Industrial musical
Encyclopedia
An industrial musical is a musical performed internally for the employees or shareholder
s of a business
, to create a feeling of being part of a team
, to entertain, and/or to educate and motivate the management
and salespeople to improve sales
and profit
. It can be used to increase staff awareness of public relations
, advertising
, marketing
or corporate image
.
Other terms for industrial musicals include the corporate musical or industrial show, but the latter can also refer to trade show
s, which are publicity
events organized by businesses in a specific industry to promote their products to potential buyers.
Industrial musicals are not restricted to corporation
s or to businesses involved in industry
. They should not be confused with industrial music
, or with musicals produced by businesses to be seen by the general public, for example, Disney's
stage production of The Lion King
.
s and jingle
s for promoting enthusiasm
among workers. The songs were brought in by the management, as opposed to worker-created work song
s. Internal musical groups could be formed to encourage company loyalty, keep employees happy, and to help advertise the company to the public. Early 20th century examples include IBM
's internal songbook Songs of the IBM, and the Larkin Soap Company
which organized community singing and had a women's drum corps, an orchestra, a ukulele club, and daily recitals on a pipe organ.
At some point, a collection of company songs was extended into a full musical theater format, and the industrial musical was born. Many of these musicals were made in North America during the economic boom
that followed World War II
, and this practice continued into the 1980s.
The earliest known industrial musicals were produced by retail and automotive
companies such as Ford
, General Motors, and the Marshall Field
's chain of department store
s. By the end of the 1950s and throughout the 1960s, other types of businesses also began to put on shows. Some musicals were part of annual showcase events for presenting a company's new line of products.
Businesses could spend a lot of money to produce a musical, hiring talented Broadway
composer
s and lyricist
s. The pay was very good, the task was challenging, and from the theatre's point of view, the production costs were much higher than a regular Broadway musical. Shows could have as many as 30 people in the cast and a 60-piece orchestra
. Composer Hank Beebe estimates that the 1957 Chevrolet
musical was budgeted at over 3 million dollars (U.S.), because it cost six times the amount it took to bring My Fair Lady
to the stage that same year.
The song
performances were rarely heard outside of the companies they were written for, but sometimes the employees would be given a souvenir record album
. Some productions lasted for a limited number of nights, while others traveled from city to city for regional sales meetings. According to composer John Kander
, who conducted several industrial shows early in his career and wrote the music for the 1966 General Electric industrial Go Fly a Kite (the complete score from which was issued on a 2 LP set that was given to GE employees), the cast albums for these industrial shows "were never intended for commercial release. [...] It was sort of a separate world." Yet it is largely through these albums that evidence of these shows has survived. To date, the corporations which commissioned these musicals have never published information about them and there has yet to be an in-depth study of the industrial musical as a genre.
By the 1980s, industrial musicals were made less and less often. Jonathan Ward, a writer and DJ
who collects industrial musical albums, theorizes that the reason for the decline was partially due to rising production costs for stage shows, and the availability of low-cost video
and multimedia
technology.
Ward thinks another reason for the decline was a change in work attitudes. In the 1950s and 1960s, employees might have expected to spend the majority of their working career
s with one company. By the 1980s, employees and the management may have been less inclined to think this way. The feelings of company loyalty and community
promoted in the song lyrics would have been met with more cynicism
.
Despite the trends that affected industrial musicals, businesses have continued to make company songs. For example, KPMG
produced a corporate anthem in 2001 called "Our Vision of Global Strategy."
Shareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
s of a business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, to create a feeling of being part of a team
Team
A team comprises a group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks.A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team...
, to entertain, and/or to educate and motivate the management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
and salespeople to improve sales
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
and profit
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...
. It can be used to increase staff awareness of public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
, advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
or corporate image
Corporate image
A corporate image refers to how a corporation is perceived. It is a generally accepted image of what a company stands for. Marketing experts who use public relations and other forms of promotion to suggest a mental picture to the public...
.
Other terms for industrial musicals include the corporate musical or industrial show, but the latter can also refer to trade show
Trade fair
A trade fair is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities...
s, which are publicity
Publicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...
events organized by businesses in a specific industry to promote their products to potential buyers.
Industrial musicals are not restricted to corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
s or to businesses involved in industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
. They should not be confused with industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
, or with musicals produced by businesses to be seen by the general public, for example, Disney's
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
stage production of The Lion King
The Lion King (musical)
The Lion King is a musical based on the 1994 Disney animated film of the same name with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice along with the musical score created by Hans Zimmer with choral arrangements by Lebo M. Directed by Julie Taymor, the musical features actors in animal costumes as well...
.
History
Industrial musicals originated from company songs, anthemAnthem
The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...
s and jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
s for promoting enthusiasm
Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm originally meant inspiration or possession by a divine afflatus or by the presence of a god. Johnson's Dictionary, the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language, defines enthusiasm as "a vain belief of private revelation; a vain confidence of divine favour or...
among workers. The songs were brought in by the management, as opposed to worker-created work song
Work song
A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a specific form of work, either sung while conducting a task or a song linked to a task or trade which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song....
s. Internal musical groups could be formed to encourage company loyalty, keep employees happy, and to help advertise the company to the public. Early 20th century examples include IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
's internal songbook Songs of the IBM, and the Larkin Soap Company
Larkin Administration Building
The Larkin Building was designed in 1904 by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1906 for the Larkin Soap Company of Buffalo, New York. The five story dark red brick building used pink tinted mortar and utilized steel frame construction. It was noted for many innovations, including air conditioning,...
which organized community singing and had a women's drum corps, an orchestra, a ukulele club, and daily recitals on a pipe organ.
At some point, a collection of company songs was extended into a full musical theater format, and the industrial musical was born. Many of these musicals were made in North America during the economic boom
Boom and bust
A credit boom-bust cycle is an episode characterized by a sustained increase in several economics indicators followed by a sharp and rapid contraction. Commonly the boom is driven by a rapid expansion of credit to the private sector accompanied with rising prices of commodities and stock market index...
that followed World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and this practice continued into the 1980s.
The earliest known industrial musicals were produced by retail and automotive
Automaker
The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....
companies such as Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
, General Motors, and the Marshall Field
Marshall Field
Marshall Field was founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores.-Life and career:...
's chain of department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
s. By the end of the 1950s and throughout the 1960s, other types of businesses also began to put on shows. Some musicals were part of annual showcase events for presenting a company's new line of products.
Businesses could spend a lot of money to produce a musical, hiring talented Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s and lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
s. The pay was very good, the task was challenging, and from the theatre's point of view, the production costs were much higher than a regular Broadway musical. Shows could have as many as 30 people in the cast and a 60-piece orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
. Composer Hank Beebe estimates that the 1957 Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
musical was budgeted at over 3 million dollars (U.S.), because it cost six times the amount it took to bring My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
to the stage that same year.
The song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
performances were rarely heard outside of the companies they were written for, but sometimes the employees would be given a souvenir record album
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
. Some productions lasted for a limited number of nights, while others traveled from city to city for regional sales meetings. According to composer John Kander
John Kander
John Harold Kander is the American composer of a number of musicals as part of the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb.-Life and career:Kander was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Bernice and Harold S. Kander...
, who conducted several industrial shows early in his career and wrote the music for the 1966 General Electric industrial Go Fly a Kite (the complete score from which was issued on a 2 LP set that was given to GE employees), the cast albums for these industrial shows "were never intended for commercial release. [...] It was sort of a separate world." Yet it is largely through these albums that evidence of these shows has survived. To date, the corporations which commissioned these musicals have never published information about them and there has yet to be an in-depth study of the industrial musical as a genre.
By the 1980s, industrial musicals were made less and less often. Jonathan Ward, a writer and DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
who collects industrial musical albums, theorizes that the reason for the decline was partially due to rising production costs for stage shows, and the availability of low-cost video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
and multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
technology.
Ward thinks another reason for the decline was a change in work attitudes. In the 1950s and 1960s, employees might have expected to spend the majority of their working career
Career
Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....
s with one company. By the 1980s, employees and the management may have been less inclined to think this way. The feelings of company loyalty and community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
promoted in the song lyrics would have been met with more cynicism
Cynicism
Cynicism , in its original form, refers to the beliefs of an ancient school of Greek philosophers known as the Cynics . Their philosophy was that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature. This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and...
.
Despite the trends that affected industrial musicals, businesses have continued to make company songs. For example, KPMG
KPMG
KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....
produced a corporate anthem in 2001 called "Our Vision of Global Strategy."
Titles of industrial musicals
- The Shape of Tomorrow — Westinghouse (1958)
- Take It From Here - XeroxXeroxXerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
(1963 - for release of Xerox 813 copier) - Diesel Dazzle — General Motors (1966)
- Go Fly A Kite — General ElectricGeneral ElectricGeneral Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
(1966) - The Bathrooms Are Coming — American Standard (1969)
- Got To Investigate Silicones — General ElectricGeneral ElectricGeneral Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
(1973) (about SiliconeSiliconeSilicones are inert, synthetic compounds with a variety of forms and uses. Typically heat-resistant and rubber-like, they are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medical applications , cookware, and insulation....
s)
Composers and lyricists
- Hank Beebe
- Jerry BockJerry BockJerrold Lewis "Jerry" Bock was an American musical theater composer. He received the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Sheldon Harnick for their 1959 musical Fiorello! and the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist for the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof with...
- Michael BrownMichael Brown (writer)Michael Brown is a producer and writer of songs and books. Of his books, the most widely known are several children's stories about Santa Mouse....
- Sheldon HarnickSheldon HarnickSheldon Harnick is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof....
- Bill Heyer
- Kander and EbbKander and EbbKander and Ebb were a highly successful songwriting team consisting of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb . Known primarily for their stage musicals, Kander and Ebb also scored several movies including their most famous song, the theme song from Martin Scorsese's New York, New York...
- Sonny Kippe
- Lloyd Norlin
- Skip Redwine
- Raymond ScottRaymond ScottRaymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
- Wilson Stone
- Thomas TierneyThomas Tierney-Biography:Tierney was born in Galway's Mainguard Street, the son of John Tierney of Hollymount, County Mayo, and Harriett Kinnevey of Roscahill, County Galway. He had siblings Jack and Mary. The family ran a grocery...
- Charles Title
Quotations
- "It's an easy thing to write a song about loveLoveLove is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
. It's hard to write a song about spark plugSpark plugA spark plug is an electrical device that fits into the cylinder head of some internal combustion engines and ignites compressed fuels such as aerosol, gasoline, ethanol, and liquefied petroleum gas by means of an electric spark.Spark plugs have an insulated central electrode which is connected by...
s." — Wilson Stone. - "Do I really want to approach General Electric's army of lawyers with hat in hand and say, 'Would you mind if we put out your in-house propagandaPropagandaPropaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
as a kind of funny little project?' I think they would see red flagsRed flag (signal)Red flag is a semi-official term to denote various attention and awareness indicators and signals, both explicit and implicit. It can be used in various contexts usually as a warning or when things seem too good to be true as well as unexpectedly good results.The earliest citation for "red flag" in...
all over that." — collector Steve YoungSteve Young (writer)Steve Young is a television writer for The Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with David Letterman. He is a Harvard University graduate and former writer for the Harvard Lampoon. He also wrote The Simpsons season eight episode "Hurricane Neddy". Steve Young adapted the holiday book...
, on the possibility of making a commercially-available compilation of songs.
External links
- Take it from here — XeroxXeroxXerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
- That's Show Biz! — GoodyearGoodyear Tire and Rubber CompanyThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, SUVs, race cars, airplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery....
, for a plastic wrap for meats. - Gotta get a car — OldsmobileOldsmobileOldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
- The Grip Of Leadership; People Power — Musicals for Coca-ColaThe Coca-Cola CompanyThe Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...
- Spirit of '66 — JC PenneyJ. C. Penney-External links:*...
- A Chevrolet sales convention musical, a film in the Prelinger archives.
- Corporate and IT anthems, originally collected by Peter Judge at Zdnet.
- That Agency Thing, CBS Radio Spot Sales (1963), by Bob ThompsonBob Thompson (musician)Bob Thompson born Robert Lamar Thompson in San Jose was a composer, arranger, and orchestra leader from the 1950s through the 1980s...
and Alan Alch.