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

Record companies usually produce artist or bands that they think will be successful by copying other acts. In the past we have seen it with bands such as the Spice Girls, their success influenced the music industry to bring out similar girl bands like Girls Aloud and The Saturdays because they know it will sell.  You have record labels producing similar bands and sometimes it is hard to tell the difference e.g. Boyzone and Westlife sound similar. As Theodor Adorno believes that ‘recordings generally sound the same.’ Which is true in this case when record labels produce similar acts. The audience of popular music is influenced by the music industry but not created by it. Music becomes popular because people choose it, the industry then respond by creating more of the same type of music because it is in high demand. Knowing that it will do well in the charts.

NME Review

NME magazine seems to be aimed at people interested in Indie or Rock music. Looking through the magazine there is very little on other genres of music e.g. there is an advertisement for Plan B who is a rapper/singer. There are a lot of advertisements for technology such as the latest Laptops, mobile phones and watches. This indicates that the magazine is aimed mainly at men. Other content that you will find in NME magazine are interviews with bands and artist, information on upcoming gigs, album reviews and much more. This magazine is great for Indie or Rock music fans. If you are interested in bands such as Oasis, Kings of Leon, The Kooks and Foo Fighters than this is the magazine for you. NME magazine is ‘the ultimate source for discovering the best new music first’ as they claim. At only £2.40 for a weekly issue including all you need to know about the Indie/Rock scene you can’t go wrong.

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

It is not a very useful concept to classify music in terms of blackness and whiteness because it is hard to identify what black or white music is. Although, music genres tend to be associated to a certain race e.g. R&B and Hip Hop are associated with black people, while Rock n Roll and Opera are associated with white people. When studying popular music, class and location are important factors to think about, not just whether the artist is black or white. 

Music today can be a mix of different genres and it is impossible to say whether it is black or white e.g. Bhangra music has many cultural influences with elements of hip-hop, electronica fused with traditional instruments. Today, artist can make any genre of music regardless of race and ethnicity. This is why it is difficult to identify music using the concept of blackness and whiteness.

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

The emergence of the digital download is does not signal the end of the music industry, in many ways it is helping the music industry. Since its first launch in 2003 to 2010 the iTunes music store has had 10 billion downloads. Digital downloads have become more convenient for the consumer, large amounts of music can be carried on a small device such as an ipod. The music industry is worried because it has become possible to steal music online with emergence of file sharing. But file sharing can actually help the artist e.g. in July 2000 tracks form Radioheads upcoming album Kid A were leaked out onto Napster and downloaded by millions of people 3 months before the albums release. Radiohead did not release any singles or videos to promote the album but it still shot to number 1 in the UK and US album charts. It was the first time they had a number 1 in the US.

Can Popular Music Achieve Genuine Political Change

Rob Shuker statement in saying that ‘popular music can be a means of raising both consciousness about and funds for political causes’ is true e.g. Live Aid achieved this through the dual-venue music concert that was first held in 1985 and because of its success it has been going ever since. The event raised awareness around the world about the struggle and poverty in third world countries. As a result people helped through charity by donating to the third word and Live Aid is still going on today encouraging people to do so. Popular music can be used to help a political cause, but the political change cannot happen with just the music. It can be argued that some artist like Bob Marley tried to achieve political change by making songs against capitalism but the best of Bob Marley and the Wailers album sold over 10 million, which contradict his songs. 

What is world music? Why do we have have world music?

Music that doesn’t fall into the category of Anglo American popular music is known as world music. World music is simply music from around the world of different cultures and languages. Music such as reggae, folk, Indian raga and Afro-beat fall under the world music category. Pop music in another language can be considered as World music even though it might have a similar sound to popular western music. The reason we have world music is because it can’t be put in any other category, classing it as world music it helps the album or record to sell. Also world music is not as popular as Western music, which dominates globally and is mainly in English. Whereas world music is only significant to people from a certain area or culture so not everyone can relate to it e.g. Afro-beat music is popular amongst people from an African native but has little significance or meaning to someone who is maybe from India.

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

A lot of popular music today is mass-produced. In most commercial music there is no art really involved, it is mainly about selling the music as much as possible and getting a high position in the charts. This is true for artists such as Cheryl Cole who is not the best of singers but she is still in the charts, very successful and popular amongst fans. This is because she is marketable and her image is easier to sell. The single released by the X-Factor winner every year is always a cover, which in most cases gets the Christmas number one position in the charts. Although much of today’s popular music is mass-produced, it is very hard to put it in one category. Popular music can either be considered a genuine art form or a mass-produced commodity depending on the artist.