Week Seven: Can popular music be a genuine force for political change?

John Street commented “music has symbolic force, it deploys the power of language to create visions.” Many music artists have tried to use their celebrity influence to put a political view across. However is it really effective?

John Lennon and Yoko Ono released a Christmas single in 1971 delivering the iconic message through the lyrics ‘War is over, if you want it.’ Well it’s 37 years on and there is still war in the world.

Band Aid raised awareness of poverty in Africa and raised a significant amount of money, but the problem is still there.

A lot of music can contain the artist’s personal political beliefs and can provoke political action on a small scale. Does this mean the listener takes it in? Or do they just listen to music they like?

Music is a good tool to put a point across, but does it have a grand politically changing power? I don’t think so.

Week Six: Is DRM the best way to save the music industry?

DRM: Digital Rights Management attempts to control digital music content online. I think this is an impossible task.

The Internet is an almost uncontrollable force. There’s a multitude of websites and programs with downloadable music and there are possible ways to crack security codes.

The music industry is facing great difficulty with losing money to people who would rather download an artist’s track for free than pay for their latest CD.

Limewire (a music sharing program) now has a disclaimer that pops up to warn you what you’re about to load is an illegal version. It keeps them out of trouble, but you can still download the track.

The fact is that illegal music sharing is easy and vast amounts of people do it. Is it really likely the music industry can take every music track off the Internet? If they could how would they find a more productive way of publicizing new material?

Week Five: Can popular music really be unplugged?

In my opinion music started off unplugged. People can sing without any additional equipment (a cappella).

Yet considering popular music in the means of distribution and making music heard by a wider audience, technology is needed. Music grew along with technology from vinyl to mp3.

Paul Therberge states, ‘without electronic technology, pop music in the 21st century is unthinkable.’ In a modern world it is hard to imagine how we’d be able to hear new music or determine what is popular without technology.

The definition of unplugged music nowadays is an artist performing live. Yet they still use technology, singers don’t usually perform without microphones. Live performances aren’t usually the main material on an album and if they are it’s usually a bonus feature.

In a recording studio you’ll see a great range of dials to alter the sound. Experimenting with sounds is how music evolved after all.