Music recorded in 1930
The Great Depression, which had been unfolding since the 1929 stock market crash, deepened simultaneously in trade, finance, and politics, resulting in both cooperation and rifts in the international order. In the United States, the protectionist Tariff Act of 1930 (commonly known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act) was enacted on June 17, 1930, triggering a series of retaliatory tariffs and increasing pressure to reduce international trade. On the financial front, the Bank of the United States in New York ceased operations on December 11, 1930, symbolizing the linkage of credit uncertainty with a recession in the real economy. Meanwhile, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) began operations on May 17, 1930, institutionalizing a framework for handling postwar reparations and international settlements.
In the area of disarmament and security, the London Naval Conference resulted in the signing of the London Naval Treaty (International Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armament) on April 22, 1930. However, domestic political tensions were rising across the country, and in Germany, the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP) rapidly increased its number of seats from 12 to 107 in the 1930 German federal election, destabilizing parliamentary politics. In Japan, as conflict over the treaty intensified, Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi (1870–1931) was shot at Tokyo Station on November 14, 1930, demonstrating the reality that political divisions could erupt into violence.
In terms of imperial rule and resistance, the Salt March (also known as the Dandi Salt March), led by Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), took place from March 12 to April 6, 1930, drawing worldwide attention for its nonviolent resistance. Furthermore, the first meeting of the Round Table Conferences (India), which discussed institutional reform of Indian governance, was opened in London by King George V (1865–1936) on November 12, 1930 (conference period: November 12, 1930–January 19, 1931), making visible the conflict between imperial reorganization plans and nationalist movements. In China, key stages of the Central Plains War unfolded from May to November 1930, demonstrating that the process of national unification was inseparable from military conflict.
In science and technology and popular culture, the circuits through which "distant events" were instantly shared became even thicker. Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh (1906–1997) discovered Pluto on February 18, 1930, and the news circulated, updating the picture of the universe. In aviation technology, Frank Whittle (1907–1996) filed a patent for jet propulsion on January 16, 1930, anticipating future aircraft design. The Great Plains of North America began to dry out in the summer of 1930, creating the conditions for the environmental crisis that would later become known as the Dust Bowl. In terms of social reform, the Republic of Turkey adopted the Municipal Code on April 3, 1930, granting women the right to vote and run for office in municipal elections. In international sports, the 1930 FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay from July 13 to 30, 1930, establishing competition and celebration between nation states as global events. The entertainment industry was hit hard by the depression, with US record sales (units) plummeting from 104 million in 1927 to 10 million in 1930. As this market contraction and the spread of radio progressed simultaneously, recordings and broadcasts competed but also influenced each other, and music distribution became deeply entrenched in a dual structure of "purchasing media" and "receiving media."
