The fact that single, unique recordings were replacing multiple performances of songs meant that record companies were becoming more interested in quirky, one-off records and less dependent on reliable studio performer—which is to say it encouraged the deprofessionalization of pop music. A street-corner doo-wop group could get a top-ten hit while still in high school without making any professional appearances, knowing more than a handful of songs, or understanding the intricacies of union regulations, record royalties, or publishing contracts. So a lot of the resistance to rock ‘n’ roll within the music business can be traced to professional musicians, songwriters, and arrangers worrying about their futures in a world being taken over by amateurs.
—Elijah Wald, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ‘n’ Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music 177–78