Post for June 18th -

For this posting I am going to be talking about topics in relation to chapters 3 & 7 in Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction (Negus, 1996). I will write about each chapter separately below.

Part One: Chapter 3 - "Mediations"

My response to this chapter is inspired by the talk of how music has been constructed and mediated for radio broadcast. In this post I want look at other ways in which music has been constructed to be transmitted through different/new technologies: the cell phone and the mp3 player.

During the 70's and good rock song was key to a musician's success. In the 80's music video's became critical to being a distinguished musician. In the 90's Cds provided utmost portability and song selection, but that in combination with killer music videos ensured success. Now, the sale of ringtones are a way for musician's to become famous. Cell phones have much changed the way we are able to communicate. From first being able to converse with our loved ones on the go to having fragmented conversations by way of text messaging, and now to having instant access to the internet from anywhere there is reception. More specific to popular music, I want to look at how cell phones have become a mecca for the 10 second catchy tune - the ringtone.

At first cell phones had digitized rings of various tones to produce familiar and amusing tunes. Today, the ringtone is a booming market. With a cellphone, anyone can go online and pay to download a tune for their phone to play during incoming call. This alleviates the need for dull boring typical songs and allows a person to show anyone in ear shot who they are by personalizing their ringtone. This has now become a huge market. When listening to the ringtones available they take the very distinctive and catchy parts of a popular song (the hook) and make it downloadable to play as your phone's ring. This encourages recording artists and producers to construct songs that have a novel and catchy hook in order to make more profit, sell their tunes, and gain popularity. Just like music had and has the tendency to be organized "to suit the requirements of commercial markets" for the radio (Negus, 1996), one can say that music now has the tendency to be reorganized to suit the ringtone market. Creating music that affords to the creation of a ringtone will help a musician in their success and popularity.

Next I want to talk about the effect the mp3 player has on the transmission and adaption of music. Mp3's allow music to be extremely portable as mp3's are saved to a file and can be carried on a small drive that fits into your pocket or clips to your shirt. This allows music to be much more portable than Cds. The newest release of the iPod shuffle can hold 1,000 songs in the size of a Bic lighter, where as one would need to carry at least 100 Cds to have the same amount of music at their fingertips and big pockets to take it on the go.

During my student teaching experiences, many students immediately put their earbuds in during the mere 5 minutes of passing time to listening to music. This extreme portability and single-song downloadability has led to a need for music in smaller doses. As this need is there, people (musicians) will start producing to meet those needs i.e. singles.

It seems as the portability of music increases, the easier it is for people to access more music. If music is more portable, it is accessed more often, but in smaller doses. Musicians and producers will see these needs and do what they can to meet these needs.

Part Two: Chapter 7 - "Politics"

This chapter discusses how music alters in it's meaning and potential political message through its use in time and space. In this part, I want to talk about the messages songs can have.

Negus (1996) says, "any political content of a song has to be understood in terms of processes of mediation during which it can undergo change and be connected to various political agendas." This means that a song's meaning is never stagnant and is always connected to some political agenda - it cannot be a political statement on it's own. This also means that the meaning of a song can and will change over time as it becomes connected to new political issues. The meaning of a song depends on the events of the time.

I think a lot of what Negus says is true. The way we interpret texts (music) depends on our personal experiences and the time in which the text is being read. In interpreting texts, I also think we need to always consider the history and context in which the text was produced. Doing so will contribute to the overall meaning of the text (song). On the other hand, looking at the original context and intentions of the text may tint our interpretation of it's current message to match that of the past. I think it is the way we relate the song and its original meaning to our current lives that helps it to create meaning. We must consider the past of the song in order to understand how its meaning has changed over time.

I feel I understand a lot of what Negus is saying, but then I think about songs in which have a very distinct political message such as this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QagaKuFeA4w

This song in combination with the video is clearly connected to a specific political time/events. By Neagus' terms then, does this song have a political message? Perhaps it is the video that brings meaning to the song. But seeing the video now, when the administration it is criticizing is past, does it hold the same meaning? Personally to me it does. I wonder if 20 years from now that will be the case. In 20 years, will the song, or rather remix, need a new video in order to connect it to the current political world, or will the song/video in its current entirety be sufficient?

I'm not sure I have the answers to these questions as I have struggled with this reading, but I do think a song's meaning is very multi-faceted. A song will mean something to the individual, and if the individual can rid himself of his own assumptions, he can see where the song has meaning in politics. The song also has meaning in it's original composition, but that is often times unknown. Finally, the song has meaning connected to the time/place from where it was originally heard, and any time/place it is hear thereafter. Music is always connected to the world in which it is played.