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

Adorno believe that all Pop music is 'Standardized' and is essentially the same thing or to similar to truly differentiate itself, when couple with Shuker's view that 'popular music consists of a hybrid of musical traditions, styles, and influences' and at the same time 'is an economic product' it is understandable why some would suggest the Music industry creates its Audience especially with its production, distribution and sale structure, Still this is a theory I disagree with as i feel ultimately it is the audience that make something popular if not why else has popular music developed so much? Simply on the whim of the industry? It is the audience that go out and buy the music they want (unless a subliminal control device has been invented that we don't know about) All the industry can do is heavily influence decision through clever marketing (by ensuring a song grows on you by flooding the radio and clubs with it) The matter of a person buying the same songs with similar sounds is human nature can we next say the Confectionery Industry creates its audience because we more inclined to buy our favourite Crips/Sweets?

Hip-Hop Weekly

Upon reveiw i can be forgiven to think a magazine entitled Hip -Hop weekly would actually be about music, but it it seemed to be about everything else. Aimed at both males and females aged 18 - 30 who are interested in Hip-Hop its aligns itself as more of a gossip mag then a music mag but even with the harsh critque it does have some muscial content.

The magazine carries a a colour scheme of subtle colour brought to life thorough bright title's and text boxes. Its Flooded with pictures of celebrities within the industry with the tradition 'where they was, who they were with and what they were wearing' along with many stories about who's doing what, or as they put it 'The word on the street' which ranged from who was 'beefin' who to who was picking up some political ties. Still the adverts were presented in a clever manner and the magazine managed to maintain a fair balance genders throughout.

Ultimately if you have £2.25 and want to know what going on in the Hip-Hop world, this is the choice for you though i'll rather spend it on something that couldn't be found on the net for free.

Are Blackness and Whiteness useful concepts in the study of Popular music?

I feel blackness and whiteness would be beneficial concepts to study considering the fact that usually these terms are only associated with certain genres, with Blackness being allied with genres such as Rap and R&B and Whiteness being with genres as Rock. Though even nowadays you can see that is no the case with artists like Eminem and Jimmy Hendrix blurring the lines. Shank went on to state ‘There should be no argument that the transformation in popular music that we associate with the rise and development of rock were the result of white fascination with black music’ this relates to the fact that Rock n Roll drew inspiration from such music as blues. Overall though it could be stated that each concept has a particular rhythmical make up and vocal sound of its own as Hatch and Milward state ‘pop music has always depended upon the interaction between white and black traditions’ and due to music’s nature of being a universal language, pop music has developed with a range of traditions give rise to new sounds.

can popular music achieve genuine political change?

Whether or not Popular music can achieve genuine change is debatable, but it is most definitely fear by some with a political context. Straw and Street stated that ‘pop becomes the expression of its political and social context’ an example of this could be shown by Billie Holiday’s rendition of strange fruit, a poem written by a Jewish teacher who saw a photo graph of lynching. This song was refused release on her label Columbia as they feared that its message was too powerful. Though never by itself Pop music is major ingredient in a politically influential stew, this is usually accompanied with ingredient such as moral panic. Stanley states moral panic as a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests’ An example of this was when ‘Rave’ music such 808 State: Pacific 707: 1988, was linked to acid rave parties where many claimed the intake of illegal drugs was taking place and resulted in 1994 Criminal Justice Act, which essentially banned the play of ‘of music which had the traditional make up of ‘Rave’ music. Overall by itself pop music can not achieve genuine political change, but coupled with something else, it often does.

Does the emergence of the digital download signal the end for the music industry?

A similar question has been asked with the technological advancement of each audio medium, Ever since the emergence of the first recordable medium, the cassette this has been a lingering thought in the Music Industry’s mind and although it those day it was just the odd person copying there favourite song or making a Mixtape for a friend or potential partner, The Industry has fought hard against what it believes is Unauthorized sharing of copyrighted music. Now originally realising it was too hard to monitor things so they placed a levy on cassettes but with the advancement of technology, so came nthe advancement of the battle. With the emergence of the MP3 and the progression Internet the birth of P2P (peer to Peer) software such as Napster and Kazaa which many predicted would be the fall of the industry, but if such numbers were true there would be 100% drop in sale and applications like Itunes wouldn’t have a sales record of 10 billon tracks worldwide (Feb 2010) Though the rate of piracy has increased so has the range of audience, giving people an opportunity to sample music before they buy it, find music that is no longer on sale and access none copyrighted music

What Is World Music?

Traditionally world music was viewed as anything that wasn’t Anglo American Music, Still this can be widely argued as there is no true definition, it is merely a matter of perception. To some Turkish Rap or Egyptian Pop could be considered as World Music, whereas to others Music which incorporates the ‘Local’ Language (Non English), Instruments or Rhythms is World Music, But it can be argued that Popular Western (Anglo American) Songs incorporate these elements (Eg ‘Pitbull- I Know you want me’ Xzhibit – Concentrate’) still many argue that World Music is just a marketing ploy to group music that won’t fall into any other category whereas others see it as some different or alternative to mainstream music. Ultimately although Anglo American music is considered ‘Mainstream’ due to its global influence world music can differ from nation to nation and with the development, growth and accessibility of the Internet along with a lot of western Films and Theatre incorporating ‘world Music’, Exposure is being increased potentially further blurring the lines between ‘World and Global Music.

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

When one first thinks of Art often the words Creative, Original and possibly unique come to mind and although this could have once been true pop songs (when the mould was first created) I feel this is no longer the case. Adorno states that ‘The popular music industry is an all consuming production line that churns out mass produced, inferior commodities’ claiming that the structure has been ‘Standardized’. Still this can be understood by realising popular music is not consumed in the same way other commodities are, for example if you like a particular flavour of crisps your more inclined to buy it again, whereas if you like a particular song you are not going to purchase the song over and over again. Instead you are going to by tracks that have a similar sound, style or connotation whether by the same artist or not. Ultimately a ‘mould’ has been created in which many follow, is there really a difference between Five, Blue and JLS (Simply Pseudo Individualization)

How useful is a production of culture perspective in understanding the birth of Rock & Roll?

In 2004 Richard Peterson presented us with a theory on why he believed the Production of culture (‘symbolic elements of culture are shaped by the systems within which they are created, distributed, evaluated, taught, and preserved.’) lead to the birth of Rock n Roll. In this theory he claims disapproves myths such as Rock n Roll being a result of the baby boom and the development of the new teenager and Rock n Roll being born because of such stars as Elvis Presley. In this theory Peterson covers Six factors (Law, Technology, Industry Structure, Organisation Structure, Occupational career and the Market) in which he believes lead to the birth of Rock n Roll developing on each one creating somewhat of a time line. Still one major flaw in this theory is it fails to show why Rock n Roll was so successful, it merely shows that there was a lead up to a new kind of music but fails to show why Rock n Roll became and why that particular mix of music worked so well

Is it reasonable to consider that Rock music is male gendered?

Female equality has come a long way, Still it seems they do not receive the same recognition for it, in a 2003 Top 50 guitar players list not one woman was able to grace the list, though if any consolation there were two in the Top 100 but one asks why this is the case. We all know lead guitarists are developed not born (though some element of talent is) but social parameters allow it so the guitar is considered the male domain, with such genres as rock closely following suit. Some may argue it’s a physical issue, claiming the guitar was designed for the male others claim the lyrical content and mannerism of Rock was designed to be performed by a males a strictly boys only club and for a female to join club they have to be considered one of the ‘boys’ like Janis Joplin. So considering Rock’s background, Image and fundamental instruments its fair to say its gendered male with female’s only really either being acknowledged as part of the content of the songs.

Can popular music ever be unplugged?

When presented with the question, Can popular music ever be unplugged? one has to think long and hard about there response as they have to be careful not to contradict themselves. Now unplugged music is considered as music without the inclusion of technology through its journey of creation or distribution. Now due to the fact that 21st century music is heavily reliant on electronic technology ‘unplugged’ music is considered acoustic, but is that really unplugged? even the traditional guitar is a piece of technology, Now it is nearly certain that if you were to attended a live gig or set you would most definitely find the technology of the microphone gifted to us in the 1920’s by Charles Wheatstone. Simply put popular music is plugged in, especially within the 21st century with a lot of it reliant on such technologies as synthesizers and electric guitars. Even if it was Acapella , as for it to get recorded/distributed some technology was needed

What is Popular Music?

To answer a question such as ‘What is Popular music?’ is as difficult as explaining ‘Why the Sky is Blue’ because there is no definitive answers. Over the years Popular has adopted many different meanings. Originally a legal term derived from the Roman word ‘Popularis’ Meaning belonging to the people, by the 16^th century it soon took on a lesser identity meaning base, vulgar and of common people end with the birth of Popularity which then meant , courting the favour of the people by undue practices. By the 18^th century its identity had improved and things ‘Popular’ were considered ‘High Favoured’ where as 19^th American magazine stated it ‘as quite gravely and sincerely as a synonym for good’ Eventually all Popular music consist of a hybrid of musical traditions, styles and influence, and is also an economic product which is invested with Ideological significance by many of its investors.