Son of JayJamJah

I agree that commercial is a better term then pop for the type of music people in this thread and on this site feel vitriol towards. Well surmised observation Brad Stengel.

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Me, Myself and I United as One

If you're posting in the music forums make sure to be thoughtful and expressive, if you're posting in the lounge ask yourself "is this something that adds to the conversation?" It's important to remember that a lot of people use each thread. You're probably not as funny or clever as you think, I know I'm not.

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Rainard Jalen

Well to be fair, the vast majority of what is usually categorized as "pop" is commercial. The only real exception nowadays are sugary hook-oriented pop forms of indie music (which, suffice to say, are not commercial in the slightest).

If the question in that case is: "is commercial music corporate garbage or does it have its merits?" - I'd answer that most of it probably is creatively and artistically bankrupt, overly processed and manufactured tripe. But then, even commercial chart music has its good moments. There have been enough songs this year that I've liked. Dizzee's "Dance Wiv Me", for one.

Anteater

Perhaps the truth is something closer to "Not all pop is mainstream contemporary chart music, but all contemporary chart music has elements of pop?". Or perhaps not.

I do, however, find it interesting that some magazines/reviewing forums out there tend to elevate R&B, various kinds of rap and generic hip-hop and pop music while trivializing musicians who emphasize their instrumental capabilities as "pretentious". Maybe its what people seem to be valuing inherently in a lot of contemporary chart and "alternative" music that's flawed, rather than their taste/choice in music specifically. Hmn.

Wikipedia's definition of pop seems to be spot on though in any case...

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Astronomer

All, or most genres of music that involve parties other than the musicians themselves, contain elements of commercialization. While the musician's goals may be artistic, the managers/ record labels/ etc are usually only concerned with potential audiences and prospective markets. This is why labels who can afford it employ promotions teams and PR consultants. In my opinion, this kind of activity is evident in most genres of music (not included smaller indie artists) and not just pop.

However, it is true that popular music is not doubt the most lucrative when it comes to commercialization and profit-making. But this is only one facet of pop, and even though the music is driven to increase profits it does not know that there is also merit to the music. It's impossible to say whether pop music is one or the other, because it is most often than not both, and anyway most music genres are intermingled with commercial and profit-making avenues.

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someonecompletelyrandom

This is a really terrible thread...

Urban Hat€monger ?

Well **** off out of it before I ban you for spamming it then.

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someonecompletelyrandom

Dude.

Sunny

A lot of artists that are linked to the genre aren't really popstars in the classical sense. At least not to me. I mean, a song with catchy lyrics is already classified as pop by some people despite some alternative/indie songs being very catchy, too. I guess you could say that pop is the kind of music one can easily make money with because it appeals to a lot of people. And that isn't due to attractive artists or anything of the kind but to a melody that sticks in people's heads, also by being played on the radio a lot.

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