Can popular music ever really be unplugged?

Current popular music as we know it is impossible without electronic technology. Whether in the production or distribution stages electronic technology is vital to popular music. Whilst it is undeniably true that popular music as we know it is impossible, a form of popular music is possible without electronic music. A lot of music can be produced without the use of electronic technology, many local music’s such as Folk music are very popular and do not rely on electronic instruments or equipment. Whilst it is possible to produce the music it is another matter entirely trying to get that to a widespread audience. Without electronics, many of the recording copying and reproduction techniques we use wouldn’t exist and therefore make it a lot harder to create albums or singles. Also performing in large arenas would be very difficult for a lot of types of music. Essentially popular music could exist without electronic technology but it would be nothing like the Technology based popular music we are used to.

What is world music and why does it exist?

It is very difficult to define world Music as it isn’t actually a `true` genre. One way to consider it is as the global music, music which is globally produced and distributed. However whilst this would seem the most logical answer it is not in fact the one that places such as HMV and other music distributors use. Quite often the category `World Music` contains music from non-English countries with foreign language as its basis. This is not a strict definition of course as some foreign language music belongs in more clearly defined genres. World Music as a genre essentially exists to describe any indigenous local music which has been distributed worldwide and doesn’t fit into any of the other genres. Therefore it would seem that World Music is in fact local indigenous music which is globally distributed, ironic really.

Is popular music a commodity or is it art?

Popular music is without a doubt a saleable commodity, in its functional artefact form, different to other commodities of course because it must bring something new or apparently new each time it is sold again. This Apparent newness is one of Adorno’s arguments against popular music, he suggests it is standardised with a hint of pseudo individualization to trick the audience into consuming it again. Of course the flaw in his argument is that popular music knows it is like that and does in fact have a different criterion to the classical music that Adorno prefers; this doesn’t necessarily make it any less of an art form in its text form than any other type of music. Adorno’s theory mainly fails because he is trying to compare it to classical music which can also suffer from standardization and pseudo individualization as can all music, just because it does it does not necessarily make it any less art.

What are the strength’s and weaknesses of Peterson’s production of culture perspective on the birth of rock and roll?

Peterson’s production of culture perspective is a solid theory for understanding the birth of rock and roll. It is a good foundation and is excellent for explaining why there was a niche available. Looking at the changes in law, technology, the industry structure, and several other key areas it explains nicely why there was a market for new types of music. The key flaw however is that it doesn’t look at why it was rock and roll and not another form of music that took off in the 50`s. It fails to explain the profound effect it had on people and does in fact almost completely cut the audience out of the theory, treating them as a passive all consuming population. The other major flaw is that it doesn’t look at the music itself. A little strange considering it is about the birth of rock and roll.