Why Does Popular Music Sound So Prefabricated?
By Daniel Sunderlin
Senior in the BSLE program
Sept. 10, 2004
Every one of us has been exposed, no matter how much we try to avoid it, to music popular in American culture. What element of much of this music makes it sound very alike, and who dictates that this is the music that people should listen to? My analysis is going to look at the source of much of our popular culture, Advertising.
Every day I turn on the radio and every day I am bombarded by the same music. It’s not that all of the songs that I hear are the same, although most radio stations do have constantly repeating play-lists, nor is it that they are, necessarily, by the same artists it’s simply very similar production by the same producers.
Music is made up of several elements these include rhythm: the underlying beat, melody: generally the singing or parts one would hum, tempo: the speed at which the music is played, and numerous other elements. Popular music generally has it’s main focus on the vocals, as the lead melody. Several specific elements make up the main portion of popular music. It generally follows this simple pattern: Verse, refrain, verse, refrain, bridge, refrain, refrain. This theme has several variations but this is the most common. The refrains usually have harmonized choruses with repeating hooks, or catchy vocal melodies.
There are several different types of pop Music the most popular being Boy/Girl band, but hip-hop and New rock also have this prefabricated sound of which I’m talking. All of this music is pushed by major recording companies including Columbia, RCA, Sony, Decca, Capital, Mercury, and MGM[1]. These companies create a false market, often times for under talented performing artists, by using advertising and marketing to create a sense of product differentiation. Much of the time the differentiation implied by this advertising is nearly non-existent. A prime example would be the girl I have pictured here and the backstreet boys. Several of their respective songs were produced by Max Martin, and both groups were signed by jive records (www.hiponline.com). Both have albums with songs so similar that even the musical chord progressions are the same.
Even in various other forms of popular music such as new rock bands like Nickleback and POD often use riffs, guitar note progressions, which are the same. Nearly all of this music is heavily played oin the radio and on MTV which begs the question: Do consumers like this music because they are choose to or because they are forcibly exposed to it? The Marshall-Rosen idea of the “Superstar Effect” comes into play here “in the Marshall-Rosen sense…small differences in ability are magnified into disproportional levels of success”.(Hamlen, Pg 1) But, even this idea can’t totally explain the phenomenon without taking into account the excessive advertising budget that these bands face.
What about payola? Although it is actually illegal in most radio stations that focus on pop music the DJ’s are forced to work within a very narrow range of songs that they are allowed to play. ”most stations play only the songs the record companies pay them to.”(Boehlert, Pg1)[2]. Paying is the only way for labels to have their music played on the radio often times giving major labels an unfair competitive advantage because smaller labels can’t afford to pay.[3] Without airplay the possibility of a song becoming a hit is slim to none. Advertising has been proven effective throughout its years of use. With the budgets that most popular music has behind them it’s no wonder that these songs are played on the radio, thus becoming hits.
So, Why Does Popular Music Sound So Prefabricated? The answer to my question is a tricky one. It’s not that music which sounds prefabricated is what the public desires, but it is what they hear because that’s what record companies pay for. And because most people are affected by what they hear musically, especially if they hear it constantly repeated, they begin to enjoy trite music without realizing that complex and truly differentiated music is still being produced everyday.
1. William A. Hamlen, Jr.The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 73, No. 4. (Nov., 1991), pp. 729-733.
2. Boehlert, Eric. "Pay for Play?" Salon 14 Mar. 2001
http://dir.salon.com/ent/feature/2001/03/14/payola/index.html?pn=1
3. “Britney Spears” hiponline 1997-1999
http://www.hiponline.com/artist/music/s/spears_britney/index.html
[1] There are many more recording companies that sell in the popular music market these are just the largest.
[2] The money that these record companies pay is usually done legally through independent rock promoters.
[3] Smaller labels can still get their music played on independent and college radio stations.