Genre Is Dead- Long live genre, a close focus on music

This article is written by Rob McInnes and argues that genre is no longer relevant in todays music.

The article sets out to answer the questions;

• Is genre relevant in todays music?
• When did genre become irrelevant?
• Why is genre now irrelevant?

The article states that;

• 'During that decade (the 1970's), my perception is that there were a hand full of genres'
• 'Pop meant pretty much anything you heard on Radio 1 and what it didn't include was called rock'
• 'The more you found out about any particular music genre, the more you discovered its sub-genres'

By this, the article suggests that music has become so diverse in tastes and preferences, that it is near impossible to assign an artist/song/album to one category.
Although, it states that music (and therefore music genres) are fluid, they have no written rules or a fixed state that they must remain in.

• "A great many recording artists regularly proclaim their own dislike of categorisation. Marketing departments themselves tacitly support this view by choosing to emphasise an artist's 'uniqueness' and difference rather than their generic features."

This suggests that although many artists try to stray against the managerial authority. However, as a part of the marketing process, they become trapped within the genres of the industry.
I agree with the point made, as it can be seen with many 'alternate' artists, in order to maximise their fame and popularity, they become more mainstream with their music, message and appearance to fit into the 'popular' genre. A more recent example of this would be Taylor Swift, who in her early days stayed loyal to her country influences, however as her significance fizzled out, she made the drastic switch to pop music resulting in her powerful and overwhelming popularity.

• "Computer software packages like acid pro 4, sound forge 5... spearheading combinations of music styles that are creeping into the mainstream"

This quote suggests that the unavoidable change in technology has lead to genre being abolished in the eyes of the audience. Traditionally, 'pop music' is typical of auto-tuned, catchy songs that come from a solo-artist. However, due to changes in technology, the techno genre (that would never typically be in association with pop music) is now a regular visitor to the mainstream pop genre.