Chapter 3, Mediations....

I think my feelings about this week's reading can be expressed most eloquently not in my own words, but through the immortal genius of Rockwell, the 1980's one-hit wonder, who most famously said,  "I always feel like, somebody's watching me." With this in mind, (and not necessarily the music video, or ironically, the ensuing Geico Auto Insurance commercial), I couldn't help but think about the "Big Brother" concept when reading through chapter three of Keith Negus's book, Popular Music in Theory.  I can't help but think about the commercial aspect of media, specifically radio and the music industry, and how almost disturbing it is that much of what I think I'm listening to by choice is already almost pre-determined.  As Nager writes, "no music will ever simply 'reflect' a society but instead be caught within, arise out of, and refer to a web of unequal social relations and power struggles" (70).  In that sense, the creation and reception of popular music is much more influenced by the hierarchy of DJs to stations to corporations to advertisers within commercial side of pop culture.

One thing that really interested me about this chapter is the idea how heavily the advertising industry influences the media, particularly radio stations.  While I think my choice to listen to stations like The Current (89.3) over KDWB (101.3), reflect my taste in music, the reality is this choice has been pre-determined for me, in order for each station to reach the target audience set up by commercial radio stations who have "carefully market-researched audience groups who are then profiled and presented to the companies who may wish to influence their consumption habits" (81).  While public radio stations can be considered the alternative to more popular music radio stations like KDWB, the truth is, the fact that I even listen to the radio at all makes me somebody's target audience.  But Nager also brings up another point about who should have the power in this situation, then?  "After all," he writes, "if the markets should not decide, who is going to judge what should and should not be played?"( 82).  Ultimately this aspect of the chapter brought up many more questions for me than I have the ability or capacity to answer at this point, I think that it's definitely interesting to note the power conflict within something like the music radio industry - something I hadn't thought of before.  I'm also very interested to see where this will go in the future.  While record stores are very much on the decline with the rise of iTunes and mp3 downloads, we are still very much positioned as consumers when we turn on our computers.  Open iTunes store, scroll to "top songs", and it is likely you will see a list of songs ranging from Katy Perry all the way to Soulja Boy.  Talk about mass audience appeal... 

On that note, I also think it's interesting to note the correlation between the "image" of a song and a target audience.  We hear songs literally everywhere we go these days, with each place or situation clearly trying to sell to a target audience.  From commercials (Geico versus All State), to movie soundtracks (Breakfast Club to Dangerous Minds), to the crap blaring out of every other store in Mall of America (Abercrombie and Fitch...ahem), to even ringtones (my 5th period classroom), and everywhere we hear them, a certain image comes to mind of a person who would enjoy, consume, or appreciate that music based on what is being sold to me through media representations.  What I would argue though, is that the image of the music video isn't nearly as powerful as the image of the artist itself.  While MTV, VH1, and even CMT pride themselves on showing the visual representations of the music their audiences listen to, it's rare (unless you're watching between the hours of 2 and 7am) that you will find anything on either channel remotely resembling a music video.  So while I can't say I think of the "Lollipop" video everytime I hear the song, I can say that I picture a distinct image of Lil Wayne, and all of the connotations that come along with that.  In that sense, I would agree that we can think of artist images, like music videos, as "producing a particular audio-visual agenda for the audiences of a song" (92).  And while I wouldn't personally connect with Lil Wayne's

 image, there definitely are people out there who would, or who would at least appreciate what he is trying to project.  Or what about someone like Susan Boyle?  An obviously talented woman voice-wise, she blatantly went against everything the music industry giants regard as what an acceptable image is for someone in the music industry.  While at first her story was heart-warming, inspiring even, ultimately, Ms. Boyle was forced to at least attempt to update her clearly out of date, unkempt, lacking appearance.  So what will happen now?  Is she still going to be regarded as the talented singer she once was?  While she's no Britney Spears (but has arguably the better voice), will she still get a record deal?  And if she does, will anyone even buy it now that she's being forced to sell herself out to commercialized media?  I guess only time will tell.