60 Years Since Newport 1965: Scaduto's `The Dylan Tapes' Revisited (9)

Sixty years ago a singer-songwriter/musician (who, in later years, wrote and recorded a pro-IDF song, "Neighborhood Bully", in the 1980s and, in the early 21st-century, entered into a business agreement with a firm, Victoria's Secret, which the BDS campaign has called for a boycott of), Bob Dylan, was booed by the audience at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

And in 2022 the University of Minnesota Press published a book, titled The Dylan Tapes: Friends, Players, and Lovers Talking Early Bob Dylan, which Stephanie Trudeau edited, that contained some of the transcribed texts of interviews that writer-journalist Anthony Scaduto did, while doing research for his early 1970s biography of Dylan.

According to the text of his interview with Anthony Scaduto in the late 1960s, John Hammond Sr. also recalled the following biographical information about Dylan's pre-Newport Folk Festival 1965 life:

"Bobby [Dylan] had just written `Blowin' in the Wind,' and Peter, Paul and Mary had heard [it]...

"...And so, when Artie Mogull at Witmark heard `Blowin' in the Wind,' he said, `Bobby, I want to sign you right away.' Bobby said, `...I just signed a contract with Duchess Music.'...But Artie Mogull, said `Well, here, Bobby, here's a thousand [equal to around $10,000 in U.S. dollars in 2025]. Why don't you go over and see if you can buy back your contract?'

"...So Bobby went over to Leeds, and...Hy Grill was running the office...

"...Artie insisted Hy took the $1,000 [equal to around $10,000 in U.S. dollars in 2025]...

"Bobby got his contract back and signed with Warner Bros....

"...We completed the second album, and this album started to take off, thanks to `Blowin in the Wind,' and thanks to the...work Peter, Paul and Mary had done with (the song). In fact, we put a special sticker on the second album saying `Featuring Blowin' in the Wind.'...

"I had made one goof...in the signing of Dylan. There's usually an automatic escalation clause on the contract. You know, you start at 4 percent, then you go right to  percent...When the contract came through...there was no escalation clause...

"So, by the time Bob [Dylan]'s contract was finished with Columbia, which was 5 years later--'66--there was a 1 percent thing which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars [equal to millions of U.S. dollars in 2025], which was being held in escrow...

"...You know, the big initial boost to Bob Dylan in this company was Johnny Cash [who entertained U.S. military troops stationed in Asia, on at least 2 USO tours in 1960s]...He was behind him every which way, and they all knew it. He made it known to Clive [Davis]..."

 

Post-1981 Rock Concert Ticket Price Hikes Revisited

 

As Sean Kay recalled in his 2017 book Rockin' The Free World: How The Rock & Roll Revolution Changed America And The World:

"..The price of concert tickets (often channeled through corporations like Live Nation and Ticketmaster) went up. By 2012, the average concert ticket price had increased abour 400 percent since 1981. This far outpaced the 150 percent increase in overall consumer price inflation."

The same book also indicated how the ownership of the corporate media radio stations which air rock music in the USA became more monopolized by only a few corporate media conglomerates--after Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs [SIPA] Professor and Columbia University SIPA's Institute of Global Politics Director Hillary Clinton's husband--Bill Clinton--signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996:

"By 2012 only 6 national corporations owned 90 percent of media outlets. The Future of Music Coalition found in 2006 that the top 4 radio station owners had almost half the listeners and the top 10 almost two-thirds of listeners in the United States. Local or regional ownership had declined by one-third between 1975 and 2005. The Future of Music Coalition concluded that `...radio consolidation has no demonstrated benefit for the public.'...

"This consolidation trend results from President Bill Clinton signing the...Telecommunications Act of 1996...Large companies--many with direct interest in controlling what programming aired--bought out regional and smaller market stations...The Future of Music Coalition shows advertising revenue increased from 12 percent market share for the top 4 companies in 1993 to 50 percent market share for the top 4 companies in 2004 while playlists from commonly owned stations in the same format overlapped up to 97 percent. For example, Clear Channel (now iHeart Radio), the Future of Music Coalition showed, `multiplied its stations holdings by a factor of 30, going from 40 stations to 1,200 within 5 years of the Telecom Act.'...

"Common Cause found that between 1997 and 2005, 8 of the nation's largest communications companies and 3 of their trade groups had spent more than $400 million on political contributions and lobbying in Washington..." 

Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo's `Rock`N' Roll Is Here To Pay' Book Revisited: Part 4

 

In their 1977 book, Rock'N'Roll Is Here To Pay: The History and Politics of the Music, Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo recalled the pre-1977 history and politics of the U.S. corporate rock music industry in the following way:

"The critical effect of rock music was lost...The music became separated from the political ferment that had provided it with its critical edge...in the...sixties...

"...The potential for cooptation of rock music had always been present...Economically rock music has never posed a problem for the capitalist organization of the economy. Whether in the form of a record, a tape, a concert ticket, or a booking agency fee, rock music was a packaged commodity...

"Most political `censorship' of record artists is self-censorship...It has been estimated that at least 50 superstars make more than a million dollars [equal to around $4.9 million in 2023] each year [in late 1970s]. The money puts the musician in a qualitatively different position than most of his audience...

"Some of the highest paid musicians become sophisticated corporate investors. Bob Dylan owns oil stock, for instance, and Neil Young owns a string of shopping centers. His ventures are managed by Segal, Rubenstein & Gordon, Los Angeles financial counselors...Top stars, the Rolling Stones being a particularly spectacular example, have become part of the standard bourgeois jet set...

"At this point it should be evident that the vast majority of rock music does little to challenge...the basis of American society--production for private profit...For now, of course, rock'n'roll is here to pay. It is a packaged commodity which enriches a few monopoly corporations..."

Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo's `Rock'N'Roll Is Here To Pay' Book Revisited: Part 3

In their 1977 book, Rock'N'Roll Is Here To Pay: The History and Politics of the Music, Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo recalled the pre-1977 history and politics of the U.S. corporate rock music industry in the following way:

"Shortly after their introduction to America in 1964, the Beatles re-released such classics as `Roll Over Beethoven' by Chuck Berry, `Twist and Shout' by Isley Brothers, Barrett Strong's `Money', the Shirelles' `Boys', `Long Tall Sally' by Little Richard. Similarly, the Animals brought back Ray Charles's `Hit the Road Jack' (written by Mayfield) and Sam Cooke's `Shake'. The Rolling Stones did Rufus Thomas's `Walking the Dog,' `Hitchhike' by Marvin Gaye, a number of Chuck Berry tunes including `Carol', `Talking About You', and `Around and Around'...

"...The Beatles along with the dozens of other English groups that quickly followed them were...more marketable than the black artists they imitated....Black acts in general showed a sharp decline on the singles chart from an all-time high of 42 percent in 1962 to 22 percent in 1966...On the album charts, only 3 of the Top 50 LPs for the year 1964 and 1965 were by black artists...Virtually the only black music on white radio, during this period, was produced out of Motown...It is hard to imagine Eric Clapton being...criticized for playing blues guitar if he were not making millions off his music, while the bluesmen whose licks he copied are starving to death...

"In the early sixties women became a recognized trend in rock'n'roll for the first time. Female vocal groups...began to hit the top of the charts. In addition to the Orlons, the Crystals, the Sensations, the Chiffons, the Essex, the Ronnettes, and the Jaynettes, there were the Shangri-Las and the Dixie Cups, and the Motown groups--the Marvelettes, the Supremes, and Martha and the Vandellas...

"...The female vocal groups were pushed from the charts...when the Beatles crashed onto the scene in 1964-65...The...popularity of the Beatles was the single greatest force responsible for the decline of women on the charts in the mid-sixties...In 1969, one of the great years for hard rock, there were fewer women on the year-end single charts than at any time since World War II. The situation for both women album and singles artists was even worse than it had been at the end of 1966, during the height of the British invasion..."

 

Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo's `Rock'N'Roll Is Here To Pay' Book Revisited: Part 2

In their 1977 book, Rock'N'Roll Is Here To Pay: The History and Politics of the Music, Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo characterized and recalled the pre-1977 history and politics of Rolling Stone magazine and the U.S. corporate rock music industry in the following way:

"Rolling Stone...plays down or ignores any political movements outside of the two party system or not backed by some sector of American business...The magazine could not be as large...as it is without the large volume of music industry advertising it carries...The record companies are linked in with big business in the United States. There are no indications from the parent firms, the separate power of the record divisions within the parent firms, or `youth' businesses like Rolling Stone that any of them will be responsible for, or support, fundamental political change in the United States...

"Big Mama Thornton recorded `Hound Dog' three years before Elvis Presley, and according to her the song sold over 2 million copies. But as to her royalties she says, `I got one check for $500 and I never seen another.' Presley also recorded `That's All Right,' written by Arthur `Big Boy' Crudup. Though the song was a big hit for Presley, Crudup was reputed to have received nothing more than an appreciative plaque from Presley and his manager.

"Another tactic used against black music was `cover versions' of black hits...The Beatles' version of `Twist and Shout' and `Roll Over Beethoven'...cam several years after the originals, but reproduce them note for note with identical vocal style and arrangement...In the 1950s covers were used by major companies to recover the inroads r&b made into the white audience of the time...

"Several dozen songs were...covered by the majors in the early years of rock'n'roll. RCA began by covering `Kokomo' by Gene and Eunice with a version by Perry Como. Columbia covered the same song with a version by Tony Bennett...Mercury's Crew Cuts...did a cover of the Chords' `Sh'Boom' (originally on Atlantic's Cat label) that became the fifth best-selling pop song of 1954. They pillaged the r&b list after `Sh' Boom; covering hits like Nappy Brown's `Don't Be Angry' (Savoy), the Charms' `Gum Drop (Deluxe), and the Penguins' `Earth Angel.' Mercury's Georgia Gibbs covered Etta James's `Wallflower' with a cleaned up version called `Dance with Me Henry.'...Decca used the McGuire Sisters (on their Coral subsidiary) to cover the Moonglow's `Sincerely' (Chess) and made it the #7 best-selling pop song in 1955, along with their cover of Joe Turner's `Shake, Rattle, and Roll.'

"Pat Boone...built his reputation...by covering black rhythm and blues tunes. His label, Dot, was the most successful company at the practice. Boone recorded `Ain't That A Shame' (Fats Domino), `i Almost Lost My Mind' (The Harptones) and `Tutti-Frutti' (Little Richard), among others."

Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo's `Rock'N'Roll Is Here To Pay' Book Revisited: Part 1

 

In their 1977 book, Rock'N'Roll Is Here To Pay: The History and Politics of the Music, Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo characterized the pre-1977 history and politics of the U.S. corporate rock music industry in the following way:

"...The music industry is racist...and many of the political forces that are exerted on blacks outside the business are duplicated within it...It is important to look at the unfolding of that racism within the history of the industry...

"...The music business, the record companies and radio stations, are integrated into a much larger framework of other businesses, sources of finance capital, and the general network of the business system which has an interest--a real, material interest--in reproducing and reinforcing the status quo...

"...In many cases record companies are owned by some of the most obviously reactionary and militarist corporations in the United States...

"Three major record companies...are politically indistinguisable from their parent firms: RCA, CBS, and ABC. RCA and CBS have long been part of a business establishment that supports both major political parties on a regular basis...

"...Most directors at CBS and RCA supported the [Vietnam] war when it was backed by Republicans and Democrats under the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations...

"...During the Vietnam War buildup RCA had annual Defense Department contracts averaging $300 million, and still got some $243 million in DOD business in 1974.

"During the 1960s CBS president Frank Stanton...was chairman of the board of the Rand Corporation, the Air Force-funded think tank that has done extensive secret research for the military on subjects as diverse as counterinsurgency warfare techniques, effectiveness of prisoner interrogation methods, and police surveillance uses of cable television...Stanton was head of the committee that annually reviewed the activities of the U.S. Information Agency, a CIA-funded propaganda operation overseas, and he was chairman of Radio Free Europe, another propaganda outlets, financed through the CIA...

"Given their ties into big and bigger business, no progressive political initiative will be coming from the parent firms of the record companies..."

Abbie Hoffman's 1969 `Woodstock Nation: A Talk-Rock Album" Book Revisited

In his classic Woodstock Nation: A Talk-Rock Album" book of 50 years ago, 1960's U.S. antiwar movement organizer/activist and Chicago 8 Trial defendant Abbie Hoffman indicated how the U.S. hip capitalist rock music industry entrepreneurs and rock capitalist musicians who put together the Woodstock Music Festival in August 1969 apparently failed to reflect the egalitarian values of the 1960s antiwar and anti-capitalist Movement's counter-cultural hippie youth culture:

"...The za-za world of rock is almost entirely an uptown plastic dome. Up at Woodstock it meant living at the Concord hotel or the Holiday Inn in Liberty and buzzing in stoned out of your head in a helicopter. It meant being hustled under guard to a secluded pavilion to join the other aristocrats who run the ROCK EMPIRE...

"I emerged exhausted, broke and bleeding from the WOODSTOCK NATION. It was an awesome experience but one that made me have a clearer picture of myself as a cultural revolutionary--not a cultural nationalist, for that would embrace a concept of hip capitalism which I reject...Cultural revolution requires people to change the way they live...

"The four promoters of Woodstock Ventures are Michael Lang, Artie Kornfeld, Joel Rosenman and John Roberts...Lang owned a head shop in Coral Gables until he got the idea for Woodstock Ventures. Kornfeld was a rock promoter for ...bubble rock groups...Rosenman and Roberts had the bread. Roberts' old man owned a multi-million dollar pharmaceutical firm...

"...Brothers and Sisters, we have a duty to each other to work out the problem of the vultures that prey on our culture and indeed on the rest of the world culture as well...The Big Boys are going to get together and sort of figure out how they can make some bread on the Woodstock Nation or, if not directly, how they can suck its energy. All that has to be fit in along with Columbia Records pulling ads out of the underground press in an effort to cripple them. A to P research firm had suggested two ways to prevent another Chicago from happening.

"1. Cancel the policy of youth fare on airplanes.
"2. Urge Columbia Records to pull out of the underground press...

"...These guys were prepared to do anything to stay in business, even grow their hair a little longer and put on some beads.

"Fit all that in with Love Food, Inc. selling sawdust burgers for outrageous prices on the highest hill in WOODSTOCK NATION and shoveling real money with real shovels into Wells Fargo Trucks, all the time guarded by cops who weren't holding flowers in their hands, no sir. These are things that weren't announced from the stage in that syrupy smooth groovy voice, nor talked about in the psychedelic hand-outs and press releases of Woodstock Ventures...

"What are you gonna do with your bread, brother rock stars? Are you gonna help build and defend the WOODSTOCK NATION NOW, or are you just gonna piss it all away?...

"...Revolution was becoming a saleable commodity and the only way to deal with that was to try and rip off the bread and spread it around like the manure it was...No real hip activist could just sit by and watch skilled promoters create events that gathered huge numbers of young people and made exorbitant profits without eventually taking an interest..." 

Did Smithsonian Folkways Partner With U.S. Capitalism In Distributing Non-Commercially-Motivated Folk Music?

Most people who are into listening to non-commercially-motivated folk music have, historically, been anti-capitalist and been against the denial of a fair share of daily U.S. mass media access to anti-capitalist musicians--like Paul Robeson, Woody Guthrie, Rev. Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick and Matt Jones--by the U.S. capitalism's corporate media gatekeepers. And most people who are into listening to non-commercially-motivated folk music have, historically, been opposed to the commodification of folk music for-profit; and also to the exploitation by the U.S. capitalist system's corporate music industry record distribution companies of the folk music fans to whom they market their commodified folk music.

Yet Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has generally failed to focus much on opposing either the U.S. capitalist system's continued denial of a fair share of U.S. mass media daily access to post-1965 anti-capitalist, non-commercially-motivated, non-professional folk musicians who are working-class. Nor has Smithsonian Folkways demanded that the U.S. capitalism's music distribution system be operated in a non-commercial, non-exploitative way that provides U.S. folk music fans with their cultural right to listen to all folk music recordings for free.

One reason might be because the director emeritus of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings apparently saw nothing morally and politically contradictory in partnering with U.S. imperialism's capitalist system in marketing and distributing the non-commercially-motivated folk music that, historically,was generally collectively or individually created by anti-capitalist working-class people or anti-capitalist musicians; who, historically, had generally only received minimal sums of money or royalties from either Folkways or Paredon Records, in exchange for recording the albums whose folk music Smithsonian Folkways marketed.

As Timothy D. Taylor noted in his 2016 book Music and Capitalism, "Anthony Seeger, director emeritus of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, told me that that label had no qualms about using the capitalist infrastructure of distribution networks to disseminate its music." The Smithsonian Folkways director emeritus apparently told the Music and Capitalism author in 2012:

"At Folkways I always thought I was taking advantage of the capitalist system to distribute a kind of music that was unpopular, by definition...It seemed to me that capitalism and the market system actually was a really efficient way...for anybody anywhere in the world being able to get what they cared about. It seemed to me in principle you could in fact take advantage, sort of ride on the back of the capitalist system..."

Yet, coincidentally, few recordings of protest folk songs written by non-commercially-motivated anti-capitalist U.S. working-class folk musicians  or by members of the People's Music Network [PMN] that were written after 1980, have been produced or distributed by Smithsonian Folkways during the last three decades when it's been partnering and riding "on the back of the capitalist system."