This dissertation, in general, examines the relationship between art and commerce. I posit that commercial concerns about consistency, product reliability, and control over the production process have historically resulted in the establishment of standards for music destined for such commercially mainstream spaces as the airwaves and the record store. Furthermore, those who traded in music were often at a conceptual distance from those who created it. The former need not have had either artistic skill or proficiency. They simply needed to sell units. Consequently, in order to maintain some control over the product, they often resorted to a number of techniques that proved successful in the past, or held promise for the future.

Specifically, this dissertation examines commercial standardization within the popular music industry from 1955 onwards. Beginning in the mid-1950s, the focus of the industry shifted from selling songs to selling records, in large part due to the blurring of distinctions between performance and composition that occurs in studio production. Driving this shift was an emerging market for youth-oriented music: namely, rock and roll in all of its forms and subgenres. Rock carried with it attributes that initially made it seem unsuitable for large-scale production. But after years of watching the growing sales of their independent counterparts, major labels eventually featured the music as their staple product. The trend towards mergers and acquisitions that affected many businesses from the late-1960s on affected the music industry as well, and larger labels began to buy up and out-compete their rivals. With fewer and fewer labels producing music in accordance with company standards and policy, musical homogeneity became a bigger concern for musicians and listeners.