Pop Music Research Paper

Music is an art than can connect us all, the topic I choose to do my interviews on was music and how race plays a part into the music we listen to today. In many people’s lives music is a constant, they are always listening to it. That’s why corporations like Spotify and ITunes exist, they are capitalizing on the easy access of music from all different genres. Music is a way in which artists can share their experiences and life troubles without having to speak about them, rather they can just make a song. It gives many people a voice as well, often times to people who otherwise wouldn’t have one. In the past decade music has been an instrument in which people can use to change people’s opinions and influence lawmakers. As well its brought …show more content…
Although some of the answers were different from others one interviewee talked about how modern music only conveys the bad parts of our culture saying “popular music lacks a message and isn 't about real life.” He argued that pop music is bad because it doesn’t reflect day to day life and only conveyed messages that are unrealistic to our lives. Another person said that “people use music as a form of protest, roots of gospels and rock has been evolved from sea chanties. People sing to reflect on person and societal problems. Listen to Bob Dylan half of his music says the Vietnam war is bad.” Music in the end is all about the meaning that is intended by the artist, no matter what effect the music has on society the creator dictates what the music is …show more content…
The industry makes it easier often giving more advertising and funds to artists that are white because white listeners are the intended crowd behind many music genres. Genres of music that are primarily white don’t often contain other ethnicities. Overwhelmingly the consensus was that music is personal, everyone can have a separate taste in music and the meaning of an artist’s music is relative to the listener. Some people believe that to listen to music you have to be able to relate to the content of the lyrics and to listen to music you don’t relate to means you can never fully appreciate the artists intended meaning. Another interesting conclusion is that people are unaware of where common music they listen to is drawn from, such as pop draws many of its roots back to R&B and hip/hop. Cultural appropriation is often overlooked as a problem because many listeners do not care where their music came from rather just that it is there. Few artists have crossed the racial boundary line in music but some of the interviewees said that both Beyoncé and Macklemore crossed the line. I would argue that Macklemore hasn’t, but Beyoncé definitely has as she is just as popular amongst all ethnicities as she is within her own. Beyoncé has found a way to bridge the gap between her culture and the main stream medias taste in