Race Records, and the Oppression of African Americans

I know that racial segregation been a widely-accepted phenomenon for most, if not all, of American history. Along with separate restaurants, theaters, drinking fountains, schools, and even military units, music has been just another means to separate people based on the color of their skin and the people they identify with. Race records are a prime example of institutionalized segregation. It is a positive that many African Americans living during the 1920s and 30s interpreted the term "race records" as something to be proud of (in a way), since it represented the growing acknowledgment of their influence on American popular music. However, the record companies producing the music of artists like Mamie Smith had such control over who the music targeted, and made enormous profits while giving little to no royalties to the artists themselves. Essentially, the rich white executives of record companies were largely in control of what music African Americans had access to. I know it's a huge stretch to compare segregation in race records to the oppression of slavery, but I think that it serves as a reminder that rich, white men still exercised their power and influence over African Americans in the music industry (and still do to an extent today [radio stations, record companies, etc]) as a representation of their desire to keep their power and influence in all aspects of society. Pop music listeners of the 2000s are much more mixed and diverse than they used to be in the mid 20th century, but there are still many who identify themselves almost solely by the music they listen to. The division is not quite as institutionalized in the music industry as it once was, but the invisible boundary still exists.