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Pop Music Magazine Research.

Aamna Arshad

What is Pop Music?

Pop music a term that originally came from the word ‘Popular’. It’s a genre of popular music which originated in its modern era of the 1950s. It has come to be said that it initially originated from rock and roll. As a genre, pop music is very diverse, as it often borrows aspects from other genres including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country as well as being played worldwide. However there are some key aspects that define pop such as choruses, melodic tunes, and catchy hooks.

It’s targeted towards the younger generation, both genders but probably more typically female as they’re more likely to buy a music magazine, as they also use singers as idols or inspiration. Female singers have had a big influence on the Pop music industry, such as Madonna, especially in the nineties, this has also shown to reflect the point being made about females being majority of the audience. Studies show since 2008, pop music has become the most popular style of music of the youth culture, as we see it played everywhere. In conclusion, the target audience of pop music would be both genders around the ages of 16 – 20, as the youth seem to listen to it most.

What is Pop Music’s target audience and who are they?

Madonna in her early days.

Arab popAustropopBalkan popBaroque popBubblegum popClassical crossoverChinese popCountry popDance-popDisco poloElectropopEurobeatEuropopFrench popHong Kong and Cantonese popHong Kong English popIndian popIndonesian popIranian popItalo danceItalo discoJangle popVispopWonky Pop

Sub genres of Pop Music

Japanese popKorean popLatin popLevensliedLouisiana swamp popMandarin popMexican popMotorpopNederpopNew romanticOperatic popPop rapPsychedelic popRussian popSoft rockSophisti-popSpace age popSunshine popSurf popSynthpopTaiwanese popTeen popThai popTraditional pop musicTurkish pop

By looking at all the sub genres of pop, you can tell it’s a worldwide genre as it comes in many languages. We also see a combination of genres, such as country and pop and rap and pop. This links back to Pop being a diverse genre.

Michael Jackson often referred to ask ‘MJ’ or ‘King of Pop’, started his career at a very young age. He first featured in Jackson 5, a band with his brothers in 1964. He then started a solo career in 1971.  In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. He was also known for his creative music videos which gave him more fame, such as ‘thriller’. Michael Jackson has been really inspirational to many new pop singers as well, such as Justin Beiber who found him very inspirational.

Michael Jackson

Madonna who has been in the media as well as the music industry since 1977, she first started of dancing and then performed in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy. She attained huge popularity by pushing the limits of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and her image in music videos, which became a permanent position on MTV. She’s a massive icon in the music industry especially when it comes to pop.

Madonna

Justin Bieber is one of the most famous pop stars out there right now in the new generation of pop music. Being discovered on youtube at the age of 16, with the help of another Pop star, Usher. Despite being around for a couple of years Justin's music videos gain more than 100,000,000 views, this makes other artists competitive towards him. Being a pop star, a majority of Justin’s fans are young teenagers and mostly female. This links back to the Pop genre mostly being for the younger generation and preferably girls.

Justin Bieber

One Direction originally became famous on the TV show X factor, where they gained most of their fans. Though they didn’t win they gained millions of views on their first music video. Pop music, being their preferred genre they are loved by all their fans. Mostly girls, which again links to the idea of pop music fans being girls and the younger generation. Though there are some males that are fans of One Direction, the majority of them are girls.

One Direction

Pop music is very popular, especially among the younger generation as they seem to listen to it the most and are the targeted audience. A lot of pop music is played on the radio where a majority of teenagers look for good music. Legend pop stars like Michael Jackson, referred to as ‘king of pop’, inspired many other artists to get their pop music out there. Pop music has developed massively around the years originally generally generation from the 1960’s.

Is Pop a popular genre?

Many pop artist are collaborated within the same music group, as they all work in the same genre. Island, is a massive recording label as it holds all types of genres, such as pop, hip-hop and r’n’b.

Record Labels

Pop music is seen everywhere nowadays, it is mainly shown in kids/teens TV programmes; for example on Disney Channel, pop music is promoted by showing their characters music videos. Another way Pop music is advertised is by the radio, where a majority of people tune in to, to listen to music and find new tunes. This leads to the two step flow theory; as people who may listen the music on the radio may tell their friends and act like Opinion leaders and spread the word. Influencing others to listening to it. Lastly, on of the biggest ways Pop music is advertised is the internet as you see ads on website about latest music videos and social network sites like facebook and Twitter promote them. As well as youtube which most artist use to distribute their music videos.

Cross Media

The internet in the last few years have had a massive impact on the music industry itself. Such as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have made it easier for artists to connect to their fans, as well as allowing them to promote themselves. The internet has allowed them to share their music videos worldwide, allowing them to have a wider audience. Not only has the internet promoted artists but it has also found artists; like Justin Bieber who was originally seen on youtube. Also it’s allowed fans to buy music online aswell as certain singles they may want, as in the 90’s CD’s were bought where you had to buy all of it even if you liked one song.

Internet

Back in the 90’s TV channels like MTV were really popular since the internet wasn’t a major spot for music as it was a recent thing. All the latest music would be on MTV and that’s how teenagers would find out the latest change. But now there has been a massive change in the music industry, now music can be found anywhere and shows like X Factor help promote it, as they look for the latest stars in an ordinary audience. Again linking to music and promoting it as there are many stages to the process.

TV

Radio hosts are the people who try to make sure that the latest music is played on the radio. Putting a song on the radio could be the difference between a single becoming a hit or a flop and between a band having a successful career or just disappearing. Radio hosts are the link between bands/labels and radio station managers, producers and DJs. As many people listen to the radio on the go, they pick up new tracks on the way also picking up the artists name making them a little more famous.

Radio

A lot of people have said the hip-hop influence of pop music will fade out around 2013, along with the R&B influence around 2016, replacing it with more of a Euro-style dance influence and country. But music like, Disney pop will continue to be the leading genre, especially because a lot of younger children watch things like Disney channel. Though we see negative views about pop music not living on, some also believe that it will live on, as it has been around for more than 30 years, but in different ways as there’ll be aspects of pop in other genres as we are seeing now. For example Taylor swift who does country pop has merged the two making it a new kind of pop or a new kind of country.

Future for Pop

Pop Magazines

Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine found by producer Quincy Jones, launched in 1993. It mainly focuses on genres like pop, hip hop and r ‘n’ b. The magazine's target demographic is predominantly young, urban followers of hip-hop culture between the ages of 18-34. Vibe’s circulation statistics show that in 2007 is was approximately 800,000.

Vibe

Billboard is one of the oldest music magazines out there since 1894. In 1936 The Billboard published its first music magazine, and in 1940, it was the first Popular music chart that was calculated. Since August , 1958, the top 100 has been published, combining single sales and radio airplays. In 2008 achieved a circulation of 18,385 in the US. It’s targeted at the younger generation from the ages 13-21, who like to know the latest artists.

Billboard

Q magazine was first published in 1986, it was known as a different music magazine back in the late 80’s as it had good quality pictures as well as a good layout. It was also targeted at an older audience. But now it does feature new artists such as Jay-Z and Lana Del Ray, showing how times have changed. It’s circulation figures are 103,017, with in the months of July and December. It is sold at a price of £3.90 per issue, showing us, it’s a bit pricey.

Q

In music magazines the main seller would be who you feature in the magazine as it attracts people. Many magazines like Billboard, Vibe and We (heart) pop, compete with each other on getting the best music artist to feature in their magazine. The next thing people look for is what they put in the magazine like the latest songs and top albums as well as quantity. If the magazine is worth it or not.

Competition