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

David Hatch states "pop music has relied on the merging of both black and white traditions" and is further backed by Barry Shank, who proposes "Rock and Roll came about from white people’s fascination with black music." The music industry recognised the benefit of such mergers; with one of history’s most successful artists Elvis Presley being the quintessential mix, making the combination commercially successful.

I deem the concept of ‘blackness’ and ‘whiteness’ can provide limited insight into the origins of pop music, though supplementary factors have significant influence; including prejudiced by class, legacy and cultural backdrop; common factors everyone has in common, regardless of skin colour or ethnicity.

As a final point; I believe that ‘blackness’ and ‘whiteness’ as individual concepts do not exist as separate genres, though as individual artists or majority consumers it is possible (questioning ones definition of what black/white music is), these concepts simply provide a starting point for further exploration.

Can pop music achieve genuine political change?

It first appears that music and politics don’t mix, however some have argued that “pop becomes the expression of its political and social context” (street in F.S.S) this can be best examined in music events know for political impact; such as live8. Causing millions of individuals to take part for both political and musical reasons; subsequently having genuine political impact.

On the other hand, it has also been suggested that the mixing of music with politics has lead to generations of arguably hypocritical artists; such as Michael Jackson who despite producing outwardly politically music about world issues, appears in deeper analysis to be only self-serving, with limited political motivation.

The single redeeming factor being that despite the overriding objective of financial gain, the music still provokes thought on political issues. So in this sense music may not achieve political change itself, but can set into motion events that can.

Does the emergence of the digital downloading signal the end for the music industry?

The music industry, notoriously cautious and averse to change has a history of fear concerning new technologies. As cassettes became widely available, piracy became a predicament for the first time, consequently, an Anti-Piracy campaign was introduced in the 80”s. It must be noted, the music industry survived cassette, making the concept that music downloading will have the same perceived impact illogical.

This can be explored through Radio-Head's album leak to Napster in 2000. Illegally downloaded by millions it was expected to washout, it-in fact went straight to number one. This demonstrates Lawrence Lessig four categories of file-sharing, particularly the category of ‘those that download music to sample ahead of purchase’.

The iTunes store profoundly impacted legal downloads, recently selling its 10-billionth download, proving people are willing to-pay for music. This limits the cost and threat (to the industry) of illegal downloading to Lessig’s group: ‘those who download rather than buy’.

What is world Music?

Essentially, there’s two key areas of theoretical debate, primarily undertaken by Frith; initially it’s suggested world music is ‘created’ across the world, by individuals, and ranges in content, from; Australia’s indigenous music, Irish folk or Iceland’s Nordic music. Each known as local music due to its local creation, though as a combined form cover vast expanses of the world, however only a fraction may hear each style.

Opposing this, world music can be described as music recognised globally, for instance popular music such as Madonna. Popular music is generally being created in Anglo-American as the world standard, Shuker advocates, these dominant Anglo-American countries promote what consists of ‘their cultural values’ injecting their customs broadly across the world, and poses a risk of suffocating other genres altogether. It is my opinion that world music should be something that integrates both of the above, allowing all cultures to thrive, continuing music evolution.