Music of the United States

The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. It is a mixture of music influenced by West African, Irish, Scottish, Mexican, and Cuban music traditions among others. The country's most internationally renowned genres are jazz, blues, country, bluegrass, rock, rhythm and blues, ragtime, hip hop, barbershop, pop, experimental, techno, house, dance, boogaloo, salsa, and rock and roll. The United States has the world's largest music market with a total retail value of 4,481.8 million dollars in 2012, and its music is heard around the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some Forms of American popular music have gained a near global audience.

Native Americans were the earliest inhabitants of the land that is today known as the United States and played its first music. Beginning in the 17th century, immigrants from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany and France began arriving in large numbers, bringing with them new styles and instruments. African slaves brought musical traditions, and each subsequent wave of immigrants contributed to a melting pot.

American Music

In general, American music may refer to music of the United States or music of the Americas.

Specifically, American Music can refer to:

American Music Award

The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to present the Grammy Awards expired. Unlike the Grammys, which are awarded on the basis of votes by members of the Recording Academy, the AMAs are determined by a poll of the public and fans, who can vote through the AMAs website. The award statuette is manufactured by the New York firm Society Awards.

History and overview

Conception

The AMAs was created by Dick Clark in 1973 to compete with the Grammy Awards after the move of that year's show to Nashville, Tennessee led to CBS picking up the Grammy telecasts after its first two in 1971 and 1972 were broadcast on ABC. Michael Jackson and Donny Osmond co-hosted the first award show with Rodney Allen Rippy and Ricky Segall in 1974. In 2014, American network Telemundo acquired the rights to produce a Spanish-language version of the American Music Awards and launched the Latin American Music Awards in 2015.

American Music Awards of 2013

The 41st American Music Awards was held on November 24, 2013 at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles. The awards recognized the most popular artists and albums of 2013. It was broadcast live on ABC and CTV with Simultaneous substitution. The nominations were announced on October 10, 2013, by Kelly Clarkson and will.i.am.Macklemore & Ryan Lewis led the nominations with six, followed by Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake with five. The show was hosted by Pitbull.

Taylor Swift was the biggest winner of the night with four wins including Artist of the Year, Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Country Female Artist and Favorite Country Album. Justin Timberlake also won three awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Album.

Rihanna won the first-ever Icon Award, as well as winning Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist.

Performances

Presenters

Music

Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound and silence. The common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics (loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture (which are sometimes termed the "color" of a musical sound). Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and with vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping, and there are solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike; "art of the Muses"). In its most general form, the activities describing music as an art form include the production of works of music (songs, tunes, symphonies, and so on), the criticism of music, the study of the history of music, and the aesthetic examination of music. Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as "the harmony of the spheres" and "it is music to my ears" point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound."