Introduction
Music is a form of art which uses sound and actions as a medium and for one to be able to communicate using music, he/she must be able to form a rhythmic flow of words that convey an intended message. The intended music must also create a meaning and also make sense to the audience that is intended, this is because the intended audience decide on how the music is rated on the music charts.
Music also varies from one social culture to the other, in that, one culture’s music structure varies with another culture’s music structure. Music also uses musical instruments that create a rhythm which the musician uses to create a flow of words to pass on the intended message. In addition to that, music is also used for several purposes such as to pleasing the angry or even can be used to put a baby to sleep (Ardley 52).
Thesis Statement
With reference to the given question, this paper will focus on a particular artist or band and will analyze the ways to which their music is taken into the society. This paper will then discuss different aspects of music and how it affects the community as a whole. In addition to that, this paper will discuss music from the 20th century.
Artist or band
This paper will focus on Michael Jackson as an artist. Michael Jackson was one of the biggest pop artists that the world has ever known and was nicknamed the king of pop. In addition to that, Michael Jackson has released very many albums which have sold over one million copies worldwide. Michael Jackson who was born in August 1958 had four other brothers who they released several albums in 1964 (Davies 15).
Pop type of music is considered to be very influential because of the fact that most of the artists who have made it in the music industry today started in the pop type of music. Michael Jackson had a lot of influence especially in the black community in the United States and this was because of the kind of music he released that preached a message of peace and hope to the community and considering that he was black.
The music that Michael Jackson released was not based on gender but was based on truth and hope to the people and this gave him a lot of influence in the community reason being that that most of the people in the United States love to listen to pop music and thus Pop music is considered to be one of the most popular types of music in the United States.
Michael Jackson as an artist preached about gender equality in the community and in addition to that, he preached about anti-racism considering that racism is one of the most common types of offenses in the United States. Michael Jackson was also loved by the little children because he always showed the importance of protecting the rights of the children because they are the future of the world.
Branding of an artist
Michael Jackson who was considered one of the biggest artists in the world today always had the press and media following him around so it was very important that he be at his best at all time. For any artist to be able to do well in the music world, he must always be able to commercialize his music and must always be ready to try new aspects of the music world.
Michael Jackson was considered one of the biggest artists in the world and as such, he was always performing in concerts all around the world which commercializes his music. In the concerts, people listened to to his music and liked it and that meant that they had to buy it so as to be able to listen to it in their homes and thus, the concert performing was the aspect that Michael Jackson used when trying to captivate his fans to buy his music (Webster 26).
Michael Jackson also used the power of industry control to try as much as possible to beat his biggest rival in the music industry. He tried as much as possible to go with the flow of the current music world and it is for this reason that he was able to rise to the top of the music charts. He had released albums that had sold millions of copies worldwide and it is here that his popularity continued to increase among music lovers in the world.
On the other hand, Michael Jackson tried as much as possible not to disappoint his fans. The kind of music that he released was very objective and thus had an advantage over most of his biggest competitors who at times released music that made no sense and thereby lost popularity among music lovers across the world.
Michael Jackson was also on the front line in trying to advocate for the rights of the children and this also gave him popularity among the music lovers across the world who admired how he advocated for the rights of the children.
Multiple Versions of a Song
Before a song is released to the general public, it has to undergo a number of processes so as to make sure that the quality of music that is being released is the best. In addition to that, before music is released to the public, it has to have the intended message and thus has to be heard over and over again to make sure that the intended message has been passed on.
This process of listening to the music before it is released to the public is known as sampling and it involves the process of listening to the music to make sure that it has the right quality and the right words as the artist intended (Cook 23).
After it has been sampled, it is then mastered, that is, the process of making sure that the beats that have been allocated to the lyrics fit in correctly without making any noise in the process. This process involves the use a computer to blend the lyrics and the beats together so as to create a rhythm and thus be able to pass on the intended message in the process.
After the mastering process has been done and everything has been confirmed to be fine, then the song is covered in another song. This is the process of giving the music fans a preview of the music that will be coming and in turn gauges the reaction of the fans and create anticipation among the fans. This process is very important in music because by creating anticipation among the music fans then an artist will be able to know how the fans will react to the songs when released.
Genre within the Context of Globalization
Globalization is the process of bringing human beings together for a specific reason. Pop music has been on the front line to making sure that human being are brought together regardless of their race and cultures. Pop music is used by many artists to be able to bring people together so as to be able to pass on the intended message. When people are brought together as a result of music, then the artists will be able to pass on the intended message by using pop music.
Michael Jackson was one of the artists who used pop music so as for him to be able to pass on his intended message to the public. Most of the music that he sang were very objective in terms of message and it is for this reason that he increased his popularity among his fans who loved the message that was being passed through his music (Tomasino 16).
Pop music can thus be used to pass on the intended message to a group of people and artists who have come together to perform in concerts.
Gender Representations in Music Videos
Gender representation in music videos has been fair considering that most of the video clips that are shown in the media have equal gender representation. Artists in the world today have known that for them to be able to sell more of their songs in the music world, they must be able to embrace the spirit of equal gender representation which is very important when it comes to educating the public about equal gender representation (Tomasino 32).
Music is always used to entertain but in some cases, it is used to educate, and it is for this reason that artists have discovered that for them to be able to sell more in the music industry, then they must be able to educate the public about gender equality and to be able to educate the public correctly, then they must practice it in their own music video as an example to the general public.
Ways in Which a Particular Artist or Band Has Supported a Political Ideal or Discussed Political Issues via Their Music
Politics is one of the most important aspects of any country and it is for this reason that politicians are using artist who are known to have a bigger influence to the general public to campaign for them. A very good example is the hip hop artist popularly known as Lil’ Wayne who openly declared that he was in support of Barrack Obama as the United State president during the 2008 presidential election (Davies 45).
In a move like this, the specific artist was able to convince millions of voters who are his fans to vote for Barrack Obama whom they thought would never be able to become the president of the United State due to his skin color which is black. Lil’ Wayne openly campaign for Barrack Obama and because of his influence to the general public, then most of the voters who did not want to vote for Barrack Obama changed their minds which in turn led to Barrack Obama becoming the president of the United States of America.
Association of a Specific Musical Genre with a Subculture
Hip hop is always associated with the black culture because of its violent nature; this has been a very wrong perception because today, most of the greatest hip hop artists are not black but are white. Hip hop is a music genre that evolved from the black community but has always been portrayed with a wrong image because people say that it is violent of which is not true.
Hip hop is a music genre that is used to educate the general public about issues related to life and how to cope with them, and most of the hip hop artists today release songs that educate the people on how to deal with issues that may arise in life.
Issue of Race in the Context of a Specific Musical Movement or Genre
Hip hop music is considered to be a music genre that is associated with the black community which means that the issue of race is still looming in the music industry.
In addition to that, most of the hip hop artists are trying as much as possible to educate the general public that it is not a matter of skin color that determines the kind of music that will be sung, but the ability to sing. On the other hand, the white community thinks that there are genres of music that they cannot venture into because as they are considered to be dominated by the black community.
Effect of Technology on Popular Production or Reception
Technology is one of the biggest factors changing the music industry today and has forced music producers to keep themselves updated with the new technological advancements so as to able to produce music that is of good quality and that moves with the current world. Music fans are shifting from one type of music to the other and for an artist to be able to keep the pace, then he must be able to produce quality music (Davies 48).
Works Cited
Ardley, Neil. Music, London, UK: Harvard University Press, 2004. Print.
Cook, Nicholas. Music: A Very Short Introduction, New York, NY: Sage, 2000. Print.
Davies, Matt. Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century, London, UK: John Wiley and Sons, 2005. Print.
Tomasino, Anna. Music and culture, Oklahoma, OK: Cengage Learning, 2005. Print.
Webster, Peter. Experiencing Music Technology, London, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print.