Music: Mussolinic Order

Economists say the Depression came not through overproduction but through underdistribution. One trade that suffered surpassingly in Depression years, Music, owed its suffering to too much distribution. Innocent wax discs, spinning on thousands of gramophones across the U. S., filled homes and halls with music, filled breadlines with musicmakers who were not needed. Biggest blow to the profession was sound cinema which first became audible in 1926. By 1929 the movies' "canned" musical accompaniments had thrown 10,000 musicians into the streets. Radio stations began to use "electrical transcriptions" more & more,...