If asked to explain the Grammy Awards, any of us could be forgiven for saying they recognize achievements in popular music. Most of a Grammy ceremony could roll by without dissuading that notion, until long-down-the-list categories like “Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package” remind viewers that the Grammys, presented by the Recording Academy, have more to do with musical recordings than with music per se. Today, the synonymy between popular music and the recording industry is so entrenched as to seem unremarkable; what musician wouldn’t record their songs in the process of pushing them toward a popular audience? Kyle Barnett’s Record Cultures: The Transformation of the U.S. Recording Industry returns us to a historical moment when industrial actors, including musicians, were still working hard to establish that link. From the mid-1910s through the Great Depression, Barnett guides us through bursts of expansion and experimentation in commercial record production, through...

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