Is the audience for popular music created by the music industry?

I think that the audience for popular music is partially created by the music industry, but that audience determines what is considered popular music. For example, “the music industry is extremely powerful in its ability o control the vast proportion of music that is produced an distributed. this situation deeply affects the relationship between creative artists and their public”. Thus, the music industry will strive to create a “product” which will appeal to the biggest audience and sell the most records leading to the production of similar bands with similar sounds. However, this doesn’t account for the fact that it’s the audience’s taste for the music which makes it popular. Popular music will be determined by the audience’s requests on the radio and album purchases/downloads not the music industry’s. The music industry puts out music they believe will become popular, but the audience is what makes it popular.

Uncut Magazine Review

The audience for this magazine is an older generation, most likely late thirties. Uncut offers a wide range or reputable reviews of both popular music and film without any celebrity gossip, ideal for an older audience. The reviews vary from classic to contemporary rock and are all comprehensive and well-researched using formal language. An innovative feature of the Uncut website is the music and film review archive as well as a live review for current reports on concerts in the UK and beyond. This provides an appeal for both younger and older generations. The contents of this magazine, as well as the cover design, is more likely to attract a male audience than a female one. Thus, the stories are more often male-oriented as well and feature mainly male artists. 

ARE BLACKNESS AND WHITENESS USEFUL CONCEPTS IN THE STUDY OF POPULAR MUSIC?

“Blackness” and “whiteness” are important concepts in studying the development of popular music, but have become so intertwined today that it is nearly impossible to separately study each. Barry Shank gives testament to the importance of white fascination with black music when discussing the transformation of popular music to rock and roll. The success Mamie Smith’s recording of Crazy Blues after the advertisement of her being a black woman shows how race played an important role in the development of the popular music market. Because of this change, the music which was originally thought of as “black” or “white” has become melded together into most popular music. For example, rap which originated as a “black” music form now has white and Latino artists such as Eminem and Pitbull. Without studying the “blackness” and “whiteness” factors which popular music today developed from, audiences cannot understand its importance and transformation.

DOES THE EMERGANCE OF DIGITAL DOWNLOAD SIGNAL THE END FOR THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?

    Digital download will force the music industry to adapt. Although downloading affects the sales of CDs, there are people who will download songs from an album and then buy the CD if they decide they enjoy the songs they’ve downloaded. Those in the music industry claim sharing music online is like stealing a CD out of a store, but with downloading every file is a copy of the original, so the number of originals is never depleted. A good point from Condry is “a lot of music is is already available for free and people pay for it anyway”. Bottled water is a good example of a product which shows ‘free’ doesn’t eliminate the market. Like Bottled water buyers, those concerned about quality will buy the CD since the sound quality is higher than downloaded mp3s. People concerned with supporting their favorite artists and quality will continue to legally buy.

Can popular music achieve genuine political change?

Although popular music can influence people’s political beliefs, I don’t think it can achieve genuine political change. The content of songs can cause people to become aware of certain political issues, but it is more likely to make a social rather than political difference. John Street said, “music has symbolic force, it deploys the power of language to create visions, articulate ideas and to form bonds”. This shows that the nature of music exercises influence over people’s ideas, but it is only able to influence their ideas as opposed to creating real political action. It is up to the people to put the ideas into action, which mostly occurs on a more social than political scale. For example, donating to charity because of Band-Aid shows music making a change, but it is a social change rather than political. Popular music gives light to political issues to create social change.

What is world music and why do we have such a category?

World music is a category which is not defined by a single style because of so many international influences. Arguably, any form of music which is not the indigenous form of music to a certain country in their native language is considered to be, in that country, world music. There is a difficulty in clearly defining this category because according to Deanna Robinson, “international and local sounds are being fuzed together to create heterogeneous ‘world’ music”. This doesn’t mean that all local music is being lost to international homogenization, but rather that local music is further developing to incorporate sounds from other cultures. Thus, nearly all music could be interpreted as world music from its various influences. This category exists to create a place for people to find music from different countries and cultures which is not predominantly in English so it is not truly “world” music but “non-English” music.

Is popular music a mass produced commodity or a genuine art form?

Popular music is both depending upon the individual song and artist. It is a commodity because it is something which can be marketed, packaged, and sold. For example, “boy bands” are created solely to be popular, sell albums, and hit high on the top 40 charts. These bands exemplify both traits of industrial standardization with part interchangeability (hardly any difference if a member is substituted) and pseudo individualization (all boy bands have a similar sound, songs, and band structure). On the other hand, some popular music can be artistic. Lady Gaga is an example of this because she has a unique style and talent. Her music is popular due to its uniqueness which is something that goes against both the traits of industrial standardization. Popular music that is well-liked due to its actual musical value and expression is art thus music that is marketed to BECOME popular is a commodity.