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

When looking at the audiences of popular music we can see certain patterns that have been triggered by the music industry such as when a boy band such as Boyzone impacts the music industry, other labels will produce similar boy bands, such as Westlife. Today we see this more with the increase in U.K rap acts, as 4 years ago, you would not see the likes of dizzee rascal charting; now there is a huge group or urban artists in the charts (Tine Tempah, Chipmunk, Wretch 32 & N-Dubz). Therefore this is creating a more music for similar audiences, and does create an audience made by the music industry.

Theodor Adorno states that recordings generally sound the same. I don’t believe this though with many labels producing similar acts it may be hard to tell the difference between certain artists. One can choose what music to listen too but may be influenced by huge promotional campaigns to listen to a certain song or artist; therefore the music industry does create an audience for popular music to an extent.

'NME' Magazine Review in the style of 'NME'

You should know of the ‘NME’, the weekly magazine thats second to none, a ‘must have’ for the correct music fans. They have the access to the ‘best of the best’ bands; they have the most fantastic writing and photography. ‘NME’ is the ultimate source for discovering the best new music first and reviewing bands and artists who are already popular.

In past issues of the magazine you can find such talented artists featured such as The Klaxons, Bombay Bicycle Club, Jack, Arcade Fire, and Liam Gallagher. From reviews about the up & coming very alternative indie band to The Arctic Monkeys to Jay-Z, ‘NME’ has got it all covered. With the magazine also having its own awards the ‘NME Awards’ an awards show held every year to celebrate the best new music of the past year. The nominations and winners are voted for by the readers of the magazine. ‘NME’ comes out every Wednesday and its content is priceless. You can have it for only for as little as £2.40.

Are Blackness and whiteness useful concepts in the study of popular music?

I do not believe these are useful concepts in the study of popular music, due to the fact popular music genres were created from different aspects of different races, such as Rock music. Also in cities such as London or New York, there are many different races and people of mixed background, that develop new music from a genre that already exists, they do this due to influences of music or culture from their location.

 For example, the music genre of ‘Reggaeton’, Reggaeton's predecessor originated in Panama as ‘reggae en español’. This started as Reggae music began to influence artists in Panama and Puerto Rico in the 1970s. As the Spanish-speaking musicians began to work with reggae, they began to modify it to include more traditional Latin American musical styles, The vocals are very similar to American hip hop, Reggaeton blends West-Indian music influences of reggae, dancehall, with those of Latin America, such as bomba & salsa. While it takes influences from hip hop and Jamaican dancehall, Reggaeton is not the Hispanic or Latino version of either of these genres; Reggaeton has its own specific beat and rhythm. This shows exactly how the concepts of whiteness and blackness can not work to study popular music, as Reggaeton has influences from ‘black music’ and is not performed by either white or black people.

Does the Emergence of the Digital Download Signal the End of the Music Industry?

The digital downloading of music has radically changed the music industry. It has changed the way music is purchased, but has also triggered the start of a 'culture of piracy' meaning illegal downloading. When the invention of the cassette came (1970s) the BPI created an anti piracy campaign. Today we see the music industry do the same with the present situation over digital downloads. With iTunes recently making its 10 billionth track mark, digital download could be considered as a major push forward the music industry.

However, Ian Condry points out that there is no way to stop illegal copying, he says that “downloading music is ethical provided we support artists who are important to us”. Even by saying this is still shows there is still a huge problem with illegal downloads, I think in the future you will still see legal digital downloading but artist earning their money more in advertising and live events, then the music itself.

Can popular music achieve a genuine political change?

In my opinion the answer to this is no, certain popular music may have political messages but will only appeal to some people and not others, and if there was a song with a strong political message it would need maximum promotion, this would only be achievable with the support of a major label, and therefore if a artist did decide to release a song with a political message such as a anti-capitalist one, it would be contradictive as the artist would be making money for the major record label and therefore for a capitalist society, also the chances of a major label letting a artist do this are very slim, possibly with a independent label which lets artists have freedom of creativity will let you this but will not have the means to promote it as good. Either way a song would not be able to gain a political change, too many things in society that come before music have to change first.

What is world music?

The term ‘word music’ can be interpreted in various different ways, for example we see ‘world music’ sections in our music stores such as HMV, if we think about it this may be seen as wrong or somewhat pointless as this section of the stores is nothing like the other music sections in the store due to the fact it is not defined by its genre but by its origin. We tend to see ‘world music’ as local music that is popular amongst a society in a country such as Salsa music to Latin-American people would be considered world music to us but local to Latin-American people, however a artists like ‘Shakira’ who are of a Latin-American origin but produce what is labelled as ‘Pop’, is considered global music as it is popular amongst a worldwide community. In my opinion the term ‘World Music’ is wrong as it has become a general marketing term for non-western music of all genres.

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

It can be said that popular music is a mass produced commodity, e.g. when you listen to a song that is considered to be popular music, we have the urge to listen to a related style therefore we decide to buy something that sounds similar, it can be said the reason for popular music sounding similar is due to the fact the music industry is made up of people that want to make money and therefore if a certain sound is working well and generating money, major labels will influence their artists to follow a trend, this is more enough what Adorno talks about on the topic of standardised (artists may seem to be different by actually sound nearly the same), however It could also argued that all music is creative and the music which becomes popular is considered to be less creative and ‘sell-out’ music due to its success.