public struggles Jackson went through just prior to its production. In the new jack swing-funk-rock efforts "Scream" and "Tabloid Junkie", along with the R&B ballad "You Are Not Alone", Jackson retaliates against the injustice and isolation he feels, and directs much of his anger at the media. In the introspective ballad "Stranger in Moscow", Jackson laments over his "fall from grace", while songs like "Earth Song", "Childhood", "Little Susie" and "Smile" are all operatic pop pieces. In the track "D.S.", Jackson launched a verbal attack against Tom Sneddon. He describes Sneddon as an antisocial, white supremacist who wanted to "get my ass, dead or alive". Of the song, Sneddon said, "I have not—shall we say—done him the honor of listening to it, but I've been told that it ends with the sound of a gunshot". ''Invincible'' found Jackson working heavily with producer Rodney Jerkins. It is a record made up of urban soul like "Cry" and "The Lost Children", ballads such as "Speechless", "Break of Dawn" and "Butterflies" and mixes hip-hop, pop and R&B in "2000 Watts", "Heartbreaker" and "Invincible".

Vocal style

Jackson sang from childhood, and over time his voice and vocal style changed noticeably. Between 1971 and 1975, Jackson's voice descended from boy soprano to high tenor. Jackson first used a technique called the "vocal hiccup" in 1973, starting with the song "It's Too Late to Change the Time" from The Jackson 5's ''G.I.T.: Get It Together'' album. Jackson did not use the hiccup technique— somewhat like a gulping for air or gasping— fully until the recording of ''Off the Wall'': it can be seen in full force in the "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" promotional video. With the arrival of ''Off the Wall'' in the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded. At the time, ''Rolling Stone'' compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly". 1982 saw the release of ''Thriller'', and ''Rolling Stone'' was of the opinion that Jackson was then singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness".

A distinctive deliberate mispronunciation of "come on", used frequently by Jackson, occasionally spelled "cha'mone" or "shamone", is also a staple in impressions and caricatures of him. The turn of the 1990s saw the release of the introspective album ''Dangerous''. ''The New York Times'' noted that on some tracks, "he gulps for breath, his voice quivers with anxiety or drops to a desperate whisper, hissing through clenched teeth" and he had a "wretched tone". When singing of brotherhood or self-esteem the musician would return to "smooth" vocals. When commenting on ''Invincible'', ''Rolling Stone'' were of the opinion that—at the age of 43—Jackson still performed "exquisitely voiced rhythm tracks and vibrating vocal harmonies". Nelson George summed up Jackson's vocals by stating "The grace, the aggression, the growling, the natural boyishness, the falsetto, the smoothness—that combination of elements mark him as a major vocalist".

Music videos and choreography

Referred to as the King of Music Videos, Steve Huey of Allmusic observed how Jackson transformed the music video into an art form and a promotional tool through complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and famous cameo appearances; simultaneously breaking down racial barriers. Before ''Thriller'', Jackson struggled to receive coverage on MTV, allegedly because he was African American. Pressure from CBS Records persuaded MTV to start showing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", leading to a lengthy partnership with Jackson, also helping other black music artists gain recognition. MTV employees deny any racism in their coverage, or pressure to change their stance. MTV maintains that they played rock music, regardless of race. The popularity of his videos on MTV helped to put the relatively young channel "on the map"; MTV's focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B. His performance on ''Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever'' changed the scope of live stage show; "That Jackson lip-synced 'Billie Jean' is, in itself, not extraordinary, but the fact that it did not change the impact of the performance is extraordinary; whether the performance was live or lip-synced made no difference to the audience" thus creating an era in which artists re-create the spectacle of music video imagery on stage. Short films like ''Thriller'' largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has frequently been imitated. The choreography in ''Thriller'' has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from Indian films to prisons in the Philippines. The ''Thriller'' short film marked an increase in scale for music videos, and has been named the most successful music video ever by the ''Guinness World Records''.

In the 19-minute music video for "Bad"—directed by Martin Scorsese—Jackson began using sexual imagery and choreography not previously seen in his work. He occasionally grabbed or touched his chest, torso and crotch. When asked by Oprah in the 1993 interview about why he grabbed his crotch, he replied, "I think it happens subliminally" and he described it as something that was not planned, but rather, as something that was compelled by the music. "Bad" garnered a mixed reception from both fans and critics; ''Time'' magazine described it as "infamous". The video also featured Wesley Snipes; in the future Jackson's videos would often feature famous cameo roles.

}} ;Bibliography

George, Nelson (2004). ''Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection'' booklet. Sony BMG.

Further reading

External links

Michael Jackson Live: Best Pics – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Michael Jackson at MTV

FBI file on Michael Jackson

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