Music Today

Music consumption and production has changed over the past years. With modern technology, and the creation of websites such as Facebook and MySpace, music is easily accessible by many consumers. Many styles and genres of music have crossed ethnicities becoming more appealing to everyone.

Rock and roll first appeared in the 1950’s and was a mesh between Rhythm & Blues (R&B) and country. The harmony was gospel based with heavy R&B rhythms ("Rock and Roll," 2012).

When Elvis Pressley burst onto the scene in the late 1950s due to popularity, he was dubbed the Godfather of Rock and Roll

Rock and roll continued to grow amongst the younger crowd and it created its own subculture of people. As a result of the economic boom in the 50s, advertisers for rock music targeted teens. Demand for the music grew and shows like American bandstand kept the genre going. The lyrics reflected what was going on in society, sexuality, and drug use. This resonated with teens and adults alike known as Hippies.

Huge out door concerts such as Woodstock were held drawing a record number of people.

According to Britannica (2012) the telecommunication act of 1996 allowed smaller radio stations to grow reaching different markets and incorporating various styles of music for their audience. This was called splintering

With splintering, its now easy to find a station that may play rock followed by R&B or hip-hop.

Rock paved the way for punk rock and heavy metal and rock/rap collaborations such as Run DMC/Aerosmith’s “Walk this Way” and Linkin Park/Jay-Z’s “Encore”

Development of compact disc (CD) and iPods allowed music to go with the consumer anywhere. Napster allowed file sharing which allowed anyone to download music for free. Recording industry took a huge loss due to Napster. The Recording Industry Association of America, Bertelsmann AG sued them in 1999("Rock and Roll," 2012).

This lead to the creation of pay as you go sites such as iTunes and the new Napster