in concert in 2007.]] Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local audiences. whereas pop music usually refers to a specific musical genre.

Overview

Musicologist and specialist in popular music Philip Tagg defined the notion in the light of sociocultural and economical aspects:

"Popular music, unlike art music, is (1) conceived for mass distribution to large and often socioculturally heterogeneous groups of listeners, (2) stored and distributed in non-written form, (3) only possible in an industrial monetary economy where it becomes a commodity and (4) in capitalist societies,subject to the laws of 'free' enterprise, according to which it should ideally sell as much as possible of as little as possible to as many as possible" This approach has a problem, in that "repeat hearings are not counted, depth of response does not feature, socially diverse audiences are treated as one aggregated market and there is no differentiation between musical styles". Another way to define popular music is "to link popularity with means of dissemination" (e.g., being aired on the radio); however, this is problematic, because "all sorts of music, from folk to avant garde, are subject to mass mediation". A third approach to defining popular music is to based on "social group – either a mass audience or a particular class (most often, though not always) the working class", an approach which is problematic because social structures cannot simply be overlain onto musical styles. These three approaches are "too partial" and "too static". Moreover, "understandings of popular music have changed with time".

Form

Form in popular music is most often sectional, the most common sections being verse, chorus or refrain, and bridge. Other common forms include thirty-two-bar form, verse-chorus form, and the twelve bar blues. Popular music songs are rarely composed using different music for each stanza of the lyrics (songs composed in this fashion are said to be "through-composed").

The verse and chorus are considered the primary elements. Each verse usually has the same melody (possibly with some slight modifications), but the lyrics change for most verses. The chorus (or "refrain") usually has a melodic phrase and a key lyrical line which is repeated. Pop songs may have an introduction and coda ("tag"), but these elements are not essential to the identity of most songs. Pop songs that use verses and choruses often have a bridge, which, as its name suggests, is a section which connects the verse and chorus at one or more points in the song.

The verse and chorus are usually repeated throughout a song though the bridge, intro, and coda (also called an "outro") are usually only used once. Some pop songs may have a solo section, particularly in rock or blues-influenced pop. During the solo section one or more instruments play a melodic line which may be the melody used by the singer, or, in blues- or jazz-influenced pop, the solo may be improvised based on the chord progression. A solo usually features a single instrumental performer (e.g., a guitarist or a harmonica player) or less commonly, more than one instrumentalist (e.g., a trumpeter and a sax player).

Thirty-two-bar form uses four sections, most often eight measures long each (4×8=32), two verses or A sections, a contrasting B section (the bridge or "middle-eight") and a return of the verse in one last A section (AABA). Verse-chorus form or ABA form may be combined with AABA form, in compound AABA forms. Variations such as a1 and a2 can also be used. The repetition of one chord progression may mark off the only section in a simple verse form such as the twelve bar blues.

History

depicted performing La sonnambula]] "The most significant feature of the emergent popular music industry of the late 18th and early 19th centuries was the extent of its focus on the commodity form of sheet music". The availability of inexpensive, widely-available sheet music versions of popular songs and instrumental music pieces made it possible for music to be disseminated to a wide audience of amateur music-makers, who could play and sing popular music at home. In addition to the influence of sheet music, another factor was the increasing availability during the late 18th and early 19th century of public popular music performances in "pleasure gardens and dance halls, popular theatres and concert rooms". The early popular music performers worked hand-in-hand with the sheet music industry to promote popular sheet music. One of the early popular music performers to attain widespread popularity was Jenny Lind, who toured the US in the mid-19th century. During the 19th century, more regular people began getting involved in music by participating in amateur choirs or joining brass bands.

The centre of the music publishing industry in the US during the late 19th century was in New York's 'Tin Pan Alley' district. The Tin Pan Alley music publishers developed a new method for promoting sheet music: incessant promotion of new songs. One of the technological innovations that helped to spread popular music around the turn of the century was player pianos; these allowed people to hear the new popular piano tunes. By the early 1900s, the big trends in popular music were the increasing popularity of vaudeville theaters and dance halls and the new invention—the gramophone player. The record industry grew very rapidly; "By 1920 there were almost 80 record companies in Britain, and almost 200 in the USA". Radio broadcasting of music, which began in the early 1920s, helped to spread popular songs to a huge audience. Another factor which helped to disseminate popular music was the introduction of "talking pictures"--sound films—in the late 1920s. In the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, there was a move towards consolidation in the recording industry which led several major companies to dominate the record industry.

In the 1950s and 1960s, television began to play an increasingly important role in disseminating new popular music. Variety shows regularly showcased popular singers and bands. In the 1960s, the development of new technologies in recording such as multitrack recorders gave sound engineers an increasingly important role in popular music. By using recording techniques, sound engineers could create new sounds and sound effects that were not possible using traditional "live" recording techniques.

In the 1970s, the trend towards consolidation in the recording industry continued to the point that the "... dominance was in the hands of five huge transnational organizations, three American-owned (WEA, RCA, CBS) and two European-owned [companies] (EMI, Polygram)". In the 1990s, the consolidation trend took a new turn: inter-media consolidation. This trend saw music recording companies being consolidated with film, television, magazines, and other media companies, an approach which facilitated cross-marketing promotion between subsidiaries. For example, a record company's singing star could be cross-promoted by the firm's television and magazine arms.

In the 1990s, popular music was changed by the "introduction of digital equipment (mixing desks, synthesizers, samplers, sequencers)" which allowed the creation of "new sound worlds" and facilitated DIY music production by amateur musicians and " tiny independent record labels". Another trend which affected popular music was the increasing availability and use of computers and Internet connections, which facilitated the dissemination—both legal and illegal—of digital recordings and digital versions of sheet music and lyrics.

Genres

Popular music dates at least as far back as the mid 19th century, and is commonly subdivided into genres. Different genres often appeal to different age groups. These often, but not always, are the people who were young when the music was new. Thus, for instance, Big band music continues to have a following, but it is probably a rather older group, on average, than the audience for hip hop music; similarly, the average age of the Breakcore or Dubstep aficionado is likely to be younger than the average hip-hop fan. For some genres, such as ragtime music, the original target generation may have died out almost entirely.

See also

Music radio

Popular culture

List of popular music performers

Popular music pedagogy

List of honorific titles in popular music

Music popularity index

Sources

Tagg Philip (1982) "Analysing Popular Music : Theory, Method and Practice" in Popular Music, 2

Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9.

Bennett (1980).

Birrer, Frans A. J. (1985). "Definitions and research orientation: do we need a definition of popular music?" in D. Horn, ed., Popular Music Perspectives, 2 (Gothenburge, Exeter, Ottawa and Reggio Emilia), p. 99-106.

Hall, S. (1978). "Popular culture, politics, and history", in Popular Culture Bulletin, 3, Open University duplicated paper.

Everett, Walter (1997). "Swallowed by a Song: Paul Simon's Crisis of Chromaticism", Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510004-2.

Hamm, Charles (1979). Yesterdays: Popular Song in America. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-01257-3.

Manuel, Peter (1988). Popular Musics of the Non-Western World: An Introductory Survey. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505342-7.

Marcello Sorce Keller (2000). "Popular Music in Europe", in James Porter, Timothy Rice and Chris Goertzen (eds.), Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Europe, New York, pp. 204- 213.

References

Further reading

T.W. Adorno with G. Simpson: ‘On Popular Music’, Studies in Philosophy and Social Science, ix (1941), 17–48

R. Iwaschkin: Popular Music: a Reference Guide (New York, 1986)

P. Hardy and D. Laing: The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music (London, 1990/R)

R. Middleton: Studying Popular Music (Milton Keynes, 1990)

P. Gammond: The Oxford Companion to Popular Music (Oxford, 1991)

D. Brackett: Interpreting Popular Music (Cambridge, 1995)

:fr:Volume ! a French scholarly journal dedicated to popular music studies.

External links

Famous Music Videos - Music Video Database - YouTube, Google Video, MySpace TV, MetaCafe, DailyMotion, Veoh, Current.com, ClipFish.de, MyVideo.de, Break.com and EyeSpot

The 1950s-2000's Week-By-Week - Looks at pop music/albums/radio and music news through these decades.

Pop Culture Madness Features the most requested pop songs 1920s through today

The Daily Vault music reviews

Yale Music Library Guide to Pop Music Research

Volume ! a French scholarly journal dedicated to the study of popular music.

Category:Popular culture Category:Entertainment Category:Mass media

Name	Eric Saade
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Eric Khaled Saade
Born	October 29, 1990
Origin	Kattarp, Helsingborg, Sweden
Genre	Pop, Eurodance, Dance
Occupation	Singer, Television presenter
Years active	2003–present
Label	Roxy Recordings
Associated acts	What's Up!
Url	Official Website

Eric Saade ( , ; ) born 29 October 1990) is a Swedish pop singer and children's television presenter. After two years with the boyband What's Up!, he left in February 2009 to pursue a solo career. Eric Saade represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Germany after winning the national Swedish selection Melodifestivalen 2011 with his entry "Popular". which resulted in one album and three singles. None of them charted. He also came to prominence after he won the Swedish music contest Joker (now Popkorn).

Member of What's Up!

In 2007, based on his initial success, he also took part in a competition for filling up a position in a new proposed Swedish boyband to be formed. Out of hundreds of applicants, 15 were chosen to perform at the Globe theater including Saade. Saade became successful as one of the 4 finalists to form the band named What's Up!.

The others members of the band picked were Robin Stjernberg, Luwdig "Ludde" Keijser and Johan Yngvesson. All had been in musical competitions earlier just like Saade. Stjernberg, had been a winner in the Sommarchansen in Malmö in 2006, Keijser had competed in Lilla Melodifestivalen and Yngvesson had appeared in Super Trouper television series.

The newly-formed What's Up! band toured Sweden starting Spring 2008. The same year, they sang the Swedish language version of the theme song of a Disney production entitled Camp Rock. Saade and members of What's Up! recorded the soundtrack for the film. The song was titled "Här är jag" in Swedish. Saade also dubbed the voice of the character Shane in the Swedish version of Disney's Camp Rock with other What's Up! members dubbing voices of other characters. They also appeared on the promotional trailer prepared by the Disney Channel.

In 2008, the band released its album In Pose. It stayed one week in the Swedish Albums Chart at #40. Two singles were released, "Go Girl!" in May 2007 that peaked at #5 in the Swedish Singles Chart and "If I Told You Once" in March 2008 reaching #16.

In early 2009, the band announced the departure of Eric Saade for a solo career. He was replaced by Johannes Magnusson.

Television work

During the summer of 2009 Saade presented Disney Channel's popular My Camp Rock a Scandinavian music competition based on the Disney Channel's hit movie Camp Rock as well as holding interviews with Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. Saade also appeared on Julias Stjärnskott, a competition for young people, as a compere. He was a member of the Swedish jury for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 and on the night of the final, 29 May 2010, he announced the Swedish votes. This brief on-screen appearance caused his name to trend on Twitter.

Solo career

In August 2009 Saade signed a new contract with Roxy Recordings (Agnes Carlsson, Malena Ernman, Peter Jöback, Erik Hassle, Sarah Dawn Finer). In December 2009 Saade released his first worldwide single "Sleepless" that reached #44 in the Swedish Singles Chart. His third single after the success with Manboy "Break of Dawn" reached number #45 in the charts.

Eric released his first studio album, Masquerade, on 19 May 2010, and it peaked at #2 in the Swedish Albums charts. All his three singles ("Sleepless", "Manboy" and "Break of Dawn") appear on the album as well as his next single release "Masquerade".

Eric's next album is expected for release between July and September 2011, with singles "Still Loving It" and "Popular" already released. His summer tour is expected to include some songs from his upcoming album.

Melodifestivalen and Eurovision

Saade has taken part in Melodifestivalen Sweden's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest two times in a row. He failed to qualify the first time placing third in the final with "Manboy" and succeeded the second time with "Popular".

Melodifestivalen 2010

Saade participated in Melodifestivalen 2010 in the 2nd semi-final on 13 February 2010 at the Göransson Arena, Sandviken with the song "Manboy" written by Fredrik Kempe (music and lyrics) and Peter Boström (music) and achieved the third place in the national final on 13 March 2010.

{| class=wikitable |- !rowspan="2"|Place !rowspan="2"|Artist !rowspan="2"|Song !colspan="3"|Votes |- !Jury !Viewers !Total |- | 1 || Anna Bergendahl || "This Is My Life" || 82 || 132 || 214 |- | 2 || Salem Al Fakir || "Keep on Walking" || 95 || 88 || 183 |- | 3 || Eric Saade || "Manboy" || 49 || 110 || 159 |}

Eurovision 2010

On 29 May 2010, he read the results of the Swedish votes in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 and was also a member of the Swedish jury.

Melodifestivalen 2011

On 19 February 2011, Eric Saade competed in the third semi-final in Cloetta Center, Linköping, of Melodifestivalen 2011 (the Swedish Eurovision selection process for Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Germany. His performance of his entry "Popular", written by Fredrik Kempe, got the most votes in the semi-final. Thus Saade competed in the Swedish final on 12 March 2011 where he won both the Swedish televoting and the international juries voting from 11 countries

In the Final, Saade came in third place, making Eric Saade the most successful Swedish act in Eurovision since 1999 when Sweden won.

Awards and nominations

Personal life

Saade is in a relationship with Swedish singer Molly Sandén. They have lived together in Stockholm since early 2011. |- ! scope="row" | Masquerade |

Released: 19 May 2010

Label: Roxy Recordings

Format: CD

| style="text-align:center;"| 2 |- ! scope="row" | Saade Vol. 1 |

Expected Release: 29 June 2011

Label: Roxy Recordings

Format: CD

| style="text-align:center;"| |- ! scope="row" | Saade Vol. 2 | Expected Release: November 2011

Label: Roxy Recordings

Format: CD

| style="text-align:center;"| |}

Singles

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1" ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year ! scope="colw" rowspan="2" style="width:13em;"| Single ! scope="col" colspan="9"| Peak chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album |- ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| SWE

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| BEL (FLA)

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| BEL (WAL)

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| DEN

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| FIN

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| GER

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| IRE

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| UK |- |rowspan="1"| 2009 ! scope="row"| "Sleepless" | 44 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — |rowspan="3"| Masquerade |- |rowspan="2"| 2010 ! scope="row"| "Manboy" | 1 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — |- ! scope="row"| "Break of Dawn" | 45 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — |- |rowspan="2"| 2011 ! scope="row"| "Popular" | 1 || 29 || 5 || 23 || 1 || 17 || 48 || 27 || 76 |rowspan="2" | Saade Vol. 1 |- ! scope="row"| "Hearts in the Air" feat. J-Son | 2 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — |}

Other songs

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1" ! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Single ! scope="col" | Album |- |2010 ! scope="row"| "Masquerade" |rowspan="1"| Masquerade |- | 2011 ! scope="row"| "Still Loving It" |rowspan="1" | Saade Vol. 1 |}

References

External links

Eric Saade Official Website

Eric Saade Channel on YouTube

Eric Saade page on LastFM

Eric Saade Official Russian&CIS; Website

Eric Saade Fansite

Eric Saade German fansite

Eric Saade German fanforum

Category:1990 births Category:Living people Category:Swedish people Category:Melodifestivalen contestants Category:Melodifestivalen winners Category:Swedish people of Lebanese descent Category:Swedish people of Palestinian descent Category:Swedish male singers Category:Swedish pop singers Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2011 Category:Swedish Eurovision Song Contest entrants