Music is a vitally important aspect of society and American culture. It seems impossible to turn on the radio without hearing something off the weekly top 40. Musical icons like Beyonce, Taylor Swift and One Direction seem to dictate every social fad from fashion to popular phrases ("Miley, what's good?"). But, like every seemingly good thing on this planet, this monstrous industry holds a dark secret. And, also like most things on this planet, its roots can be traced back through centuries of world history (try not to fall asleep).
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During the Renaissance period of music (roughly 1400 - 1600), one of the most popular forms of music was the madrigal. Madrigals were fairly simple pieces of music composed by professional musicians for the purpose of being performed by amateurs. This type of music was meant to be sung in small groups at dinner parties or around the table with friends. What made these pieces so popular is that they were created by professional musicians for common, everyday people. Since there are (and forever will be) more regular people than there are professional musicians, that meant making lots of copies, which meant making lots of money.
This concept of by-musicians-for-amateurs is still quite potent in the music industry today. While one could argue that pop music is performed by "professionals," the core concept of the two styles is essentially the same: creating simple music for the sole purpose of making money. There's a video on YouTube of an Australian comedy band Axis of Awesome performing (nearly) every single pop song in a giant mash-up with just four chords. I have a friend who loves coming up with mash-ups of two or more pop songs that fit well together, both thematically and in chord progression structure. His list is quite extensive.
It's not difficult to see why.
The majority of music created and distributed today wasn't written or composed by the name on the cover. This task is given to a group of people whose job is to write one or two catchy, singable songs – sold first as singles and then again with the rest of the album – and 10 more mediocre, cookie-cutter songs to fill the record. Yes, this is an exaggeration, but not a huge one. Be honest; when was the last time you listened to a full album instead of just the highlights?
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This is where I have a problem with modern pop music. We call them "artists," but the music industry isn't about creating art. Somewhere along the line, it ceased to be "making music for a living" and became "making money using music." This blatant, conscious decision is a bastardization of music in of itself.
Now, I'm not trying to tell you what music to like. I'm not trying to make anyone angry. Hell, I find myself with at least one of these songs stuck in my head more often than not. There's nothing wrong with skipping that slow song to get to your favorite track on the album. I don't think there's any hope for changing the music industry now. I just believe we, as consumers, need to be more aware of how much money we're spending on music that's basically all the same.
