Music Industry example essay topic

Music Industry Taking both the American and international airwaves by storm, Missy Elliot has once again whipped up the music scene with her single, "Work It", off her latest album, "Under Construction". This song has already surged up the top 40 and dance radio charts around the globe, with listeners calling into radio stations to request for more airplay for its addictive beats. Missy's fans mainly consist of generation Y and Z people, from ten-year-old girls from the Bronx, to the thirty-year-old male accountant in Singapore. Her tracks have always been a hot favorite in dance clubs as well. During the first two weeks of its release, I heard the song's unique rhythm from each and every R&B and top 40 club I went to and passed by. Some even played it twice in a night, which is a highly unusual occurrence.

Thanks to present day's efficient media accessibility, I did not have to sit around the television waiting until the video was streamed on MTV. Instead, I chose to access her official website and watched the video online at the convenience of a few simple mouse-clicks. Coyly challenging the line of acceptability, the music video for "Work It" fed its audience with audacious -and a tad raunchy- choreography yet again managing to remain filial to hip-hop's break-dancing roots. The video featured people of all ages, races and gender dancing to the music and generally having a good time. I believe that this song works in reflecting today's postmodern society's level of accepting the individual's right to expression (i.e. Missy and her views and choice of expression on female sexuality). This is vis-a-vis previous strict circumvention of these 'taboo' topics in the music industry, let alone the media, except when to illustrate a case where one voices 'vulgar' opinions and is punished, hence reinforcing the social values of the time.

Despite being an avid fan of Missy Elliot, I have not yet purchased any of her albums. The ludicrous price of A$30 an album is way more than I can afford. Hence, I resort to shuttling free music from the World Wide Web to my hard disk with a simple - albeit corrupt- touch of the 'enter' key. Unfortunately, this luxury will also be short-lived, as record companies are working hard to pin a price on these tracks online as well; the bane of being a music fan in this capitalistic world where the music industry is no longer fueled by song but by the power of the dollar.

The Cinema The mystery that shrouded this elusive Marvel Comics character was the main reason that lured me to watch the "Daredevil" movie, 20th Century Fox's latest offering to a recently super-hero hungry cinema audience (following the likes of Spiderman and X-men). The main protagonist was being headed by Ben Affleck, a fresh new addition to Hollywood's elite A-list. I entered the cinema with high expectations for the entertainment factor since it was considered a summer box-office hit in the USA. Last I heard, the movie was doing relatively well in the cinemas back home in Singapore as well, so during it's opening weekend here in Perth, I made it a point to get my tickets that very Saturday. Instead of an enthusiastic stream of fellow patrons, a mere thirty people or so trickled into the auditorium, which was large enough to hold about a couple of hundred people.

This was probably due to the odd hour of the time slot we chose, six-thirty in the evening, when most people would be having their dinner. Most of the fellow viewers were teenagers, ranging from thirteen-year-old boys lugging along their skateboards, to seventeen-year-old girls giggling about Ben Affleck and unabashedly wishing aloud that they could be the leading actress, Jennifer Garner. Another large majority was elderly folks with their grandkids in tow. A few middle-aged folks straggled in after the families. I heard two men animatedly discussing the Daredevil's character's origins in front of me, and further to my right, a young boy of perhaps around nine-years of age was explaining who the Daredevil was to his mother. As the opening sequence began, I suddenly felt very unequipped with my shallow knowledge of this character amidst the few, yet evidently devoted fans of this hero.

When the show ended, I left the cinema feeling strangely contented. Not that the movie was good. Quite the contrary; the acting had been mediocre and the script just as bland. However, I had been given what I expected. Two hours of mainly action packed entertainment where good prevails over evil in the end.

It's no wonder why despite it's far from flattering reviews, this movie managed to rake in the box-office success (negating the sustainability factor though), using tried and true tactics for profit. The movie industry wields its trusty money-raking magnet in this film, using up-and-coming stars (like Colin Farrell and Jennifer Garner) to target the massive teenage audience - the largest contributor to ticket sales. Hence, we can see that it is impossible to separate capitalism from a simple night's entertainment when dealing with the big-shots in Hollywood. The profit doesn't just end at the ticket booth though. I left the cinema wondering how many kids would be clamouring their parents for Daredevil toys and stationary; teens rushing to get their hands on the movie's soundtrack, t-shirts and other merchandise. No wonder we " ve entered into the film ic era of sequels, its good business.

Glossary Capitalism: Practiced when private individuals accrue capital and invest it in the manufacturing of goods and employing staff. Final products are sold at a profit, which is then circulated to their preference and reinvested in more production. Modernity: Describes traits of modern societies. For Example, industrial, capitalist economies, democratic political organization and a social structure formulated from a division into social classes.

Culturally, an inclination to the disintegration of experience, a commodification and validation of all pieces of life, and an acceleration of daily life. Postmodernism: Transition from modernism to a more superficial view, smearing the rifts between high and low culture, moving away from tradition to focus on the individual. Public Sphere: An area within societal interaction where public views are molded.