Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Day 2 - Really, Do Music Genres Still Matter?


Day 2 - In my previous post, I mentioned, "make sure your genre is the love of your life." I also advised to pay attention to the individuality of the various artists in your genre. As an artist and musician, it is very important to become a master of your craft, study music theory, and to do so you must study the fundamentals and elements of music: rhythm, harmony, melody, structure, form and texture, and the history of music. That's if you're serious about being a professional musician and longevity in the business. Figure out what your sound is and what separates you from the rest.

There are various different types of genres: Alternative Music, Blues, Classical, Country, Dance, Easy Listening, Electronic, European Folk/Pop, Hip Hop/Rap, Indie Pop, Inspirational/Gospel, Asian Pop/J-Pop/K-Pop, Jazz, Latin, New Age, Opera, Pop, R&B/Soul, Reggae, Rock, Singer/Songwriter, World Music/Beats.... And then there are a multitude of sub genres under each one of those. There are also new genres that have emerged over the years like Dub-Step and Electronic Dance Music, also known as EDM. I understand that when you are in the creative process, you are not focusing on "what genre of music does this song fall under," you're just creating what best interests you. By all means continue to do that and not put yourself in any genre box! Genres are for the executives to make sense of what you're creating!

Genres really begin to matter once you become a "recording" artist and you want to be taken seriously by us. Executives, label radio promotion departments, and radio program directors will need to know where to place you at radio on station formats. We need to know whether it's considered "Urban Adult Contemporary," "Smooth Jazz," or "Top 40" also known as "Contemporary Hit Radio," etc. Therefore, know what your base is, whether it's Hip Hop, R&B, Pop, etc, but don't focus so much on placing yourself in one of those boxes. There are a lot of musicians who cross genres for example, Taylor Swift's "Both of Us" featuring B.o.B. Another example is Nelly's "Over and Over" featuring Tim McGraw. Know your base and create what feels good to you. 

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- Joy A. Young, CEO of J.Couture Productions

Visit www.JCoutureProductions.com to submit for a one on one consultation.

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