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

The music industry can decide what and who is sold in shops. They decide what bands and artists to sign up towards their labels. As discussed earlier popular music can be classed as any type as music as long as people are listening to it. A way bands are noticed is on myspace, where it has been heard they as they get more views record labels sign them up. People in the music industry then scout for other bands with the same attributes. The audience picks what music they like, that is why in shops you can buy and type of music. I feel that the music industry does not create the audience for popular music; I feel they create a bigger variety for popular music once the type of music has been chosen.

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

Popular music in Britain today contains artists of many different racial backgrounds. To both put whiteness and blackness in categories to create a study in music may be difficult as music can all be linked, for example classical music is seen as a white were as jazz is seen as black. In modern popular music rock bands predominantly are all white; the only example of a black rock artist in the present charts is the lead singer from Bloc party. This is after Rock come from a black origin. Another example would be Eminem, who turned out to be one of the greatest rappers ever. To sum it up, I feel that there is no need to create a divide, as different raced artists perform in the same genres of music as each other, and as music evolves the same will happen with the type of people who sing it.

can popular music achieve genuine political change?

Popular music is all genres of music so it indefinite that all popular can achieve political change but it can be argued when artists such as ‘R n B’ artists write songs about knife crime and guns especially in our country , the government must look at why the song is written. In Britain alone this year knife crime has had more awareness and more songs about have been released. This shows workmanship between artists and the government. The artists release the music as the words of public, with this the government can listen and show there support, even though there has been complaints from within the gov towards how some music has been written. Finally it may be hard for political change from music because so many people have different tastes in music , and may not appreciate a certain genre of music and may not see the picture in side it.

Are youth subcultures genuine signs of revolt or simply the manifestation of style?

Youth subcultures are always going to be around. You only hear about the problems when a group is needed for blame. The media only report the bad things groups do, never the good. As Dick Hebdige explains ‘youth is only present only when it is a problem or is regarded as a problem’. I personally feel that the youth subculture is manifestation of a certain style, for example friends introduce friends to different music, then they follow the ways of the type of music for example the clothes they wear. Goths are tended to be portrayed as people who self harm and believe in death, but not every Goth does this. Elder people feel Goths, Chavs, Emo’s and rude boys are a part of revolt, but in general the people who are apart of these subcultures tend to grow out of it when they become older, or the subcultures evolve into something else.

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

I feel that the emergence of digital download both does and does not signal the end of the music industry. The way it does is by taking the profits off companies, leading the artists not creating new music. The business is becoming smaller because of this. I also believe that it does not signal the end of the music industry because it is like all technology; it was felt that the cassette was the new big invention and then the compact disc. People felt these were the end of the music industry leading to anti piracy campaigns, but in realism they did not leave a massive effect on the business, and that it is the same today with digital download. Technology will keep on improving and in the future it may go past digital download which will just lead to more myth of the end of the music industry.

What is world music?

World music in large shops is normally shelved as its own individual category. The records that are in world music tend to be either artists with a low recognition or of a different language such as French, German and African. The artists who do make it big worldwide come from mainly Britain and America, with occasional bands and singers coming from other countries such as Abba. These bands are the ones who are in the charts. I feel this is the reason for world music getting categorised by it self as it is rare for a song to be in the charts sung in a different language. World music is not actually where the song or album is listened but where it originates from. If somebody wants to find and buy music from a different country they know to look in the world music section rather than the charts or the type of music it is such as rock or classic.

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

Firstly popular can be counted as with different meanings such as what people like, or what people use and do. Popular music consists of music traditions, styles, influences and is an economic product. Art can be understood as meaning or creativity. People argue art is all around us, whereas arguably art is a single person’s feeling appreciated by others. In the modern era it can also be argued that musicians use other musicians sounds and styles because it was popular in the past, where as in the past the people who created music could be seen as artists as they created the whole sound by them selves. To conclude, in the past popular music could be seen as art, but in the modern era is a mass produced commodity as the same styles and sounds are repeatedly used because they no the public will enjoy and appreciate them.