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| American Recording Society | |
|---|---|
| Name | American Recording Society |
| Formation | 1958 |
| Type | Nonprofit |
| Headquarters | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Region served | United States |
| Leader title | President |
American Recording Society
The American Recording Society is a U.S.-based nonprofit professional association focused on recording, audio production, and music industry standards. Founded in 1958 during a period of rapid change in audio technology, the Society has interacted with major record labels, broadcast networks, and educational institutions to influence practice and policy in the recording arts. It engages with artists, producers, engineers, and archivists across popular music, classical music, film scoring, and broadcast production.
The Society was formed in 1958 amid shifts driven by advances from RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Capitol Records, Decca Records (UK), and innovations at Bell Labs, EMI, Abbey Road Studios, Universal Music Group, Warner Bros. Records, Sony Music Entertainment, Atlantic Records, Motown Records, Chesky Records, Blue Note Records, Verve Records, Island Records, Arista Records, Elektra Records, Mercury Records, Polydor Records, Geffen Records, Virgin Records, Island Records Australia, Rhino Entertainment, Concord Music Group, Naxos Records, Telarc International Corporation, Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch Records, Sire Records, MCA Records, Rykodisc, Sub Pop, Matador Records, Merge Records, XL Recordings, Domino Recording Company, 4AD, Stax Records, Chess Records, Sun Records, Impulse! Records, Prestige Records, ECM Records, Fat Possum Records, Jagjaguwar, Ninja Tune, Warp (record label), Hyperdub and Rough Trade Records. Early activity connected the Society with pioneer engineers such as those affiliated with Les Paul, Tom Dowd, George Martin, Phil Ramone, Alan Parsons, Bruce Swedien, Glyn Johns, Chris Thomas, Quincy Jones (artist and producer), Rick Rubin, T Bone Burnett, Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno, Steve Albini, Butch Vig and institutions like Berklee College of Music, Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Peabody Institute, Eastman School of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Conservatoire de Paris, Mannes School of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, The Julliard School.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the Society responded to format shifts from analog to digital tied to companies such as Sony Corporation, Philips (company), Aiwa, Technics, Akai, Shure Incorporated, Sennheiser, Neumann (company), AKG Acoustics, Yamaha Corporation, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Gibson Brands, Marshall Amplification, Roland Corporation, Korg, Moog Music and technology projects like Compact Disc, Digital Audio Tape, MIDI, Pro Tools, ADAT, Dolby Laboratories, Dolby Atmos, DTS (sound technology), Soundstream. The Society has been present during events such as the Woodstock (music festival), Monterey Pop Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Glastonbury Festival, SXSW, Lollapalooza, Newport Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, and in policy dialogs involving Federal Communications Commission, Library of Congress, National Endowment for the Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Kennedy Center.
The Society's mission emphasizes technical excellence, archival preservation, education, and professional development, collaborating with entities including Recording Academy, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Broadcast Music, Inc., Society of Composers & Lyricists, National Association of Broadcasters, SoundExchange, RIAA, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, PRS for Music, IFPI, Music Managers Forum, Future of Music Coalition, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, AFM Local 47, IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, Musicians' Union (UK), The Musicians' Union (Ireland), Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and education partners like New York University, Columbia University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Programs include conferences, workshops, certification courses, stewardship projects with archives like The British Library, Library and Archives Canada, National Film and Sound Archive, British Film Institute, UCLA Film & Television Archive, Library of Congress Packard Campus and preservation collaborations with labels such as ECM Records, Nonesuch Records.
Membership brings professionals from studios, labels, live sound companies, and academia. The Society's governance structure involves a board with representatives from organizations like Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, Independent Music Companies Association, Association of Independent Music, American Association of Independent Music, National Independent Venue Association, Association of Recording Manufacturers and Merchants and unions including American Federation of Musicians. Leadership rotation has included figures associated with Atlantic Records, Columbia Records, Island Records, Motown Records, Def Jam Recordings, RCA Records and executives with backgrounds at Apple Corps, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora (service), Tidal (service), YouTube Music and SoundCloud.
The Society issues technical guidelines and voluntary certifications for recording studios, mastering facilities, and archival repositories. Standards reference technologies and practices tied to AES67, AES3, MPEG-4, ISO 19005 (PDF/A), ISO 15744, IEC 60958, SMPTE, ITU-R, ITU-T, AES (Audio Engineering Society), Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Internet Engineering Task Force, W3C, AES48, AES standards committee, NISO and metadata schemas used by MusicBrainz, Discogs, AllMusic and cataloging practices in Library of Congress collections. Certification programs reference loudness standards like ITU-R BS.1770 and delivery specifications used by Netflix, HBO, Amazon Studios, BBC, NPR, CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), NBCUniversal, ABC (American Broadcasting Company).
The Society publishes technical journals, white papers, and guides, working with editorial partners such as Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, Sound on Sound, Mix (magazine), TapeOp, Billboard (magazine), Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The Wire (magazine), NME, The Guardian (UK) arts sections, The New York Times arts desk and academic presses including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Springer Nature, MIT Press, Harvard University Press. Awards recognize excellence in engineering, production, restoration, and education, in categories similar to honors bestowed by Grammy Awards, BRIT Awards, Mercury Prize, Polar Music Prize, Pulitzer Prize for Music, Emmy Awards and collaborations with film festivals like Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival.
The Society has partnered with corporations, festivals, archives, and standards bodies including AES (Audio Engineering Society), SMPTE, IFPI, RIAA, British Phonographic Industry, National Recording Preservation Board, Library of Congress Packard Campus, streaming platforms Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube, Tidal, Deezer, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, pro audio manufacturers Shure Incorporated, Sennheiser, Neumann (company), Universal Audio, Avid Technology, Avid Technology (Pro Tools), Ableton, Steinberg (company), Native Instruments, Waves Audio, Izotope, Genelec, KRK Systems and educational institutions such as Berklee College of Music and IRCAM. Influence includes input into metadata standards used by MusicBrainz, iTunes Store, Spotify catalogs, and policy dialogues at Federal Communications Commission and cultural heritage initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution.
Criticism has centered on perceived alignment with major labels like Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, disputes over digital rights advocated by RIAA and licensing practices parallel to debates involving ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SoundExchange and platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music. Other controversies involve archival priorities compared with institutions like Library of Congress and British Library, content restitution debates linked to estates of artists represented on labels such as Motown Records and Chess Records, and disagreements over loudness normalization tied to broadcast standards promulgated by ITU-R and streaming specifications used by Netflix and Spotify. Academic critics have engaged scholars from Harvard University, Columbia University, New York University, University of California, Los Angeles and commentators at The New York Times and The Guardian (UK).
Category:Music organizations in the United States