Week 11

The music industry consists of recording companies, music technology, press, merchandising, licensing, and retail.  Its main focus is making money.  On one hand, this could mean that the music audience is created by the industry since the industry, in a sense, controls artists.  This is debatable, but artists are definitely affected by the industry.  They are discouraged from taking creative risks and making innovative music.  They rely on the industry to reach their audience and therefore must obey its capitalist ways.

On the other hand, perhaps the industry is created by the audience.  It seems that successful artists may gain the authority to dictate terms to the music company they work for.  Also, many artists prove to rise above the homogenous products that the industry prefers.  Individual audience members tend to accept and reject music on their personal preferences.  They do not always agree with what the music industry puts out.

Week 10

Mixmag is “the world’s biggest dance music and clubbing magazine”.  If you subscribe to us, you’re no regular groupie.  You’re a true lover of music!  For the latest on festivals and clubs in the UK, the newest music fashion, or serious band equipment, check out Mixmag.  We keep you updated on happenings in the music industry and in artists’ lives.  Whether you’re 18 or 30, a man or a woman, Mixmag is the number one magazine for serious fans.  Check us out at www.mixmag.net.  And while you’re there, you might as well shop around.  Instruments, equipment, clothes, and downloads are all right there.  Get involved with our competitions or come with us to Ibiza this August 2011.  Read about artists or clubs or watch MixmagTV.  Or just do the smart thing and start by buying this magazine.  The April issue awaits you.

week 8

Industries change and evolve constantly over time.  They do this to suit their customers’ needs and to keep up with the times as the years go by and technology advances.  This includes the music industry.  With the emergence of the digital download, many are convinced that this is the end of the music industry.  It seems, however, that if the music industry advances along with fans and technology, this does not have to be the case. 

The majority of fans do not want to end the music industry at all.  As Condry states, there are four main reasons that people download – instead of buying, sampling before a purchase, access unavailable music, and access non-copyrighted material.  Fans actually have morals about downloading as well.  Most do not sell the music they download, and they tend to be loyal consumers when they love an artist.  It seems the music industry just needs to “build alternative compensation systems”.

week 7

I believe that popular music can indeed achieve genuine political change.  While it cannot directly affect a nation’s government, popular music with political undertones or a political message can influence and change listener’s minds.  One may learn something that they did not know from the music or they may be inspired to act because of it.  Pop music can group people together for a political cause.  For example, Rite Aid and USA for Africa used song to encourage people to donate money to hotlines and raised millions for Africa, specifically Ethiopia.  Political popular music can also make the government aware that the people have an important opinion.  People could chant or sing out their distress, which seems to carry a stronger message than the yelling of concerns.  This political music does raise criticism that artists are doing it for the money and popularity, but if it helps people, then should that really matter?

Week 6

World music can be considered as a significant category in music.  It does not mean music made on the planet Earth.  Many different types of music fit into this genre.  It actually consists of music that is not western, American, or British popular music.  It is categorized by region and is the traditional music of a culture and is played by local, indigenous musicians.  This type of music preserves a region’s culture, but it seems that, with globalization, local musicians are “losing their local identities”.  The local sounds are also being fused with other types of music to create “heterogeneous world music”.  World music could be anything from traditional ethnic music to foreign language pop music.  It seems every type of music today is affected by another type of music.  There exists Spanish reggae, country rap, and Korean pop music.  These are just a few examples of mixes of world music.


P.S.  Are we completely done class on March 25?  And do we have a final exam?

Week 5

Whether popular music can be considered a mass produced commodity or a genuine art form is arguable.  It is true that much of today’s popular music is pieced together based off of past songs.  Beats, rhythms, lyrics, etc. are remastered, remixed, and reused.  Some artists even blatantly copy another’s song, such as Miley Cyrus’ and X Factor’s “The Climb”.  These processes can be categorized as part interchangeability and part pseudo individualization.  Hit songs can, however, prove to be original and artistic. Nevertheless, critics like Theodore Adorno beg to differ, though Adorno fails to see that pop music is still recorded by an artist at some point and is consumed in a different way than other commodities.  All in all, it seems a fair statement to say that popular music is sometimes just a mass produced commodity, but oftentimes it can be a genuine art form.

Week 4

If one were to analyze a culture in the context of the producers that generate cultural products, this would be called a production of culture perspective.  This perspective can be very useful.  To understand the 1955 birth of rock and roll, Peterson used this technique.  Being that it is unlikely rock and roll came about “out of nowhere”, so to speak, Peterson’s explanations serve to discuss many angles.  Touching on law, market, technology, industry structure, and occupational careers, he has many valid points.  However, there can be flaws in the production of culture perspective.  Particularly in Peterson’s argument, he fails to discuss the actual music itself.  His theories could be applied to any style of music born in the year 1955 and fail to answer critical questions.  For example, why rock and roll?  Why did people like it and why did it become so popular?  The birth of rock and roll is arguable.

102100 Week 3

I believe that it would be reasonable to consider rock music to be gendered male.  Throughout rock music's history, males have dominated.  In many ways, females are victimized in rock. Heavy metal is an expression of male aggression and cock rock is a reflection of male sexuality.  These styles tend to dehumanize women.  Another style, glam rock, uses androgyny to imply that males can take on female characteristics and still dominate.

Rock and roll advertising focuses on males and when females are mentioned, they tend to be depicted as sexual objects.  Rock and roll is also inclined to be associated with technology, which is gendered male as well, as females are supposed to be helpless physically, mechanically, and technologically.  More obviously, it is difficult to name female rock artists, while males are endless.  However, it is highly unlikely that males are simply more talented.  “Lead guitarists are made, not born.”

102100 Week 2

Can popular music ever really be unplugged?  If popular music were to be defined as the music that is popular among the people at any given time, then the answer to this question would be yes.  For example, classical music was popular music during its time and this type of music was indeed unplugged.  However, if by "popular music" one is referring to today's music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, then the answer would be a definite and obvious "no".  Unplugged basically means "not recording".  This would mean none of our music could be heard through the radio, computer, CDs, or in any other of today's forms.  There would be no amplifier or transistor, no microphone use or recording with multitrack or digital technologies.  So, in essence, when our favorite artists call their CDs "unplugged", they are very wrong, and we can all be very grateful for their mistake!

Music, Culture, & Technology (Week 1)

The term “popular music” can be difficult to define.  Many agree that popular music must be good music that is easy to understand.  It must be home-made and commercially oriented, having no artistic value.  However, there are many examples of popular music that defy these characteristics.  For example, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti performed “Nessun Dorma” at the 1990 world cup.  Most people do not consider opera popular music, yet the selection reached the top of the billboards. 

“Popular” derives from the legal term “popularis”, which means “belonging to the people”.  The dictionary definition of popular music is “any genre of music having wide appeal”.  More specifically, an appropriate definition of popular music comes from Roy Shuker.  He says that popular songs derive from an array of heterogeneous styles, sources, and musical customs.  Also, even while these songs make a profit, they are artistically and conceptually significant to their consumers.