Week 11 – Does the music industry create the market?

Although the music industry ‘creates’ the market, it depends on the consumers and whether they take to it or not. The music industry own all the music made and have the distribution rights so can control what music makes it onto the market and what doesn’t. However, this is then affected by how consumers respond to the market. If the music is popular with audiences, then the music industry will continue to produce similar types, however, if audiences do not take do it then the music industry will have to create music that the consumers are after.
The music industry had a lot more control over the market in the past then they do now. With the advent of digital music and a wide variety of music readily available to download from the internet, consumers can create their own market, where the music they consume is not limited to what the music industry provide. So in conclusion, it can be said that both the music industry and consumers create the market.

Week 10 - Mixmag Review

Mixmag is the ultimate clubber's bible. Without a doubt, Mixmag is the king of mainstream clubbing magazines and pretty much the market leader in it's game. It's success comes from its ability to focus on a wide variety of clubbing trends rather than closing in on and targetting one particular market. Mixmag has featured everything from the first acid house explosion to superclubs, nu-rave to cyber kiddies and much much more. Not only does Mixmag feature in-depth news, nightlife reviews, club listings and a diverse range of music, it also offers ideas on the lastest upfront fashion so that readers can get the ultimate club lifestyle. With every issue, readers will receive a famous complimentary mix CD with a range of music to suit any clubber, no matter their taste. Although there is plenty of both overt and covert advertising in mixmag, all of it focuses purely on the club lifestyle so readers will always be enticed and find the adverts relevant. All in all, Mixmag is the ultimate magazine that no hardcore clubber can rave without!

Week 9 - Are blackness and whiteness useful concepts in the study of popular music?

Differentiating between 'white' and 'black' types of music when studying popular music can be helpful in finding out the origins, values and situations the music came from. For example, rhythm and blues originated from black people who used it to express their sorrow and distress during their time of slavery. Certain races use a certain style, structure, set of instruments etc to create music that have been passed on through their generations and/or created concerning social/economical/political issues of their time, so certain music will always be stereotyped to a race because of its influence. However, in today's technological world, where people can sample music from all over the world, styles of music are commonly mixed and influence one another. Therefore, making it hard to class as 'white' or 'black'. Also there are many types of music that originate say from Asia, which would fit neither into the black or white category. Today's world is such an integrated, multi-cultural one that race is not even classified so much anymore. For example, we see white artist's like Eminem producing extremely successful rap songs which is normally considered 'black' music. To really study the origins and influences of popular music, it would be better to look at other factors such as class and other social issues rather than just focusing on race. As John Tagg says; no definitions can be made from the distinction between white music and black music.