Are youth Sub-cultures Genuine signs of Revolt of Simply the Manifestation of Style?

Sub-cultures can be a revolt. They can show dissatisfaction with the politics in the time of their conception, take for example the miner strikes during Margret Thatcher’s rule as PM. They can embody a new trend or movement in music, as we have been seeing recently with Emo. They can be formed around a minority community coming together for security like the black ghettos of 60’s America. On the other hand subcultures develop a style which allows for members of that subculture a free expression of identity through the image of the self whilst also removing and indicators of class or job they develop a uniform. You can be a bank clerk by day and a Goth by night.
However, often these projections of self image and the cultures, communities, grievances or sounds that initially started and formed the core of the subculture become common place. Adopted or marketed to the masses it is no longer a threat so the revolution, the statement, meaning or message dies and it simple becomes a fashion with no meaning.

Does the Emergence on the Digital Download Signal the end of the Music Industry?

This statement, or ones much like it, have often been used in the past especially when there has been any significant advancement, not just in the entertainment, industries but in all areas of life. Film studios said that TV would make the cinema obsolete, cassettes would kill the music industry. These prophesies of doom however did not come to fruition, the advances made merely change the way in which we listened or viewed product. Digital downloads are no different. Yes a few years back there was and a lot of ‘piracy’. Now however with more flexible DRM laws, the funding and software Apple is producing, which makes operating inside the law easier for the consumer, coupled with a growing awareness of the need for internet security more and more people are using legitimate legal sights which actually contribute the music industry. Also people will always want to go to a live concert. As I said this is changing the way we listen to music as now we restrict our tastes by not needing to listen to anything that we don’t like. We are becoming more insular.

Can poplar Music ever really be unplugged?

In the 21^st century electric, digital and general all-round technology saturation of our culture, and world, has reached the level where nothing is truly unplugged. Albums can be recorded and produced on a single piece of affordable technology in a bedroom. Though music can still be unplugged. Church choirs use their voices to produce music; schools sing songs and nursery rhymes accompanied by a piano. Okay these performances can be recorded, cleaned, produced and replayed electronically but it’s important to note that not ALL performances are. This would reopen the debate as to what classifies as ‘popular music’. If we, for this blog, we take that to mean mainstream artists, groups and their work, I don’t believe they can ever be truly ‘unplugged’ because of recording equipment used, the amplification to their voices etc. But I think that in those situations where the artist is producing an ‘unplugged’ album or concert then the meaning of unplugged changes, in other words it means that electronic technology, and equipment, will not be used to alter or distort the product in a way that would create an inaccurate record of the artists’ skills/work.

What is World Music?

The idea and meaning of world music has changed in the last half-century. Development in the production and distribution technologies and practises of the music industry has transformed the market from one that was primarily national to an international market dominated by American ideologies, formats and values. However this leaves countries with a problem. They wish to maintain their own cultural musical identity, but often the musical infrastructure is insufficient to support or promote artists at the global level needed to fully recoup the cost of investment in them. Therefore countries place quotas for airplay or pass legislation that at least makes sure those musicians can prosper and foster support in their home countries without too much competition from outside. This also allows for the development of the national music industries as has been seen in the case of Canada and New Zealand. Unfortunately though this means that home countries often take on the role of talent scouts, identifying the best of the national talent and promoting them until a Major record label picks them up and distributes them internationally.

Is Popular Music a Mass Produced Commodity or a Genuine Art Form?

Adorno splits music into two categories ‘popular music’ and ‘serious’ music. The main thrust of his argument is that popular music is pre-digested, mass produced and demands little or no active involvement on the part of the listener to give it meaning. This is because each individual part has little or no bearing on the whole in the way that serious music does. Adorno goes on to give examples of how certain symphonies would have no or less meaning if their other elements were different. Much like art no two pieces are the same. Each one is individual and its composite elements go to make the whole. For example Metamorphose of a Narcissus by Dalí, when glanced at seems a simple, if strangely worrying, landscape. When studied more closely other elements stand out that you suddenly realise have lent to the foreboding air of the picture. Popular music is that glance. It is seeing the Mona Lisa simply to say you have, instead of appreciating the artists’ attention to detail, light, or technique, which is serious music. Popular music is there to give “the masses” an escape, distraction without effort. It has replaced religion as the opiate of the people.Its is indeed a mass produced commodity, this doesnt mean its all bad.