Does audience play an active role in the production of meaning in popular music?

‘Music is a form of communication and popular music, as its very name suggests, always has an audience.’(Shuker, R, Understanding Popular Music, 2001, p36) I think that to some extent audience does play an active role but audiences select their ‘cultural or leisure texts from what is available to them, and the nature of the market is determined by more than the constitutive qualities of its potential audience.’ (Shuker, R, Understanding Popular Music, 2001, p36) The suggestion that the baby boom had a great impact on the success of rock and roll for example doesn’t seem to add up as those born after World War Two would not have been old enough to appreciate rock and roll music – it wouldn’t be till the late 1950’s and early 1960’s that they would be able to enjoy and have an interest on music. I believe that whatever popular music an audience is born in to is what they will enjoy. Just like in the 1950’s the audience was interested in rock and roll music and today a teenage audience wouldn’t be interested in this type of genre and would prefer say r ‘n’ b or rap music for example. Audiences take advantage of the music which is available to them but obviously they are still essential to the success of popular music and still play a slight role in the production of meaning in popular music.

NME magazine...

NME magazine embraces its readers with the latest news, gossip and information on top artists and bands. Featuring popular artists such as the Artic Monkeys, Manic Street Preachers and The Klaxtons and with its catchy headlines and unique opinions NME keeps their readers intrigued. Not only does this magazine offer its opinions but gives readers a chance to write or email in to express their own opinions and views on a range of issues surrounding music which are then featured in the ‘letters page.’ NME’s May 2007 issue has interviews with many stars including the very popular ‘Peep Show’ star David Mitchell and Interpol are interviewed about their latest album. This issue offers readers valuable information including ‘The Greatest Indie Albums Ever and provides the latest single and download charts. NME keeps its readers up to date with the latest concerts – featuring pages and pages of the various events happening up and down the country. NME gives a generally exciting incite into the music which its readers love and enjoy.

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

I don’t think that you can say that blackness and whiteness are concepts in popular music let alone useful concepts. In today’s music industry within popular music whiteness and blackness essentially don’t matter. In today’s society in regard to different types of genre blackness and whiteness don’t really come in to it. Most people when asked about blackness within popular music would associate it with r n b and hip hop. But there are so many white artists today involved in these types of genres too. For example Eminem is one of the most successful rap artists in the world and is white. He could be said to be one the primary artists which has made rap such the success it is today.
You can’t associate blackness which one particular genre and whiteness with another genre. Both black and white artists contribute to all different genres.

Can popular music be a genuine force for political change?

In today’s music industry we tend to find many artists who like to take a political edge in their own music and style trying to influence their fans on a range of issues. For example more recently hip hop artists have been trying to raise awareness of the dangers of gun crime. I think that’s all music generally does – raises awareness of important issues. Just because an artist chooses to feature particular opinions in their music does'nt mean that things will necessary change at all. It just means there is more chance that something changing as awareness has been raised. Such events like Live Aid are a good example of where music could be seen as trying to influence political change. However again I think that events like this are just raising awareness and are just another way for artists to publicize their music. So generally I don't really believe that popular music could be seen as a genuine force for political change but I do however believe that it is ultimately very successful in raising awareness of such political issues.

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

‘Youth subcultures are youth-based subcultures with distinct styles, behaviors and interests.’(www.wikipedia.com) We can recognize these diferent subcultures usually by their sense of style or clothing and sometimes even the music which they listen to can be a common factor of these subcultures. As Dick Hebdige suggests youth is a painful transistional period so therefore this could be a factor which suggests that youth sub cultures could be seen as a sign of revolt. ‘Most youth subculture groups can be associated with a specific music genre, and in some instances music has been the defining characteristic of the group, such as: ravers, metalheads, hip hoppers, goths and punk rockers.’(www.wikipedia.com) I believe that youth sub cultures have a lot to do with style – it’s the style of particular individual which defines a person into a particular sub culture. People use their style to fit into a particular group, for example goths all dress in black and dress in a way that is indiviual to them.

Is the DRM the best way to save the music industry?

DRM is in many ways a very successful device of trying to prevent some forms of copyright through various technologies but I don’t believe that it will every truly stop all forms of piracy. Piracy will continue to exist however much we try to stop it, people will still go on several downloading websites if it means not having to pay to listen to their favourite music. In fact I don’t even think that it is particularly harming the music industry too much. Yes record sales are falling but being able to download any artist’s songs/albums still promotes them and in the long run aids their success. People will still go out and buy albums and support the artists which they love. Being able to download music off the Internet allows people to download music that may not be accessible in the shops. For example music from other countries and artists which are unheard of.

Can popular music ever really be unplugged?

I think that to some extent music can be unplugged but not as much so in the case of popular music. The development of technology over the last one hundred years has made it very hard for any genre of music to be unplugged. Technology benefits many genres of music and some genres would not be the same without the aid of technology. Such inventions as the amplifier helped with the development of the rock and roll genre and maybe without this particular invention it may not have had such an impact or had such great success.
All technologies in their own way help make music – whether it is an individual singing or a band and make them sound significantly better. Amplification is needed in many genres such as hip hop and dance music as they cannot survive without feedback sound. All these factors contribute to the fact that music can’t really ever be unplugged
In some cases yes popular music can be unplugged but only to some extent. Buskers sing unplugged most of the time, yes this may not seem like popular music but they may sing popular songs which we all know and love. Also tribal music is performed unplugged and this type of music is seen as ‘popular’ music to many.

What is world music and why does it exist?

There are many ways in which we can define world music. www.wikipedia.com defines world music as a term “that covers all music that is not part of mainstream popular music and has some kind of ‘ethnic’ component.”
I don’t think there is a definite answer to what world music is but I generally think that music is music which is all over the world not just local music in different geographical locations. However to narrow it down I do think that it is music which is predominantly mainstream and attracts the most global attention. It could also be defined as music which can be accessed easily through different forms of technology such as the Internet, through my space for example. World music could also be said to be music which isn’t British, just all other foreign music produced elsewhere in a different language. The same could be said in other countries such as France for example where they would probably categorize British music as ‘world music.’
World music exists as it shows the individuality of different cultures and societies all over the world. The collaboration of these different sounds and styles results in mass global attention which i have mentioned before.

Is popular music art?

Some would say that art, “in its broadest meaning, is the expression of creativity or imagination, or both” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art) I agree with this statement and would say that popular music is in fact a huge expression of an individual’s creativity. Popular music I believe is a number of different genres of music and each genre and each song within a genre expresses an individual/s own creativity, therefore producing different art forms. Popular music can be seen as art because art is usually seen as something which can be enjoyed by others and popular music is a form of art which also serves this purpose. We can read other forms of art such as paintings for example the same way that we can popular music. We can look at paintings and draw up different interpretations about what the artist is trying to say or portray in the same way that we would with any given piece of music. In popular music the singer or songwriter tries to achieve this.

What are the weaknesses of the cultural perspective in understanding the birth of rock and roll?

I think that the main weakness of the cultural perspective is that Peterson doesn’t actually mention the music at all. He doesn’t mention any of the features of the music which obviously contributed to the genres appeal to such a large audience and what made the rock and roll genre so popular. The instruments that were used to produce the rock and roll genre are not mentioned and neither are the many different genres all pieced together to make the rock and roll genre. Peterson doesn’t take these factors into account at all. Nor does he take into account that everyone has unique tastes which can’t be culturally defined by one person.

I also don’t think you can generalise and say that factors such as technology had a great impact on the birth of rock and roll music. Yes it may has helped it on its way but if the transistor and other inventions were made later on, say in the 1960’s then it would have helped any popular music at that time. The same can be said for television, yes it would have contributed to the success of the rock and roll genre as it allowed more people to gain access to the music from another source rather than radio but I dont't thin it can be said it helped in the birth of rock and roll.

What is popular music?

I would define popular music as music was is easily identifiable and heard all the time on mainstream radio and TV for example. Also music which is easily accessible and what everyone listens to on a day to day basis. For example all the different genres of music played on the top radio stations, e.g Capital Radio, Radio One which are popular with all viewers so therefore played over and over again.
All the music which enters the Top 40 chart every week I see as popular music because the types of music in these charts must be 'popular' in order for people to go out and buy the music.I think this applies to the download charts too.
I don't believe that popular music only applies to one genre of music but in fact to several genres. So not just 'pop' music but rock, classical and urban music for example - whatever people are buying and listening to.
I think however that popular music has changed over the years and developed. I think it used to be in some what way classified to just pop music years ago but now new genres are developing and peoples tastes are changing so therefore overall popular music and the culture surrounding it has changed.