ABSTRACT
The new modality, according to inventor Peter Goldmark, was especially conducive to symphonic and operatic music. Jazz, unsuited to the confines of the 78, was showcased. Broadway musicals and "mood music" were strong sellers. All of these genres were aimed at adults. The short-playing record became the modality for the youth music market. Unit numbers made the popular-music window the most profitable. Long-playings netted more per unit than their smaller counterparts; nonetheless, the volume was absent. Adults are low or moderate record buyers, regardless of price. Adolescents became a prime industry target. Radio, the dominant medium of music exposure, was flexing its corporate muscle. The story line and production resulted in a film with "a melodramatic impact that hits hard at a contemporary problem," suggested Variety. Milt Gabler argued that the success of "Rock Around the Clock" was partially based on letting the sound blast without "pinching the top and bottom of the spectrum of sound".
