Task: Postmodern and Music

Postmodernism and Music

1. The postmodern sensibility that anything can be considered 'cool' in an ironic 'I know it's bad, but it's so bad it's good' way - For example, when people usually have a guilty pleasure, they don't like to say anything about it as they are afraid that it would be seen as embarassing and hey are worried about what others would think of them after they learnt about their 'guilty' choice of music. For example, 'Jedward' are often seen as a guilty pleasure as they are viewed in the public eye as being typically anoying and childish whereby on the other hand, someone may enjoy their music and due to their reputation in the public eye, are scared of what people with think of them if they knew of their guilty pleasure.
2. Work that is created/based (entirely or in part) on older material. This incorporates sampling and will take you from the realms of hip hop culture, transporting you finally in today's modern fragmented musical landscape. You will have to listen to some of the artists to fully appreciate them and their work - For example, I believe that this is most relevant in hip hop and r&b genres of today as alot of songs are rapped and as a backing track, an older origional song may be used and sometimes even origional artist vocals. I have found reference to this in Sean Kingston's hit 'Beautiful Girls' which has direct relevance to Ben E King's 'Stand By Me'.
3. Audiences that are both niche and mainstream. E.g: Radio 1, 1Xtra, BBC6, XFM - Some artists are aimed at niche audiences and yet played on mainstream radio, for example, recetly, a song by alternative artist 'Goteye' entitled 'Somebody I Used to know' has become well played on Radio 1 and other mainstream stations. Nowday's this is usually due to iTunes and the number of downloads resulting in a song being played on national radio. 
4. The ways in which people engage and listen to music e.g: iPod, DAB, Mobie Phones etc - If I think about how I listen to my music, it would be in different ways depending on where I am at the time. For example, if I am at home I will on occasion listen to the radio although I prefer my aclectic choices of music apposed to mainstream all the time so then I listen to vinyls. I will sometimes use my ipod at home although my iPod is something I take with me so I can listen to my music anywhere I want. I believe that this is not affecting the music industry in a negative way, but only enhancing the ways in which we listen to music and therefore we buy more, don't we?
5. The legal issues surrounding sampling (Led Zepplin 'borrowed' heavily from old blues men and it took years for the songwriters to be credited and paid royalties. The same group took a hard-line stance initially to be sampled by hip hop groups) -  The media are well known for mamking strong comparisons between artists and their music and exploiting them as 'copy cat' ing. The most recent case of this to me would be the likening of Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' to Madonna's 'Express Yourself'. Despite the media likening Lady Gaga's image already to Madonna, the song held a similar melody and message throughout which caused the media to exploit. A video had circulated of both songs compiled together which I have posted above. In this day and age, it would be quite difficult to be completely original as every idea is, so therefore it is hard to press legal charges for such a  matter.
6. The state of the music industry incorporating any recent developments that change how weaccess/interact with music e.g : Spotify, X Factor, iTunes, illegal downloads, free cds with newspapers etc - This asks the question, 'are we living in an age now where music is all digital and soon we will have nothing to show for it?' In today's society, I would think firstly about buying my song on iTunes as its fast, you can do it from your own home without going to a music store or supermarket, and you can choose single songs that you wish to have from an album. Although it seems easier than buying a CD, I believe that we may loose the experience of 'having' music and having a physical collection of CD's or Vinyls. This is particularly the case with people who like to stream music through Spotify or other streaming websites where you pay a small fee and create playlists to listen to, I believe that this isnt the same and its taking over the music industry, music may be perhaps becoming too accessable?