title: Callie Torres

text: In the aftermath of a plane accident that killed Sloan and Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), Torres is forced to make the decision to have Alex Karev amputate Robbins's left leg to keep her alive, which puts strains on their relationship. The hospital is sued and eventually found guilty of negligence. Each victim, including Robbins, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), and Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) must receive $15 million of compensation, which leads the hospital to a near bankruptcy as the insurances refuse to pay. These doctors and Torres buy the hospital with the help of the Harper-Avery Foundation to prevent it from closing, and each become members of the new directing board. Everything seems to go well for Arizona and Callie, until a big storm hits the hospital, now named after Mark Sloan and Lexie Grey. In the last episode of the ninth season, Arizona cheats on Callie with Dr. Lauren Boswell (Hilarie Burton). Callie soon discovers Arizona's infidelity by seeing her wedding ring pinned to Dr. Boswell's scrub top. In the aftermath of discovery, both Callie and Arizona share their feelings and it is revealed that Arizona does not forgive Callie for making the call to amputate her leg. Callie is heartbroken and Arizona states that Callie lost nothing in the crash, to which Callie responds that she, apparently, lost Arizona.


title: Callie Torres

text: Callie takes Sofia to live with Meredith and Derek, Zola, and baby Bailey for a while before kicking Arizona out of their apartment and celebrates by dancing in her underwear. Callie also left Arizona at therapy, telling her that she was the only one that needed to go. After being hit by a lawsuit, her father, Carlos, visits and tells Callie that he cheated on her mother but she took him back and Callie wouldn't be here if her mother didn't give Carlos a second chance. Callie goes to Arizona's apartment and invites her to come back home. Callie finds out during surgery that Arizona was sleeping with Leah, a second year resident, while separated. Although angry at Arizona, Callie still agrees to work things out.


title: Callie Torres

text: After April's failed wedding to Matthew, Callie and Arizona bought a house together, a fresh start, away from the memories of their apartment. They later decided to try again for a second child. However, a trip to the OB/GYN led to the discovery that Callie had developed adhesions in her uterus in the years since Sofia's birth, meaning she could not carry any more babies. After talking about it, the couple agreed to postpone their dream to have another baby until they're on more solid footing as a couple.


title: Callie Torres

text: At the beginning of the eleventh season, Callie and Arizona gave therapy another chance in order to help mend their marriage. They were made to go 30 days living separate lives in the same house with no sexual activity with others or each other. They come close to breaking that rule and had to start over and before the 30 days was up they eventually gave in and connected sexually again. At the end of the 30 days at the final therapy session, Arizona realized she couldn't live without Callie; however Callie didn't feel the same and stated she felt suffocated and eventually walked out of therapy, ending their marriage.


title: Callie Torres

text: Callie then goes on to date Penny, who was the resident in charge of Derek Shepherd's case. She comes to a dinner party hosted by Meredith, who recognizes her. It is then discovered that Penny is going to be working at Grey Sloan Memorial. When everyone, including Callie, finds out who Penny actually is, they protest and try to get her off of the Grey Sloan Memorial residency line. She manages to stay on the line, despite all the others' pleads and wishes.


title: Callie Torres

text: After Callie discloses her desire to move to New York with Penny and take her and Arizona's daughter, Sofia, with her, Arizona takes Callie to court for sole parental custody. Callie eventually loses custody of her daughter to Arizona and breaks up with Penny, heartbroken, Penny moves to New York. After Arizona decides that both Sofia's moms deserve to be happy, Arizona presents Callie with plane tickets and offers a custody agreement that keeps Sofia in Seattle for the summer and then sharing her every other school year and Christmas.


title: Callie Torres

text: Callie is referenced occasionally by Arizona and Sofia after her departure from the show. At the conclusion of season 14, Arizona departs the show to move to New York and it is implied that the two reconciled after Callie and Penny had broken up.


title: Callie Torres

text: Ramirez's Broadway performance in "Spamalot" garnered the attention of ABC executives, and they offered Ramirez a role on any ABC television series. Ramirez chose "Grey's Anatomy". Ramirez further explained that at their initial audition, the producers liked them and had intentions to add them to the show, but did not know as who. They also said that they were in awe of how the executives said, "Pick a show, any show", explaining that it is rare. Shonda Rhimes said: "I was looking for a girlfriend for George, but it was in the infancy stages, so I had no idea what I was looking for." Rhimes built the character around Ramirez after meeting them. Ramirez's character was initially given recurring status in the second season and received star billing in the third season, alongside fellow cast member Dane, who portrayed Mark Sloan. Ramirez discusses maintaining relationships with co-stars:


title: Callie Torres

text: The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) characterized Torres as "driven", "determined", and "outgoing", while also noting her weaknesses: "defensive" and "impulsive". Ramirez described their character as someone who "appears to be a certain way, but has some very complex issues going on behind the scenes. She seems to be a very strong personality, someone who really believes in herself and has worked very hard to get where she is. She's very competitive but does have a sense of self, so she doesn't need to win all the time." At Torres' initial appearance on the show, she was disliked by fans, due to her getting in the way of O'Malley and Meredith Grey's (Ellen Pompeo) relationship. When asked of this, Ramirez said: "You do run across a lot of people who are extremely invested in that storyline. Obviously, I've heard some negative stuff." The end of the show's fourth season saw Torres grow closer to cardiothoracic surgeon Erica Hahn, in a relationship referred to by the portmanteau "Eri-Cal" and later "Callica" by Michael Ausiello of "Entertainment Weekly". Rhimes stated that: "Callie and Erica have an undeniable chemistry, and watching the story unfold is something the writers are looking forward to. I wanted to illuminate their relationship in the same way we do all relationships on the show — it will be funny, sweet, honest, and a little bit dirty."


title: Callie Torres

text: She explained that in developing the relationship between the two: "we wanted it to be real – not some stunt to get people talking. We wanted to see what would happen if a woman suddenly had feelings for another woman." The two characters shared a kiss at the end of the season 4 finale, with which D. Williams of "AfterEllen.com" noted: "Callie and Erica became the only regular lesbian/bisexual female characters currently on network television. This is also the first time that 2 regular characters on a network show have begun a lesbian romance, as opposed to one becoming involved with a new lesbian character introduced expressly for that relationship." Before continuing with the storyline, the show's producers consulted with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to ensure they maintained realism throughout. Trish Doolan, star of "April's Shower" was invited to consult in the workshop sessions which took place, and surmised that; "They were really wanting to be truthful to the 2 characters they're focusing on in the woman-woman relationship", with Nikki Weiss, who also consulted, adding: "they didn't want to stereotype anything either, and write from a place where they didn't understand it. ... I don't think they did it as a stunt to get people back to watching after the strike. I really think that they wanted to develop these two characters, and that you could see a closeness with them way before they ever decided any kind of — I think they just have a chemistry together, as actresses, too. You could tell that in the room. They definitely have a chemistry."


title: Callie Torres

text: In the show's fifth season, Torres embarked on a relationship with Arizona Robbins (Capshaw). Fans refer to the relationship between the two by the portmanteau "Calzona" (for Callie + Arizona). Rhimes praised the chemistry between Callie and Arizona in contrast, comparing it to that between the show's primary couple Grey and Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), and stating: "They have that little thing that makes you want to watch them." In "An Honest Mistake", Torres was initially rejected by Robbins, with Robbins citing Torres' "inexperience" as a factor. Series writer Peter Nowalk offered the insight:


title: Callie Torres

text: The couple ultimately decided to begin a relationship, however, the two experience difficulties, but eventually reunite. Rhimes commented on their reconciliation: "I love [Callie] with Arizona. ... I like that they make me feel hopeful about love." Rhimes has mentioned of their relationship in season 6: "I would like to see Callie happily in a long-term relationship. We have so much to explore with them, because we barely know anything about [Arizona]."


title: Callie Torres

text: Callie and Arizona have a five-year relationship, ultimately marrying in season 7 and divorcing in season 11. Callie starts a new relationship with Penny Blake and leaves to go to New York with her in the season 12 finale. Shonda Rhimes spoke on Ramirez's abrupt departure, saying, "This one was different because it wasn't a big planned thing. I had a different plan going and when Sara came in and said, 'I really need to take this break,' I was lucky that we'd shot the end of the season with her going to New York."


title: Callie Torres

text: Maureen Ryan from the "Chicago Tribune" was critical about the character's initial development. Reviewing the season 3 premiere, she wrote the writers should give up on Callie explaining they have made her "far too obviously the "weird girl," but there's nothing underneath her brusque persona." Her marriage to O'Malley was well-received; Staci Krause of "IGN" wrote: "Their relationship has been a roller-coaster and it was nice to see this turn of events, as she really is a perfect contrast to George." Discussing the character in terms of her relationship with Hahn, Williams was largely positive, assessing that: "The storyline offered both the drama "Grey's" is known for and a truthfulness network television has rarely achieved when it comes to lesbian relationships." Trish Doolan and Nikki Weiss, invited by GLAAD to consult with "Grey's Anatomy" producers on the storyline, praised the effort put into researching the issue by the writers and actors involved, though were more negative on the scene which saw Hahn kiss Callie in an elevator in front of Mark Sloan. Weiss commented: "I just felt like, if they really cared about each other, I don't think they would do that as a stunt. That seemed a little, I don't know, forced. ... [It] was more like a conquest, like he could have [Hahn] too or something." LGBT website "AfterEllen.com" agreed with this view, criticizing the way the scene was edited so as to keep cutting to Sloan's point of view, as though "privileging the male-gaze." "AfterEllen.com" included Torres in their list of the Top 50 Lesbian & Bisexual Characters, ranking her at #6 and in their Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters. The character was also listed in "Wetpaint"'s "10 Hottest TV Doctors on TV".


title: Callie Torres

text: Commenting on Hahn's abrupt departure from the show, Dorothy Snarker, writing for "AfterEllen.com", observed of Torres and Robbins' relationship: "I ... can't help but be wary of how the "Grey's" writers will handle this relationship. Jessica has proven lovely and likable in her brief screen-time so far. But it's not how the romance starts, but what happens next that really matters." Speaking of the musical episode, Nicole Golden of "TV Fanatic" called Ramirez's rendition of "Chasing Cars" "amazing" and referred to their performance in Kate Havnevik's "Grace" as "beautiful". Margaret Lyons of "New York Magazine" was happy with the evolution of Bailey and Torres' friendship in the first-half of season 9, calling it "the one bright-spot": "They joke, they tease each other, they offer sage love advice to one another, now that they're both on their second marriages." Ramirez was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Television Series at the Alma Awards, in 2007 and 2008. Also in 2007, at the 13th Screen Actors Guild Awards, Ramirez and the cast of "Grey's Anatomy", were the recipients of the Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. They and the cast were nominated for the same award, in 2008. In 2011, at the 42nd NAACP Image Awards, Ramirez was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. They were ranked at #7 in "AfterEllen.com"'s list of "Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters"


title: Susan George (actress)

text: She was born in Surbiton, Surrey (now London), and has recalled many holidays at the caravan park in Font-y-Gary in South Wales as a child. She trained at the Stage School, Corona Theatre School and has acted since the age of four.


title: Susan George (actress)

text: She is best known for appearing in films such as "Straw Dogs" (1971) with Dustin Hoffman, "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" (1974) with Peter Fonda, and "Mandingo" (1975) with Ken Norton.


title: Susan George (actress)

text: When asked in a 2013 interview about working with Hoffman and director Sam Peckinpah in "Straw Dogs", George said:


title: Susan George (actress)

text: In the early 1970s, George came to be associated with rather provocative, sometimes (as in "Straw Dogs") controversial roles and became quite typecast. Cinema writer Leslie Halliwell's rather terse summary of her career was: "British leading lady, former child actress; usually typed as sexpot".


title: Susan George (actress)

text: Her lighter side was apparent in some of her TV appearances, such as in an episode ("The Gold Napoleon") of "The Persuaders" (1971) with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. In 1988, George marked her film-producing debut with "Stealing Heaven".


title: Susan George (actress)

text: Susan George was married to British actor Simon MacCorkindale from 5 October 1984 until his death on 14 October 2010. They did not have any children.


title: Susan George (actress)

text: Before her marriage, she had a four-year relationship with American singer Jack Jones, and later spent another four years as the partner of casino manager Derek Webster.


title: Music industry

text: The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, represent and supply music creators. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate in the industry are: the songwriters and composers who write songs and musical compositions; the singers, musicians, conductors, and bandleaders who perform the music; the record labels, music publishers, recording studios, music producers, audio engineers, retail and digital music stores, and performance rights organizations who create and sell recorded music and sheet music; and the booking agents, promoters, music venues, road crew, and audio engineers who help organize and sell concerts.


title: Music industry

text: The industry also includes a range of professionals who assist singers and musicians with their music careers. These include talent managers, artists and repertoire managers, business managers, entertainment lawyers; those who broadcast audio or video music content (satellite, Internet radio stations, broadcast radio and TV stations); music journalists and music critics; DJs; music educators and teachers; musical instrument manufacturers; as well as many others. In addition to the businesses and artists there are organizations that also play an important role, including musician's unions (e.g. American Federation of Musicians), not-for-profit performance-rights organizations (e.g. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and other associations (e.g. International Alliance for Women in Music, a non-profit organization that advocates for women composers and musicians).


title: Music industry

text: The modern Western music industry emerged between the 1930s and 1950s, when records replaced sheet music as the most important product in the music business. In the commercial world, "the recording industry"—a reference to recording performances of songs and pieces and selling the recordings–began to be used as a loose synonym for "the music industry". In the 2000s, a majority of the music market is controlled by three major corporate labels: the French-owned Universal Music Group, the Japanese-owned Sony Music Entertainment, and the US-owned Warner Music Group. Labels outside of these three major labels are referred to as independent labels (or "indies"). The largest portion of the live music market for concerts and tours is controlled by Live Nation, the largest promoter and music venue owner. Live Nation is a former subsidiary of iHeartMedia Inc, which is the largest owner of radio stations in the United States.


title: Music industry

text: In the first decades of the 2000s, the music industry underwent drastic changes with the advent of widespread digital distribution of music via the Internet (which includes both illegal file sharing of songs and legal music purchases in online music stores). A conspicuous indicator of these changes is total music sales: since 2000, sales of recorded music have dropped off substantially while live music has increased in importance. In 2011, the largest recorded music retailer in the world was now a digital, Internet-based platform operated by a computer company: Apple Inc.'s online iTunes Store. Since 2011, the music industry has seen consistent sales growth with streaming now generating more revenue per year than digital downloads. Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music are the largest streaming services by subscriber count.


title: Music industry

text: The main branches of the music industry are the live music industry, the recording industry, and all the companies that train, support, supply and represent musicians.


title: Music industry

text: The recording industry produces three separate products: compositions (songs, pieces, lyrics), recordings (audio and video) and media (such as CDs or MP3s, and DVDs). These are each a type of property: typically, compositions are owned by composers, recordings by record companies, and media by consumers. There may be many recordings of a single composition and a single recording will typically be distributed via many media. For example, the song "My Way" is owned by its composers, Paul Anka and Claude François, Frank Sinatra's recording of "My Way" is owned by Capitol Records, Sid Vicious's recording of "My Way" is owned by Virgin Records, and the millions of CDs and vinyl records that can play these recordings are owned by millions of individual consumers.


title: Music industry

text: Songs, instrumental pieces and other musical compositions are created by songwriters or composers and are originally owned by the composer, although they may be sold or the rights may be otherwise assigned. For example, in the case of work for hire, the composition is owned immediately by another party. Traditionally, the copyright owner licenses or "assigns" some of their rights to publishing companies, by means of a publishing contract. The publishing company (or a collection society operating on behalf of many such publishers, songwriters and composers) collects fees (known as "publishing royalties") when the composition is used. A portion of the royalties are paid by the publishing company to the copyright owner, depending on the terms of the contract. Sheet music provides an income stream that is paid exclusively to the composers and their publishing company. Typically (although not universally), the publishing company will provide the owner with an advance against future earnings when the publishing contract is signed. A publishing company will also promote the compositions, such as by acquiring song "placements" on television or in films.


title: Music industry

text: Recordings are created by recording artists, which includes singers, musicians (including session musicians) and musical ensembles (e.g. backing bands, rhythm sections, orchestras, etc.) usually with the assistance and guidance from record producers and audio engineers. They were traditionally made in recording studios (which are rented for a daily or hourly rate) in a recording session. In the 21st century, advances in digital recording technology have allowed many producers and artists to create "home studios" using high-end computers and digital recording programs like Pro Tools, bypassing the traditional role of the commercial recording studio. The record producer oversees all aspects of the recording, making many of the logistic, financial and artistic decisions in cooperation with the artists. The record producer has a range of different responsibilities including choosing material and/or working with the composers, hiring session musicians, helping to arrange the songs, overseeing the musician performances, and directing the audio engineer during recording and mixing to get the best sound. Audio engineers (including recording, mixing and mastering engineers) are responsible for ensuring good audio quality during the recording. They select and set up microphones and use effects units and mixing consoles to adjust the sound and level of the music. A recording session may also require the services of an arranger, orchestrator, studio musicians, session musicians, vocal coaches, or even a discreetly-hired ghostwriter to help with the lyrics or songwriting.


title: Music industry

text: Recordings are (traditionally) owned by record companies. Some artists own their own record companies (e.g. Ani DiFranco). A recording contract specifies the business relationship between a recording artist and the record company. In a traditional contract, the company provides an advance to the artist who agrees to make a recording that will be owned by the company. The A&R department of a record company is responsible for finding new talent and overseeing the recording process. The company pays for the recording costs and the cost of promoting and marketing the record. For physical media (such as CDs), the company also pays to manufacture and distribute the physical recordings. Smaller record companies (known as "indies") will form business relationships with other companies to handle many of these tasks. The record company pays the recording artist a portion of the income from the sale of the recordings, also known as a "royalty", but this is distinct from the publishing royalties described above. This portion is similar to a percentage, but may be limited or expanded by a number of factors (such as free goods, recoupable expenses, bonuses, etc.) that are specified by the record contract. Session musicians and orchestra members (as well as a few recording artists in special markets) are under contract to provide work for hire; they are typically only paid one-time fees or regular wages for their services, rather than ongoing royalties.


title: Music industry

text: Physical media (such as CDs or vinyl records) are sold by music retailers and are owned by the consumers after they buy them. Buyers do not typically have the right to make digital copies from CDs or other media they buy, or rent or lease the CDs, because they do not own the recording on the CD, they only own the individual physical CD. A music distributor delivers crates of the packaged physical media from the manufacturer to the retailer and maintains commercial relationships with retailers and record companies. The music retailer pays the distributor, who in turn pays the record company for the recordings. The record company pays mechanical royalties to the publisher and composer via a collection society. The record company then pays royalties, if contractually obligated, to the recording artist.


title: Music industry

text: When music is digitally downloaded or streamed, there is no physical media other than the consumer's computer memory on his or her portable media player or laptop. For this reason, artists such as Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Kings of Leon, and others have called for legal changes that would deny social media the right to stream their music without paying them royalties. In the digital and online music market of the 2000s, the distributor becomes optional. Large online shops may pay the labels directly, but digital distributors do exist to provide distribution services for vendors large and small. When purchasing digital downloads or listening to music streaming, the consumer may be required to agree to record company and vendor licensing terms beyond those which are inherent in copyright; for example, some services may allow consumers to freely share the recording, but others may restrict the user to storing the music on a specific number of hard drives or devices.


title: Music industry

text: When a recording is broadcast (either on radio or by a background music service such as Muzak), performance rights organisations (such as the ASCAP and BMI in the US, SOCAN in Canada, or MCPS and PRS in the UK), collect a third type of royalty known as a performance royalty, which is paid to songwriters, composers and recording artists. This royalty is typically much smaller than publishing or mechanical royalties. Within the past decade, more than "15 to 30 percent" of tracks on streaming services are unidentified with a specific artist. Jeff Price says "Audiam, an online music streaming service, has made over several hundred thousand dollars in the past year from collecting royalties from online streaming. According to Ken Levitan, manager from Kings of Leon, Cheap Trick and others, "Youtube has become radio for kids". Because of the overuse of YouTube and offline streaming, album sales have fallen by 60 percent in the past few years. When recordings are used in television and film, the composer and their publishing company are typically paid through a synchronization license. In the 2000s, online subscription services (such as Rhapsody) also provide an income stream directly to record companies, and through them, to artists, contracts permitting.


title: Music industry

text: A promoter brings together a performing artist and a venue owner and arranges contracts. A booking agency represents the artist to promoters, makes deals and books performances. Consumers usually buy tickets either from the venue or from a ticket distribution service such as Ticketmaster. In the US, Live Nation is the dominant company in all of these roles: they own most of the large venues in the US, they are the largest promoter, and they own Ticketmaster. Choices about where and when to tour are decided by the artist's management and the artist, sometimes in consultation with the record company. Record companies may finance a tour in the hopes that it will help promote the sale of recordings. However, in the 21st century, it has become more common to release recordings to promote ticket sales for live shows, rather than book tours to promote the sales of recordings.


title: Music industry

text: Major, successful artists will usually employ a road crew: a semi-permanent touring organization that travels with the artist during concert series. The road crew is headed by a tour manager. Crew members provides stage lighting, live sound reinforcement, musical instrument maintenance and transportation. On large tours, the road crew may also include an accountant, stage manager, bodyguard, hairdressers, makeup artists and catering staff. Local crews are typically hired to help move equipment on and off stage. On a small tour with less financial backing, all of these jobs may be handled by just a few roadies or by the musicians themselves. Bands signed with small "indie" labels and bands in genres such as hardcore punk are more likely to do tours without a road crew, or with minimal support.


title: Music industry

text: Artists such as singers and musicians may hire several people from other fields to assist them with their career. The artist manager oversees all aspects of an artist's career in exchange for a percentage of the artist's income. An entertainment lawyer assists them with the details of their contracts with record companies and other deals. A business manager handles financial transactions, taxes, and bookkeeping. Unions, such as AFTRA and the American Federation of Musicians in the U.S. provide health insurance and instrument insurance for musicians. A successful artist functions in the market as a brand and, as such, they may derive income from many other streams, such as merchandise, personal endorsements, appearances (without performing) at events or Internet-based services. These are typically overseen by the artist's manager and take the form of relationships between the artist and companies that specialize in these products. Singers may also hire a vocal coach, dance instructor, acting coach, personal trainer or life coach to help them.


title: Music industry

text: In the 2000s, traditional lines that once divided singers, instrumentalists, publishers, record companies, distributors, retail and consumer electronics have become blurred or erased. Artists may record in a home studio using a high-end laptop and a digital recording program such as Pro Tools or use Kickstarter to raise money for an expensive studio recording session without involving a record company. Artists may choose to exclusively promote and market themselves using only free online video sharing services such as YouTube or using social media websites, bypassing traditional promotion and marketing by a record company. In the 2000s, consumer electronics and computer companies such as Apple Computer have become digital music retailers. New digital music distribution technologies and the trends towards using sampling of older songs in new songs or blending different songs to create "mashup" recordings have also forced both governments and the music industry to re-examine the definitions of intellectual property and the rights of all the parties involved. Also compounding the issue of defining copyright boundaries is the fact that the definition of "royalty" and "copyright" varies from country to country and region to region, which changes the terms of some of these business relationships.


title: Music industry

text: After 15 or so years of the Internet economy, the digital music industry platforms like iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play are major improvements over the early illegal file sharing days. However, the multitude of service offerings and revenue models make it difficult to understand the true value of each and what they can deliver for musicians and music companies. As well, there are major transparency problems throughout the music industry caused by outdated technology. With the emerging of new business models as streaming platforms, and online music services, a large amount of data is processed. Access to big data may increase transparency in the industry.


title: Music industry

text: Music publishing using machine-printed sheet music developed during the Renaissance music era in the mid-15th century. The development of music publication followed the evolution of printing technologies that were first developed for printing regular books. After the mid-15th century, mechanical techniques for printing sheet music were first developed. The earliest example, a set of liturgical chants, dates from about 1465, shortly after the Gutenberg Bible was printed. Prior to this time, music had to be copied out by hand. To copy music notation by hand was a very costly, labor-intensive, and time-consuming process, so it was usually undertaken only by monks and priests seeking to preserve sacred music for the church. The few collections of secular (non-religious) music that are extant were commissioned and owned by wealthy aristocrats. Examples include the Squarcialupi Codex of Italian Trecento music and the Chantilly Codex of French Ars subtilior music.


title: Music industry

text: The use of printing enabled sheet music to reproduced much more quickly and at a much lower cost than hand-copying music notation. This helped musical styles to spread to other cities and countries more quickly, and it also enabled music to be spread to more distant areas. Before the invention of music printing, a composer's music might only be known in the city she lived in and its surrounding towns, because only wealthy aristocrats would be able to afford to have hand copies made of her music. With music printing, though, a composer's music could be printed and sold at a relatively low cost to purchasers from a wide geographic area. As sheet music of major composer's pieces and songs began to be printed and distributed in a wider area, this enabled composers and listeners to hear new styles and forms of music. A German composer could buy songs written by an Italian or English composer, and an Italian composer could buy pieces written by Dutch composers and learn how they wrote music. This led to more blending of musical styles from different countries and regions.


title: Music industry

text: The pioneer of modern music printing was Ottaviano Petrucci (born in Fossombrone in 1466 – died in 1539 in Venice), a printer and publisher who was able to secure a twenty-year monopoly on printed music in Venice during the 16th century. Venice was one of the major business and music centers during this period. His "Harmonice Musices Odhecaton", a collection of chansons printed in 1501, is commonly misidentified as the first book of sheet music printed from movable type. That distinction belongs to the Roman printer Ulrich Han's "Missale Romanum" of 1476. Nevertheless, Petrucci's later work was extraordinary for the complexity of his white mensural notation and the smallness of his font. He printed the first book of polyphony (music with two or more independent melodic lines) using movable type. He also published numerous works by the most highly regarded composers of the Renaissance, including Josquin des Prez and Antoine Brumel. He flourished by focusing on Flemish works, rather than Italian, as they were very popular throughout Europe during the Renaissance music era. His printing shop used the triple-impression method, in which a sheet of paper was pressed three times. The first impression was the staff lines, the second the words, and the third the notes. This method produced very clean and readable results, although it was time-consuming and expensive.


title: Music industry

text: Until the 18th century, the processes of formal composition and of the printing of music took place for the most part with the support of patronage from aristocracies and churches. In the mid-to-late 18th century, performers and composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began to seek more commercial opportunities to market their music and performances to the general public. After Mozart's death, his wife (Constanze Weber) continued the process of commercialization of his music through an unprecedented series of memorial concerts, selling his manuscripts, and collaborating with her second husband, Georg Nissen, on a biography of Mozart.


title: Music industry

text: In the 19th century, sheet-music publishers dominated the music industry. Before the invention of sound recording technologies, the main way for music lovers to hear new symphonies and opera arias (songs) was to buy the sheet music (often arranged for piano or for a small chamber music group) and perform the music in a living room, using friends who were amateur musicians and singers. In the United States, the music industry arose in tandem with the rise of "black face" minstrelsy. Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-black performers to represent a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of negative racial stereotypes of African-American people.


title: Music industry

text: In the late part of the century the group of music publishers and songwriters which dominated popular music in the United States became known as Tin Pan Alley. The name originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, and a plaque (see below) on the sidewalk on 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth commemorates it. The start of Tin Pan Alley is usually dated to about 1885, when several music publishers set up shop in the same district of Manhattan. The end of Tin Pan Alley is less clear-cut. Some date it to the start of the Great Depression in the 1930s when the phonograph and radio supplanted sheet music as the driving force of American popular music, while others consider Tin Pan Alley to have continued into the 1950s when earlier styles of American popular music were upstaged by the rise of rock & roll.


title: Music industry

text: At the dawn of the early 20th century, the development of sound recording began to function as a disruptive technology to the commercial interests which published sheet music. During the sheet music era, if a regular person wanted to hear popular new songs, he or she would buy the sheet music and play it at home on a piano, or learn the song at home while playing the accompaniment part on piano or guitar. Commercially released phonograph records of musical performances, which became available starting in the late 1880s, and later the onset of widespread radio broadcasting, starting in the 1920s, forever changed the way music was heard and listened to. Opera houses, concert halls, and clubs continued to produce music and musicians and singers continued to perform live, but the power of radio allowed bands, ensembles and singers who had previously performed only in one region to become popular on a nationwide and sometimes even a worldwide scale. Moreover, whereas attendance at the top symphony and opera concerts was formerly restricted to high-income people in a pre-radio world, with broadcast radio, a much larger wider range of people, including lower and middle-income people could hear the best orchestras, big bands, popular singers and opera shows.


title: Music industry

text: The "record industry" eventually replaced the sheet music publishers as the music industry's largest force. A multitude of record labels came and went. Some noteworthy labels of the earlier decades include the Columbia Records, Crystalate, Decca Records, Edison Bell, The Gramophone Company, Invicta, Kalliope, Pathé, Victor Talking Machine Company and many others. Many record companies died out as quickly as they had formed, and by the end of the 1980s, the "Big six" — EMI, CBS, BMG, PolyGram, WEA and MCA — dominated the industry. Sony bought CBS Records in 1987 and changed its name to Sony Music in 1991. In mid-1998, PolyGram Music Group merged with MCA Music Entertainment creating what we now know as Universal Music Group. Since then, Sony and BMG merged in 2004, and Universal took over the majority of EMI's recorded music interests in 2012. EMI Music Publishing, also once part of the now defunct British conglomerate, is now co-owned by Sony as a subsidiary of Sony/ATV Music Publishing. As in other industries, the record industry is characterised by many mergers and/or acquisitions, for the major companies as well as for middle sized business (recent example is given by the Belgium group PIAS and French group Harmonia Mundi).


title: Music industry

text: Genre-wise, music entrepreneurs expanded their industry models into areas like folk music, in which composition and performance had continued for centuries on an ad hoc self-supporting basis. Forming an independent record label, or "indie" label, or signing to such a label continues to be a popular choice for up-and-coming musicians, especially in genres like hardcore punk and extreme metal, even though indies cannot offer the same financial backing of major labels. Some bands prefer to sign with an indie label, because these labels typically give performers more artistic freedom.


title: Music industry

text: In the first decade of the 2000s, digitally downloaded and streamed music became more popular than buying physical recordings (e.g. CDs, records and tapes). This gave consumers almost "friction-less" access to a wider variety of music than ever before, across multiple devices. At the same time, consumers spent less money on recorded music (both physically and digitally distributed) than they had in the 1990s. Total "music-business" revenues in the U.S. dropped by half, from a high of $14.6 billion in 1999 to $6.3 billion in 2009, according to Forrester Research.


title: Music industry

text: Worldwide revenues for CDs, vinyl, cassettes and digital downloads fell from $36.9 billion in 2000 to $15.9 billion in 2010 according to IFPI. "The Economist" and "The New York Times" reported that the downward trend was expected to continue for the foreseeable future. This dramatic decline in revenue has caused large-scale layoffs inside the industry, driven some more venerable retailers (such as Tower Records) out of business and forced record companies, record producers, studios, recording engineers and musicians to seek new business models.


title: Music industry

text: In response to the rise of widespread illegal file sharing of digital music-recordings, the record industry took aggressive legal action. In 2001 it succeeded in shutting down the popular music-website Napster, and threatened legal action against thousands of individuals who participated in sharing music-song sound-files. However, this failed to slow the decline in music-recording revenue and proved a public-relations disaster for the music industry. Some academic studies have even suggested that downloads did not cause the decline in sales of recordings. The 2008 British Music Rights survey showed that 80% of people in Britain wanted a legal peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing service, however only half of the respondents thought that the music's creators should be paid. The survey was consistent with the results of earlier research conducted in the United States, upon which the Open Music Model was based.


title: Music industry

text: Legal digital downloads became widely available with the debut of the Apple iTunes Store in 2003. The popularity of music distribution over the Internet has increased, and by 2011 digital music sales topped physical sales of music.


title: Music industry

text: However, as "The Economist" reported, "paid digital downloads grew rapidly, but did not begin to make up for the loss of revenue from CDs".


title: Music industry

text: After 2010, Internet-based services such as Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, and Apple's iTunes Radio began to offer subscription-based "pay to stream" services over the Internet. With streaming services, the user pays a subscription to a company for the right to listen to songs and other media from a library. Whereas with legal digital download services, the purchaser owns a digital copy of the song (which they can keep on their computer or on a digital media player), with streaming services, the user never downloads the song file or owns the song file. The subscriber can only listen to the song for as long as they continue to pay the streaming subscription. Once the user stops paying the subscription, they cannot listen to audio from the company's repositories anymore. Streaming services began to have a serious impact on the industry in 2014.


title: Music industry

text: Spotify, together with the music-streaming industry in general, faces some criticism from artists claiming they are not being fairly compensated for their work as downloaded-music sales decline and music-streaming increases. Unlike physical or download sales, which pay a fixed price per song or album, Spotify pays artists based on their "market share" (the number of streams for their songs as a proportion of total songs streamed on the service). Spotify distributes approximately 70% to rights-holders, who will then pay artists based on their agreements. The variable, and (some say) inadequate nature of this compensation, has led to criticism. Spotify reports paying on average US$0.006 to US$0.008 per stream. In response to concerns, Spotify claims that they are benefiting the music business by migrating "them away from piracy and less monetized platforms and allowing them to generate far greater royalties than before" by encouraging users to use their paid service.


title: Music industry

text: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) revealed in its 2015 earnings report that streaming services were responsible for 34.3 percent of the year's U.S. recorded-music-industry revenue, growing 29 percent from the previous year and becoming the largest source of income, pulling in around $2.4 billion. US streaming revenue grew 57 percent to $1.6 billion in the first half of 2016 and accounted for almost half of industry sales. This contrasts with the $14.6 billion in revenue that was received in 1999 by the U.S. music industry from the sale of CDs.


title: Music industry

text: The turmoil in the recorded-music industry in the 2000s altered the twentieth-century balance between artists, record companies, promoters, retail music-stores and consumers. , big-box stores such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy sell more records than music-only CD stores, which have ceased to function as a major player in the music industry. Music-performing artists now rely on live performance and merchandise sales (T-shirts, sweatshirts, etc.) for the majority of their income, which in turn has made them more dependent - like pre-20th-century musicians - on patrons, now exemplified by music promoters such as Live Nation (which dominates tour promotion and owns or manages a large number of music venues). In order to benefit from all of an artist's income streams, record companies increasingly rely on the "360 deal", a new business-relationship pioneered by Robbie Williams and EMI in 2007.


title: Music industry

text: At the other extreme, record companies can offer a simple manufacturing- and distribution-deal, which gives a higher percentage to the artist, but does not cover the expenses of marketing and promotion.


title: Music industry

text: Companies like Kickstarter help independent musicians produce their albums through fans funding bands they want to listen to. Many newer artists no longer see a record deal as an integral part of their business plan at all. Inexpensive recording-hardware and -software make it possible to record reasonable-quality music on a laptop in a bedroom and to distribute it over the Internet to a worldwide audience. This, in turn, has caused problems for recording studios, record producers and audio engineers: the "Los Angeles Times" reports that as many as half of the recording facilities in that city have failed.


title: Music industry

text: Changes in the music industry have given consumers access to a wider variety of music than ever before, at a price that gradually approaches zero. However, consumer spending on music-related software and hardware increased dramatically over the last decade, providing a valuable new income-stream for technology companies such as Apple Inc. and Pandora Radio.


title: Music industry

text: Prior to December 1998, the industry was dominated by the "Big Six": Sony Music and BMG had not yet merged, and PolyGram had not yet been absorbed into Universal Music Group. After the PolyGram-Universal merger, the 1998 market shares reflected a "Big Five", commanding 77.4% of the market, as follows, according to MEI World Report 2000:


title: Music industry

text: In 2004, the joint venture of Sony and BMG created the 'Big Four' at a time the global market was estimated at $30–40 billion. Total annual unit sales (CDs, music videos, MP3s) in 2004 were 3 billion. Additionally, according to an IFPI report published in August 2005, the big four accounted for 71.7% of retail music sales:


title: Music industry

text: After the absorption of EMI by Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group in December 2011 the "big three" were created and on January 8, 2013 after the merger there were layoffs of forty workers from EMI. European regulators forced Universal Music to spin off EMI assets which became the Parlophone Label Group which was acquired by Warner Music Group. Nielsen SoundScan issued a report in 2012, noting that these labels controlled 88.5% of the market, and further noted:


title: Music industry

text: Note: the IFPI and Nielsen Soundscan use different methodologies, which makes their figures difficult to compare casually, and impossible to compare scientifically.


title: Music industry

text: The largest players in this industry own more than 100 subsidiary record labels or sublabels, each specializing in a certain market niche. Only the industry's most popular artists are signed directly to the major label. These companies account for more than half of US market share. However, this has fallen somewhat in recent years, as the new digital environment allows smaller labels to compete more effectively.


title: Music industry

text: Total album sales have declined in the early decades of the 21st century, leading some music critics to declare the death of the album. (For instance, the only albums that went platinum in the US in 2014 were the soundtrack to the Disney animated film "Frozen" and Taylor Swift's "1989", whereas several artists did in 2013.) The following table shows album sales and market value in the world in 2014.


title: Music industry

text: In its June 30, 2000 annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Seagram reported that Universal Music Group made 40% of the worldwide classical music sales over the preceding year.


title: Music industry

text: Approximately 21% of the gross CD revenue numbers in 2003 can be attributed to used CD sales. This number grew to approximately 27% in 2007. The growth is attributed to increasing on-line sales of used product by outlets such as Amazon.com, the growth of used music media is expected to continue to grow as the cost of digital downloads continues to rise. The sale of used goods financially benefits the vendors and online marketplaces, but in the United States, the first-sale doctrine prevents copyright owners (record labels and publishers, generally) from "double dipping" through a levy on the sale of used music.


title: Music industry

text: In mid-2011, the RIAA trumpeted a sales increase of 5% over 2010, stating that "there's probably no one single reason" for the bump.


title: Music industry

text: The Nielsen Company & Billboard's 2012 Industry Report shows overall music sales increased 3.1% over 2011. Digital sales caused this increase, with a Digital Album sales growth of 14.1% and Digital Track sales growth of 5.1%, whereas Physical Music sales decreased by 12.8% versus 2011. Despite the decrease, physical albums were still the dominant album format. Vinyl Record sales increased by 17.7% and Holiday Season Album sales decreased by 7.1%.


title: Music industry

text: The List of music associations and organizations covers examples from around the world, ranging from huge international bodies to smaller national-level bodies.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: Bridge Over Troubled Water is the fifth and final studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released in January 1970 on Columbia Records. Following the duo's soundtrack for "The Graduate", Art Garfunkel took an acting role in the film "Catch-22", while Paul Simon worked on the songs, writing all tracks except Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's "Bye Bye Love" (previously a hit for the Everly Brothers).


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: With the help of producer Roy Halee, the album followed a similar musical pattern as their "Bookends" LP, partly abandoning their traditional style to incorporate elements of rock, R&B, gospel, jazz, world music, pop and other genres. It was described as their "most effortless record and their most ambitious".


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was released on January 26, 1970, and several re-releases followed. The album was mixed and released in both stereo and quadraphonic. Columbia Records released a 40th Anniversary Edition on March 8, 2011, which includes two DVDs, including the politically themed TV special "Songs of America" (1969), the documentary "The Harmony Game", additional liner notes and a booklet. Other reissues contain bonus tracks, such as the 2001 version, which covers the demo tapes of "Feuilles-O" and "Bridge over Troubled Water". Contemporary critical reception to "Bridge" was initially mixed, but retrospective reviews of the album have been laudatory, and it is considered by many to be the duo's best album.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: Despite numerous accolades, the duo decided to split up, and parted company later in 1970; Garfunkel continued his film career, while Simon worked intensely with music. Both artists released solo albums in the following years. "Bridge" includes two of the duo's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful songs, "Bridge over Troubled Water" and "The Boxer", which were listed on "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Critically and commercially successful, the album topped the charts in over ten countries and received two Grammy Awards, plus four more for the title song. The album sold around 25 million records; making it at the time of release the best-selling album of all time. It has been ranked on several lists, including at number 172 on "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: Simon & Garfunkel, initially "Tom & Jerry", were already successful in the music industry. Their "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme", the soundtrack album for Mike Nichols' film "The Graduate" and "Bookends" peaked at number three, two and one in the US "Billboard" 200, respectively, with the first and latter selling 3 million copies and 2 million copies in the United States alone. Art Garfunkel took the role of Captain Nately in another Nichols film, "Catch-22", based on the novel of the same name. Initially Paul Simon was to play the character of Dunbar, but screenwriter Buck Henry felt the film was already crowded with characters and subsequently wrote Simon's part out. The unexpectedly long film production endangered the relationship between the duo; Garfunkel later stated in a 1990 interview with Paul Zollo in "SongTalk" magazine: "Our way of working was for Paul to write while we recorded. So we'd be in the studio for the better part of two months working on the three or four songs that Paul had written, recording them, and when they were done, we'd knock off for a couple of months while Paul was working on the next group of three or four songs. Then we'd book time and be in the studio again for three or four months, recording those . . . . Rather than wait for Paul to write the next bunch of songs, I went off and did this movie."


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: The filming of "Catch-22" began in January 1969 and lasted about eight months. Simon had not completed any new songs at this point, and the duo planned to collaborate when the filming was finished. Roy Halee would produce the album, and as was the case with their most recent studio album, "Bookends", they created an experimental sound, moving away from typical folk rock and instead exploring new genres.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: "Bridge over Troubled Water" was also the duo's first album to credit the backing musicians in the liner notes. The credited musicians were Simon and Fred Carter, Jr. on guitars, and Hal Blaine on drums, Joe Osborn on bass and Larry Knechtel on keyboards, all of whom were famous Wrecking Crew members.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: As Simon and Garfunkel were working busily on recording, they had to decline invitations to perform, including at the Woodstock Festival. Simon wrote "Bridge over Troubled Water". He wanted a gospel piano sound, so he hired session musician Larry Knechtel. The song was initially two verses long, but Garfunkel felt the song was too short and asked Knechtel to play a third verse, to which Simon would write more lyrics. Osborn played two bass guitar parts, one high and the other low. Blaine recorded the drums in an echo chamber, to achieve a hall effect. A horn section rounded off the track. Due to a series of factors, the duo had to work on a new tape; an arranger falsely labeled the song as "Like a Pitcher of Water" and wrote Garfunkel's name incorrectly (GarFunkel), and the string part was unsatisfactory.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: The duo then returned to New York to record the vocals. The vocal style in "Bridge over Troubled Water" was inspired by Phil Spector's technique in "Old Man River" by the Righteous Brothers. After two months the song was finalized. Simon himself admitted that it sounded like the Beatles' "Let It Be", stating in a "Rolling Stone" interview: "They are very similar songs, certainly in instrumentation ..." The song has been covered by over 50 artists since then, including Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was influenced by the gospel music to which Simon was listening at that time, especially the Swan Silvertones and their song "Mary Don't You Weep". The name of the title track was inspired by the latter's line "I'll be your bridge over deep water, if you trust in my name". According to gospel producer and historian Anthony Heilbut, Simon later acknowledged his musical debt to Claude Jeter in person, and additionally handed Jeter a check as compensation. "Bridge over Troubled Water" was addressed to Simon's wife Peggy, whom he had met that year. The "silver girl" in the song refers to her, and her first gray hairs, and not to a drugged hypodermic needle, as was believed by some in the United States. Simon asked Garfunkel to sing lead on the song, and although Garfunkel initially refused this proposal and suggested that Simon should sing falsetto, later agreed to sing. Simon initially composed the song in G major, but arranger and composer Jimmie Haskell transposed the song to E-flat major to suit Garfunkel's voice.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: "El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)" is a Peruvian song based on traditional Andean music. Simon relied on erroneous information from Jorge Milchberg of Los Incas about the collection of royalties for his arrangement of song. Simon wrongfully thought it to be a traditional song and thus not restricted by copyright law, but in reality it was written by Peruvian Daniel Alomía Robles. His son Armando Robles Godoy filed a successful lawsuit later that year in 1970, citing that he held the song's copyright in the United States since his father's 1933 filing. Simon wrote English lyrics to the instrumental recording by Los Incas, and the song later became a forerunner of Simon's world music era as a solo artist.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: In the summer of 1969, Simon, his wife Peggy and Garfunkel rented a house on Blue Jay Way in Los Angeles, as Garfunkel did not want to withdraw from "Catch-22", which was being filmed on the West Coast. In this session, the duo experimented on a new song with numerous objects to create unusual sounds, such as a falling bundle of drum sticks. Garfunkel had a Sony reel-to-reel tape deck with a reverberation effect, so that each sound received an echo. When finished, Simon gave the tape to Halee, who then worked on the song, condensing sounds and copying them. The song features Simon as percussionist on the xylophone, an instrument he had never played before, and as acoustic guitarist. He began with a random line, "You're breaking my heart. I'm down on my knees," and when finished it was what later became "Cecilia". The drummer was again Blaine, and Simon's brother Eddie played on guitar. The song is about an unfaithful girl who invites another lover to her bed, while the singer (the first) is in the bathroom. David Browne suggested that the name may be derived from the patron of music, Saint Cecilia. It has an unusually fast tempo compared to their prior songs.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: Featuring the rockabilly style of the Everly Brothers, "Keep the Customer Satisfied" recounts the exhausting tours that Simon grew tired of, a similar theme to that of their earlier song "Homeward Bound".


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" is a tribute to the architect Frank Lloyd Wright but also to Garfunkel, who wanted to train as an architect. It chronicles the early career of the duo and predicts their future split up. At the end Halee shouts "So long already, Artie", a portentous message. Simon plays here a guitar style that has been described as Latin jazz and bossa nova. Congas additionally contribute to the South American sound.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: The recordings for the folk ballad "The Boxer", which was already partly written by Simon in 1968 and released in March 1969 (it debuted on the WLS 89 Hit Parade at on March 31, 1969), became one of the longest and toughest in the duo's career. The session lasted over 100 hours and took place at several locations. The second, main part was recorded in Nashville, at Columbia Studios, December 6–8, 1968. The third, final part and the horns were recorded inside St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University (Garfunkel's alma mater), and the strings at Columbia Studios. The song features Simon and Fred Carter, Jr. playing Martin guitars. The echoing drums were played by Blaine in a corridor. Other instruments include Bob Moore playing contra bass, tuba, Charlie McCoy playing harmonica, Pete Drake playing pedal steel guitar, Dobro and a piccolo flute. Simon & Garfunkel became the first musicians to use 16-track recording, but as only two 8-track recorders were available, both had to be carefully manually synchronized to produce a clear sound.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: "Baby Driver", an uptempo and happy rock and roll song, already released as a B-side of "The Boxer", tells about a boy who lives a comfortable life in a protected home, but who searches for adventures and one day decides to have his first sexual experience. The recording features car noises, Beach Boys–like singing parts and absurd syllables. Edgar Wright's 2017 action comedy film "Baby Driver" is named after the song, which is played at the end credits.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: Simon wrote "The Only Living Boy in New York" while Garfunkel was filming in Mexico; it is about the resulting isolation he felt in New York. In an interview with "SongTalk", Simon guessed that 12 to 15 voices were used to record the "aaah"s, while Garfunkel said that he proposed those lines, stating "It's us around eight times screaming, and we mixed it down very softly ... I started getting into open-mouth harmony, in a very loud, strident way. We were screaming at the top of our lungs and inside an echo chamber. I remember that day that Dylan dropped by to visit. We came out of the booth after all this screaming, and there he was."


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: "Why Don't You Write Me", deals with separation from Simon's wife in a jungle. In this song Simon experimented with the nascent genre of reggae for the first time, a style he later explored in his solo career, most notably in "Mother and Child Reunion".


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: Following the end of filming of "Catch-22" in October, the first performance of their tour took place in Ames, Iowa. The concert included the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love", backed by the audience's hand clapping. Simon & Garfunkel were fascinated with its sound, so they repeated it a second time for a recording; while the first try failed, they liked the second attempt and included the latter on "Bridge over Troubled Water". The US leg of the tour ended in the sold-out Carnegie Hall on November 27. Three days later, their show "Songs of America" was broadcast on CBS just one time on November 30, 1969, after which it was banned. After numerous fan letters suggesting that they not intervene in politics but simply continue doing music, the duo did not release any similar TV specials. "Bye Bye Love" became a farewell song and a sign of a new career.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: The album's final song, "Song for the Asking," represents an "olive branch" extended by the duo to each other and holding open the possibility of reconciliation and further collaboration. The song starts with the applauses of the previous song cross-fading into it.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: After breaking for Christmas, the duo continued working on the album in early 1970 and finished it in late January. Eleven tracks were featured on this album; one finished song, "Cuba Si, Nixon No", as well as other additional tracks were excluded. Garfunkel did not like this song and proposed instead a chorale, entitled "Feuilles-O", with which Simon disagreed. After a discussion, they decided to not include more tracks.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: "Bridge over Troubled Water" charted in over 11 countries, topping the charts in 10 countries, including the US "Billboard" 200 and the UK Albums Chart. It was the best-selling album in 1970, 1971 and 1972 and was at that time the best-selling album of all time. It remained CBS Records' best-selling album until the release of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in 1982. The album topped the "Billboard" 200 charts for 10 weeks and stayed on the charts for 85 weeks. According to Columbia Records, 1.7 million copies were sold in the first three weeks in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the album topped the charts for 35 weeks, and spent 285 weeks in the top 100, from 1970 to 1975. Furthermore, it received 8× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and 4× Platinum in Canada. "Bridge over Troubled Water" has since sold 3,163,789 copies in the UK, and over 25 million copies worldwide.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: The songs "Cuba Si, Nixon No", "Groundhog", and the demo "Feuilles-O" were recorded during sessions but not released on the album. "Cuba Si, Nixon No" was later released on a bootleg recording of a concert of November 11, 1969, by Simon and Garfunkel at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, while the demo recording of "Feuilles-O" was later released on the "Old Friends" and "The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964–1970)" box sets. A remastered and expanded version of the album was released on compact disc in 2001, containing the demo versions of "Feuilles-O" and "Bridge over Troubled Water." It was remastered by Vic Anesini. Garfunkel later recorded "Feuilles-Oh/Do Space Men Pass Dead Souls on Their Way to the Moon?" on his debut solo album "Angel Clare", and as the flip-side to his single, "I Shall Sing", from the same album.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: Columbia Records released a 40th Anniversary Edition on March 8, 2011, comprising three discs. The first disc features the original album and the second disc contains the entirety of "Live 1969", which had been released three years earlier as an exclusive at Starbucks. The third disc, a DVD, consisted of the television special "Songs of America", which originally aired in 1969 on CBS and unavailable since its original broadcast, and a new documentary "The Harmony Game" about the making of the album. "Songs of America" comprised footage of the 1969 tour, intimate backstage conversations, and historic news clips; it had elicited controversy owing to the duo's political comments regarding the Vietnam War and the direction of American society at the time. "The Harmony Game" featured new 2010 interviews with Simon, Garfunkel, producer Roy Halee, and more principals involved with the making of the album. The 1969 special runs for approximately 52 minutes 37 seconds, while the 2010 documentary runs for approximately 70 minutes 54 seconds. A booklet of liner notes, photos, and essays by critics Michael Hill and Anthony DeCurtis was also included.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: The album is also included in its entirety as part of the Simon & Garfunkel box sets "Collected Works", "The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964–1970)" and ‘’’’.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: "Bridge over Troubled Water" was originally released to a mixed critical response. Writing in "Melody Maker" in February 1970, Richard Williams identified "a few dull moments" on the album, while adding that "they're worth enduring for the jewels they surround". Williams concluded: "Not, perhaps, another classic like "Bookends", but still worth hearing for Simon's constantly surprising timing, and for the way he can make his guitar sound like a small orchestra and the orchestra sound like a big guitar ..." "Village Voice" critic Robert Christgau was lukewarm about the album in 1970, giving it a "B" grade in his "Consumer Guide" column and notoriously reviewing it with one word: "Melodic". He later expounded on the problematic nature of the record's "smooth, well made" music, writing in "Newsday" that the album is "often funny and honest. It breathes life. Yet I suspect that its flawless, rather languid loveliness is ultimately soporific". According to Steve Horowitz of "PopMatters", contemporary critics compared the album to the Beatles' White Album "in that one can hear the incipient break up of the band in the way they separately perform the material".


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: Among retrospective reviews, Bruce Eder of AllMusic said that "Bridge over Troubled Water" was "perhaps the most delicately textured album to close out the 1960s from any major rock act", especially in a time of troubles in the United States. Parke Puterbaugh of "Rolling Stone" assessed the album as "a casually ambitious look back" at both the decade and the duo's musical partnership, which concluded the latter "on an exhilarating note". Author and critic David Browne noted the album's "sonic warmth and richness". Stephen M. Deusner of "Pitchfork" praised its unique sound, writing that ""Bridge" sounds like a unified statement enlivened by styles and rhythms not often heard on pop radio at the juncture of [the 1960s and 1970s]."


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: In a 2001 review for "Uncut", Ian MacDonald found the album "overproduced and underwritten", adding: "Where "Bookends" is succinct, dry, and disciplined, "Bridge" ... is self-satisfied, sentimental, mediocre, and overblown. Even its best song, 'The Boxer', is needlessly inflated and protracted."<ref name="MacDonald/Uncut"></ref> Writing for MusicHound, Leland Rucker acknowledged that "Bridge over Troubled Water" "is considered their masterpiece", while noting that he found that "it sounds top-heavy, overproduced, and too precious for its own good." Conversely, "Q" magazine deemed the album to be Simon & Garfunkel's best and most consistent work, "notable for the strength of its melodies, the force of its lyrics and the "Abbey Road"-style sophistication of its production". In his book "The Encyclopedia of Popular Music", Colin Larkin admires the album as a "celebrated" work that includes a "classic single" ("The Boxer") and a title song that "became a standard with Garfunkel's angelic vocal set perfectly matched to the lush, orchestral arrangement and contrasting tempo". Joe Nolan of "American Songwriter" notes that "the pair were never more popular or commercially successful than they were with the release of "Bridge over Troubled Water"".


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: "Bridge over Troubled Water" won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, as well as for Best Engineered Recording, while its title track won the Grammys for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Contemporary Song and Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) in 1971. "Bridge over Troubled Water" was nominated at the first Brit Awards for Best International Album and its title track for Best International Single in 1977. In 2000 it was voted number 66 in Colin Larkin's "All Time Top 1000 Albums". In 2003, it was ranked at on "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list; in a 2020 revision, the album was ranked at No. 172. In December 1993, "The Times" ranked the album at number 20 on its "The Vultures 100 Best Albums of all Time". The album was also included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: Chris Charlesworth, author of "The Complete Guide to the Music of Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel", gave a mixed reception, noting that seven songs ("Bridge over Troubled Water", "El Condor Pasa", "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright", "The Boxer", "The Only Living Boy in New York", "Bye Bye Love" and "Song for the Asking") were outstanding or good, while the rest, mainly uptempo ones, were for him "throwaway" recordings. He was surprised at its success.


title: Bridge over Troubled Water

text: As was the case during the recordings of "Bridge over Troubled Water", both musicians became rather independent. Garfunkel took a role in another Mike Nichols film, "Carnal Knowledge", in the role of Sandy, for which he later earned a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor nomination. Filming started in May 1970. Meanwhile, Simon taught a one-week songwriting course at New York University, studied music theory and listened to numerous types of music. The duo's last performance at that time was in the Forest Hills Stadium on July 18, 1970. Simon worked on his second studio (and first post-Simon & Garfunkel) solo album between January and March 1971, which was later released as "Paul Simon", while Garfunkel revived his music career with "Angel Clare", released in September 1973.


title: Red Giant Movies

text: Red Giant Movies is an Indian film production and distribution company headed by actor, politician and businessman Udhayanidhi Stalin.


title: Red Giant Movies

text: The proposed venture of the studio was meant to be a collaboration between director Thamizhvaanan and actor Vishal, but the film never took off. Subsequently, the first production of Red Giant Movies was the action comedy "Kuruvi" (2008) starring Vijay, following which the studio financed K. S. Ravikumar's "Aadhavan" (2009) starring Suriya. The studio later worked on big budget films including the Kamal Haasan-starrer "Manmadan Ambu" (2010) and AR Murugadoss's "7aum Arivu" (2011).


title: Red Giant Movies

text: The studio received acclaim in 2010, when all four of its distribution projects, "Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa", "Madrasapattinam", "Boss Engira Bhaskaran" and "Mynaa" became commercial successes. In the case of "Mynaa", the studio received praise for backing and choosing to purchase a small budget film and helping market it as a bigger film. From the end of 2011, Red Giant Movies has concentrated solely on producing films starring Udhayanidhi Stalin. The production house revived its widespread operations in production and distribution of films after 2021. Red Giant Movies is currently established as the leading production house in the Tamil film industry with numerous blockbusters released under their banner including Vikram (2022). Red Giant Movies recently joined hands with Kamal Haasan's Raj Kamal Films International (RKFI) for the star's greatly anticipated film to be directed by maverick filmmaker Mani Ratnam.


title: Red Giant Movies

text: In addition to the films produced by Red Giant Movies since 2008, the following films from other banners were distributed by the company:


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is a two-part direct-to-video animated superhero film, an adaptation of the 1986 comic book "The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller and is set in the same continuity as "". It was directed by Jay Oliva, who worked as a storyboard artist on "Man of Steel", "", "Year One" and "". Several other "Batman" veterans were also involved in the film. Part 1 was released on September 25, 2012, and Part 2 was released on January 29, 2013. A deluxe edition combining both films was released on October 8, 2013. It is the 15th film of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: After the death of his protégé Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne retired his Batman persona. Ten years later, in mid-1986, Gotham City is overrun with crime and terrorized by a gang known as the Mutants. The 55-year-old Wayne maintains a friendship with 70-year-old retiring Police Commissioner James Gordon (who knows Wayne was Batman), although he has lost touch with Dick Grayson and has not talked to him in a while, while the Joker (Batman's archenemy) has been catatonic in Arkham Asylum since Wayne's retirement. Arkham inmate and former district attorney Harvey Dent undergoes plastic surgery to repair his disfigured face. Although he is declared sane, he quickly goes into hiding following his release. Dent's disappearance, news stories of the crime epidemic, and the memory of his parents' deaths drive Wayne to become Batman once more. He combats serious crimes, rescuing 13-year-old Carrie Kelley, but now struggles with the physical limitations of age.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: Public reaction to his return is divided. Dent's psychologist Bartholomew Wolper blames Batman for creating his own rogues gallery. Dent resurfaces, threatening to blow up a building unless he is paid a ransom. Batman defeats Dent's henchmen, learning that the bombs will explode even if the ransom is paid; he realizes that Dent intends to kill himself. Batman disables one bomb, and the other detonates harmlessly. He defeats Dent, who reveals that he thinks the reconstructive surgery was botched, as he considered his undamaged half as disfigured. Kelley dresses as Robin and looks for Batman, who attacks a gathering of the Mutants with a tank-like Batmobile (incapacitating most of them). The Mutant leader challenges Batman to a duel. He accepts to prove to himself that he can win. The Mutant leader (who is in his prime) nearly kills Batman, but Kelley distracts him long enough for Batman to subdue him. The leader and many gang members are arrested. Injured, Batman returns to the Batcave with Kelley, and allows her to become his protégé in spite of protests from his butler, Alfred Pennyworth.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: Batman has Kelley disguise herself as a Mutant, and she lures the gang to a sewer outlet at the West River. At the Gotham City Police Department, the Mutant leader murders the mayor during negotiations. Commissioner Gordon deliberately releases the leader, providing an escape from the building, which leads to the sewer outlet. Before the amassed Mutants, Batman fights the leader in a mud pit; the mud slows the leader, removing his physical advantage, and Batman overpowers him. Seeing their leader's defeat, the Mutants divide into smaller gangs, with one becoming the "Sons of Batman", a violent vigilante group. Batman's victory becomes public and the city's inhabitants are inspired to stand up against crime. Gordon retires after meeting his anti-Batman successor, Ellen Yindel. In Arkham, televised reports about Batman bring the Joker out of his catatonic state.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: In late 1986, feigning remorse for his past, Joker convinces Wolper to take him on a talk show to tell his story, and makes plans for his escape with Abner, an old henchman who supplies him with mind-controlling lipstick. Meanwhile, Clark Kent a.k.a. Superman, who works as a government operative in exchange for being allowed to covertly help people, is asked by the President to end Batman's vigilantism. Framing these events is a growing hostility between the US and the Soviet Union over possession of the island of Corto Maltese. As Batman's continued presence humiliates the national authorities, Commissioner Yindel orders Batman's arrest, and Clark warns Bruce that the government will not tolerate him much longer.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: Joker makes his talk show appearance on David Endochrine's show as Batman fights with the GCPD on the studio roof; while they fight, Joker kills Wolper, gasses everyone in the studio to death and escapes. He finds Selina Kyle and uses one of her escorts and his lipstick to take control of a congressional representative, who calls for a nuclear strike on the Soviets before falling to his death. Batman's investigation leads him to Selina, whom he finds bound and dressed like Wonder Woman. Kelley notices cotton candy on the floor, and Batman deduces that Joker is at the fairgrounds. There Kelley accidentally kills Abner while Batman pursues the Joker, who indiscriminately guns down dozens of people. As Batman corners a wounded and partially blinded Joker, he admits to feeling responsible for every murder Joker has committed and intends to kill him. In the ensuing fight, Joker stabs Batman repeatedly, and Batman breaks Joker's neck in front of witnesses. However, Joker is still alive, albeit paralyzed from the neck-down. Content that Batman will be branded a murderer, the Joker then commits suicide by breaking his own neck. The GCPD arrive and Batman, bleeding profusely, fights his way to Kelley and escapes.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: Superman deflects a Soviet nuclear missile, but is hit with the blast and badly injured. The detonation creates an electromagnetic pulse that wipes out all electrical equipment in the United States and causes a nuclear winter. As Gotham descends into chaos, Batman, Kelley and Gordon rally the Sons of Batman and the citizens of Gotham to restore order, and Yindel accepts that Batman has become too powerful to take down. While the rest of America is powerless and overrun with crime, Gotham becomes the safest city in the country, embarrassing the President's administration. Frustrated "they" weren't able to bring stability, Superman and troops are sent to finally stop Batman. Batman and Superman agree to meet in Crime Alley.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: Superman can't help but feel remorse for disregarding Batman throughout the years, and humbly asks him not to go through the fight. Wearing a powerful exoframe and backed by Kelley and former superhero Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Batman fights Superman, using various tactics to make the fight even, and banking on Superman feeling the after effects of the nuclear missile explosion and lack of sunlight. When Superman gains the advantage, Queen hits him with an arrow made with synthetic Kryptonite, severely weakening him. Batman brutally beats Superman, claiming that he intentionally made the Kryptonite weak, and tells Superman never to forget that Batman could have killed him whenever he wanted. Batman then apparently dies of a heart attack, while Wayne Manor self-destructs, and Alfred dies of a stroke. Superman holds Batman's body, and angrily orders the soldiers to stand down.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: In the aftermath, the world learns that Bruce was Batman; all of his secrets are destroyed with the manor and his finances disappear. As Superman leaves Wayne's funeral, he gives Kelley a knowing wink after hearing a faint heartbeat coming from Bruce's coffin. In a cave, Bruce is revealed to have faked his death to make preparations to continue his mission more discreetly, allied with Kelley, Queen, and his followers.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: Christopher Drake, veteran DC Animated Universe composer, scored both parts of the film. A deluxe two-disc edition soundtrack was released on October 8, 2013, to coincide with the deluxe version of the film.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: "Part 1" earned $5,993,747 from domestic home video sales, while "Part 2" earned $4,283,741, which bought total home video earnings to $10,277,488.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: "IGN" reviewer Joey Esposito gave "Part 1" a score of 7.5 out of 10, praising the voice performances and animation. Esposito noted that the newscasters' segments do not translate well to the screen and lack the thematic punch they had in the comic, making them extraneous at best. He also criticized Batman's inner monologue and the poor quality of the DVD extras. Esposito went on to give "Part 2" a score of 8.6 out of 10, praising Michael Emerson's portrayal of the Joker, as well as an improvement in Blu-ray extras. Gil Kellerman of Collider.com praised "Part 1" overall, praising Weller's portrayal of Batman but also denigrating the DVD extras.


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: Spencer Perry at SuperHeroHype considers "Part 1" to be "one of the best "Batman" films ever made", scoring it nine out of ten. Noel Murray of "The A.V. Club" gave "Part 1" a grade B+, saying that "there are ways in which the animated "Dark Knight Returns" gets across Miller's vision even better than the comics page did."


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: Kofi Outlaw of "Screen Rant" gave "Part 2" three out of five stars, criticizing the outdated Cold War subplot as "a major distraction from an otherwise focused narrative", as well as the toning down of the Joker's character. He went on to say that "The film is a lovingly faithful recreation of the story that spawned it - for better or for worse, depending on the viewer."


title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)

text: "Part 1" received a Golden Reel Awards nomination for Best Sound Editing in Direct to Video Animation.


title: Bang Si-hyuk

text: Bang Si-hyuk (born August 9, 1972), known professionally as "Hitman" Bang (stylized as "hitman" bang), is a South Korean lyricist, composer, producer, and record executive. He is the founder of Big Hit Music (formerly Big Hit Entertainment) and Hybe Corporation, and chairman of the latter.


title: Bang Si-hyuk

text: One of the fifty richest people in South Korea according to "Forbes Asia", Bang is the only billionaire in the South Korean entertainment industry. As of July 2021, he is reportedly worth an estimated $3.2 billion, according to the "Bloomberg" Billionaires Index.


title: Bang Si-hyuk

text: Bang Si-hyuk was born to Bang Geuk-yoon, former president of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Corporation at the Korea Social Insurance Research Institute, and his wife, Choi Myung-ja. He has a younger sister. His maternal uncle, Choi Kyu-sik, was appointed as the South Korean ambassador to Hungary in 2018.


title: Bang Si-hyuk

text: Bang grew up in a musical home and developed a passion for music from an early age, but was discouraged from pursuing a career in music by his parents. He formed a band with friends while in middle school and began writing and performing songs he had composed. Bang attended Kyunggi High School before graduating from Seoul National University.


title: Bang Si-hyuk

text: Bang debuted as a composer while in college. He met Park Jin-young during the mid-1990s, and the pair often partnered together as a songwriting duo. When Park founded his company JYP Entertainment, Bang joined him as a composer, arranger and producer. One of their early successes was the first-generation group g.o.d. They were largely responsible for the production of g.o.d's debut album "Chapter 1", with Park serving as the producer and primary songwriter while Bang arranged the instrumentation and music. Some of g.o.d's most famous songs arranged by Bang include "One Candle" and "Road". Bang's stage name "Hitman" originated from this period, when g.o.d enjoyed success as one of the country's best-selling and most popular boy bands of the early 2000s, earning himself and Park a reputation as "hit makers". Besides g.o.d, Bang has produced or composed for many other artists, including veterans Im Chang-jung and Park Ji-yoon, singer-actor Rain, groups Wonder Girls, 2AM, and Teen Top, and R&B singer Baek Ji-young.


title: Bang Si-hyuk

text: In 2005, Bang left JYP Entertainment and founded his own company, Big Hit Entertainment, where he continued to write, compose and produce for Big Hit artists—he co-wrote six songs on BTS' critically acclaimed "Wings" (2016) album. The success of "Wings" garnered Bang the Best Producer Award at the Mnet Asian Music Awards and the Songwriter Award at the Melon Music Awards that year. In June 2018, he was named one of "Variety"'s International Music Leaders due to BTS' achievements.


title: Bang Si-hyuk

text: In April 2019, Bloomberg estimated Bang's worth to be about $770 million. The BigHit IPO filed in October 2020 was the largest seen in South Korea in three years and skyrocketed Bang's net worth to $2.8 billion, making him the only billionaire in South Korea's entertainment industry and the sixth-richest person in the country. The success of the IPO, together with the commercial success of BTS that year, Bang's steps into diversification with apps like Weverse, and acquisitions of companies like Source Music and Pledis Entertainment among others, landed him on the 2020 edition of "Variety"s "Variety500", an annual index of the 500 most influential business leaders in the global media industry.


title: Bang Si-hyuk

text: In June 2021, "Forbes Asia" published its annual list of Korea's 50 Richest People. One of only two newcomers to the ranking, Bang was listed as the 16th richest person in South Korea. On July 1, following an organizational restructuring, Hybe Corporation announced Bang's resignation as CEO of the company to return his focus to music production. He was replaced by Park Ji-won, but retained his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors. According to the "Bloomberg" Billionaires Index, Bang is worth an estimated $3.2 billion as of July 2021.


title: Bang Si-hyuk

text: Bang was featured on the cover of the April 2022 issue of "Time" magazine, together with BTS, following the release of the outlet's annual list of the 100 Most Influential Companies in March—Hybe was included on the list for a second consecutive year and topped the "Leaders" category. Later that month, he received an honorary doctorate in Business from Seoul National University (SNU)—he is the first figure in the entertainment industry to be awarded such—in recognition of his "contribution to the development and innovation of the nation's cultural and entertainment industry" and for his "role in turning K-pop into a global pop music culture".


title: Bang Si-hyuk

text: In October 2022, Bang donated 5 billion won (approximately $3.5 million) to the Community Chest of Korea.


title: Queer theory

text: Queer theory is a field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of queer studies (often, formerly, gay and lesbian studies) and women's studies. The term can have various meanings depending upon its usage, but has broadly been associated with the study and theorisation of gender and sexual practices that exist outside of heterosexuality, and which challenge the notion that heterosexual desire is ‘normal’. Following social constructivist developments in sociology, queer theorists are often critical of what they consider essentialist views of sexuality and gender. Instead, they study those concepts as social and cultural phenomena, often through an analysis of the categories, binaries, and language in which they are said to be portrayed.


title: Queer theory

text: Informal use of the term "queer theory" began with Gloria Anzaldúa and other scholars in the 1990s, themselves influenced by the work of French post-structuralist philosopher Michel Foucault, who viewed sexuality as socially constructed and rejected identity politics. Teresa de Lauretis organized the first queer theory conference in 1990. David Halperin, an early queer theorist, writes in his article "The Normalization of Queer Theory" that de Lauretis' usage was somewhat controversial at first, as she chose to combine the word "queer" which was just starting to be used in a "gay-affirmative sense by activists, street kids, and members of the art world," and the word "theory" which was seen as very academically weighty. In the early 1990s, the term started to become legitimized in academia.


title: Queer theory

text: Although it is an academic discipline that gained traction within academia, queer theory's roots can also be traced back to activism, with the reclaiming of the derogatory term "queer" as an umbrella term for those who do not identify with heteronormativity in the 1980s. This would continue on in the 1990s, with Queer Nation's use of "queer" in their protest chants, such as "We're here! We're queer! Get used to it!"


title: Queer theory

text: Other early queer theorists include Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Michael Warner, Lauren Berlant, Judith Butler, and Adrienne Rich.


title: Queer theory

text: According to Jay Stewart, "Queer theory and politics necessarily celebrate transgression in the form of visible difference from norms. These 'Norms' are then exposed to be norms, not natures or inevitabilities. Gender and sexual identities are seen, in much of this work, to be demonstrably defiant definitions and configurations."


title: Queer theory

text: In an influential essay, Michael Warner argued that queerness is defined by what he called ‘heteronormativity'; those ideas, narratives and discourses which suggest that heterosexuality is the default, preferred, or normal mode of sexual orientation. Warner stated that while many thinkers had been theorising sexuality from a non-heterosexual perspective for perhaps a century, queerness represented a distinctive contribution to social theory for precisely this reason. Lauren Berlant and Warner further developed these ideas in their seminal essay, "Sex in Public". Critics such as Edward Carpenter, Guy Hocquenghem and Jeffrey Weeks had emphasised what they called the ‘necessity of thinking about sexuality as a field of power, as a historical mode of personality, and as the site of an often critical utopian aim’. Whereas the terms 'homosexual', ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ which they used signified particular identities with stable referents (i.e to a certain cultural form, historical context, or political agenda whose meanings can be analysed sociologically), the word ‘queer’ is instead defined in relation to a range of practices, behaviours and issues that have meaning only in their shared contrast to categories which are alleged to be 'normal'. Such a focus highlights the indebtedness of queer theory to the concept of normalisation found in the sociology of deviance, particularly through the work of Michel Foucault, who studied the normalisation of heterosexuality in his work "The History of Sexuality".


title: Queer theory

text: In"The History of Sexuality", Foucault argues that repressive structures in society police the discourse concerning sex and sexuality and are thus relegated in the private sphere. As a result, heterosexuality is normalized while homosexuality (or queerness) is stigmatized. Foucault then points out that this imposed secrecy has led to sexuality as a phenomenon that needs to be frequently confessed and examined. Foucault's work is particularly important to queer theory in that he describes sexuality as a phenomenon that "must not be thought of as a kind of natural given which power tries to hold in check" but rather "a historical construct." Judith Butler extends this idea of sexuality as a social construct to gender identity in "Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity", where she theorizes that gender is not a biological reality but rather something that is performed through repeated actions.


title: Queer theory

text: Because this definition of queerness does not have a fixed reference point, Judith Butler has described the subject of queer theory as a site of ‘collective contestation’. They suggest that ‘queer’ as a term should never be ‘fully owned, but always and only redeployed, twisted, queered from a prior usage and in the direction of urgent and expanding political purposes’. While proponents argue that this flexibility allows for the constant readjustment of queer theory to accommodate the experiences of people who face marginalisation and discrimination on account of their sexuality and gender, critics allege that such a 'subjectless critique', as it is often called, runs the risk of abstracting cultural forms from their social structure, political organization, and historical context, reducing social theory to a mere 'textual idealism'.


title: Queer theory

text: Queer theory deals with the micro level - the identity of the individual person, the meso level - the individual in their immediate groups such as family, friends, and work, and the macro level - the larger context of society, culture, politics, policies and law. Accordingly, queer theory not only examines the communities surrounding the queer people, but also the communities they form. Same-sex living communities have a significant priority in the formation of a queer theory. The standard work of Andreas Frank, "Committed Sensations", highlights comprehensively the life situation of coming-out, homosexuality and same-sex communities to the millennium.


title: Queer theory

text: As an interdisciplinary concept, queer theory is applied to different disciplines, including communication studies and research. It was introduced to the field of communication through Jeffrey Ringer's "Queer Words, Queer Images: Communication and the Construction of Homosexuality" in 1994, which offered a queer perspective to communication research findings. Queer theory has also contributed to communication research by challenging the heternormative society's notions of what's considered deviant and taboo—what is considered normative and non-normative.


title: Queer theory

text: Queer theory's interdisciplinarity is evident in its application in and critique of family communication. One of the criticisms regarding family communication is its focus on "mainstream" families, often focusing on heterosexual parents and children.