Itunes, Billboard, and the marginalization of black music and black audiences in America

only songs that were in the top 20 of both Pop Songs and Hip-Hop/R&B Airplay at any point in 2012: J. Cole's "Work Out," T-Pain's "5 O'Clock" and Rihanna's "Diamonds"

artists that were in the top 20 of both charts but never with the same song: Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Usher, Chris Brown, Drake, Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, Ne-Yo)

2 thoughts:

1. I don't understand the point of this thread, but I hate seeing the term "black music" used in place of "industry manufactured pop music"

2. I would not worry about the marginalization of black audiences. All of the black people I know (all over 30 years old) seem to have no problems finding all the music that they need, none of which seems to be Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Drake, Rick Ross, Wiz Khalifa, 2 Chainz, Ne-Yo, or Chris Brown.

I apologize if I am way off the make. I respect the fact that so many here care about music and culture, and I tried to understand the point of the thread. There just seems to be some stereotyping going on here.

Regarding item 2, the point was/is that Billboard was not giving respect to widely popular black music. Your reference to people you know not having problems finding the music they need is not analogous.

what do you mean by "widely popular black music?"

a. widely popular music performed/produced by black artists
b. a style/genre called "black music" that is widely popular
c. music that is widely popular among black audiences

what are you trying to accomplish, nicky lo-fi?

learn something, maybe. why do you assume agenda?

just weird to see someone think that their sample of 'black people over the age of 30 who I personally know' is representative of black audiences of all ages all across America, is all.

sorry, I in no way meant to imply that anything is "representative" of anything. I only brought up age because maybe it's a youth culture thing, of which I'm pretty ignorant.

I was wondering how Billboard was marginalizing black audiences (from the title of the thread)

I don't know anyone, of any race, who is so influenced by Billboard charts as far as their taste is concerned.

maybe it is. I don't know. can you explain?

nicky lo-fi, are you a rockist?

nicky lo-fi, do you recognize that the songs that are popular on billboard at this very moment may, perhaps, could, maybe, influence the songs that are produced in the future, songs that aim to be liked by a large number of people?

do you recognize that there exists a collection of songs at any given moment that may be broadly categorized under the term "popular music"?

x-post- if you're just saying that it would be better to say "rap and r'n'b" than "black music" when referring to the genres that Billboard and this thread are referring to just say it. Your "industry manufactured pop music" term suggests an agenda and is also unclear.

nicky lo-fi, do you think that music only means anything if it was produced by something other than an 'industry' that 'manufactures pop music'?

nicky lo-fi, do you think that pitchfork is an 'industry'?

nicky lo-fi, what is your take on the following:

1. stereogum
2. fluxblog
3. gorilla v. bear
4. billboard

haha this is getting rough

nicky lo-fi, do you believe that we live in a 'post-racial America'?

nicki lo-fi, can you tell that some of us are drunk on saturday night?

People questioning rap sound exactly the same as my grandmama questioning rock & roll. It's sort of cute.
― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Thursday, October 12, 2006

so sticking up for rap means I'm not a rockiest, I guess? I hope fancy symbol dude caught that.

nicky the issue, in a nutshell, is that Billboard has made a variety of changes in how it puts together its charts over the past several years to factor in downloads/streaming in addition to the traditional radio play, and the demographic differences in who buys music on iTunes vs. who listens to the radio, etc. has seemed to diminish the presence of hip-hop and R&B on singles charts far more than any decline in the general popularity of those genres. a lot of other issues and nuances have been covered in this thread, if I had started it I probably wouldn't have made the title as focused as Rev did or used the phrase "black music" but I totally get why he did.

Another way of putting it: radio stations whose audiences are overwhelmingly black now disappear statistically, and they appear on the record as if their audiences like the same music which is favored by white audiences on iTunes. In fact, they don't, but history will record the hegemonic music as being beloved by all, and future production and programming decisions will be based on this egregious distortuon.

I would just like to go on the record as being a racist. Thank you all.

you are a goon, after all.

alright, thanks, that part I was pretty close on. I guess I'm just such a cynic about about the music biz that I assume whatever they do is because they think it will make more money.

so that it will always be catering to people with money. an example of this goes back to the 'race' records of the 20's and 30's

great blues, jazz, and gospel music the industry thought would not sell to white people, so they marketed to blacks only

http://www.pbs.org/jazz/images/exchange/racerecords.jpg

when white people started to buy, they not only stopped that marketing to black people, but even influenced a change in the style of jazz (the rise of the white big bands)

You do realize this thread is intended to track pretty much the exact same phenomenon, though?

is this the rolling macklemore thread

fancy cymbal dude

http://www.tbrucewittet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Zildjian-Gen-X-Cymbals.jpg

xp yes, no, Macklemore, "Same Love"

who the hell is macklemore?

hoo boy

im in the uk.

A Macklemore is what we in the scientific community would describe as a cornball.

the best thing about bands like Mumfords and Macklemores is that their names just inherently sound like punchlines.

i have a thread i bet nicky would enjoy

the best thing about bands like Mumfords and Macklemores is that their names just inherently sound like punchlines.

and Phillip Phillips!

I'm feeling particularly apocalyptic today.

yeah i don't think i even have the energy to rage against Billboard's latest change like i did the last one, even though this one is clearly even worse

this is insanity, truly

What happened?

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1549388/baauers-harlem-shake-debuts-atop-revamped-hot-100

Counting Spotify streams clearly makes some kind of sense, counting Youtube views is just insane, especially if they are weighted as highly as they appear to be based on that article. "Gangnam Style" would have been number one for months if this had been implemented sooner.

it's just going to lead to more hegemony, which i think is the opposite of their intention?

yeah my whole thing at this point is i'm not even so against counting streaming/youtube/etc in charts as how heavily they weigh it, how it can just trump every other factor and put something at #1. (xp)

labels are going to pour even more money into stupid-ass 'lyric videos'

Spotify listeners at least are generally listening seriously as opposed to for lolz

Lame either way

I mean, it's also #1 on iTunes so it's not like only YouTube but it's absolutely asinine that it's rated as 3.5 times more popular than the next most song ("Thrift Shop" which clearly deserves to be #1 on popularity though not song merit).

it's just going to lead to more hegemony, which i think is the opposite of their intention?

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, February 20, 2013 8:40 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Spotify top tracks stay the same for ages, pumped up kicks is probably still number one

I can thank The New Paradigm for today's marvel: walking into the student union to watch 500 undergrads performing "Harlem Shuffle" or whatever it's called in the pit.