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.