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Pop music is usually comprised of happy, upbeat rhythms with simple melodies and lyrics that relate to love, relationships, sex and dancing. It is not a genre that is meant to bring deep and serious world issues to the fore, nor is it meant to invoke introspection and reflection. It’s there simply to bop around to, and join in the rousing chorus at the top of your lungs. Its feel good music, designed for fun and lighthearted entertainment.

Unlike other music genres such as rock and hip hop, where the songs are often written by the artists themselves, pop songs are usually written by professional songwriters. In order to generate as much exposure as possible, artists create music videos and stage extravagant live performances to attract media interest. Music videos are particularly important as they can enjoy international commercial success and thus reach an extremely wide audience. This has made pop, arguably the world’s biggest music genre.

“Popular music” has been around since the 50s, with people such as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley falling into the category. Pop music, as most of us know it, really came into its own in the 80s with the rise of artists such as Michael Jackson and Madonna.

Michael Jackson had nine no.1 singles in the US alone during the 80s, and sold over 136 million albums even though he only released two, Thriller and Bad. This ensured that he became the most successful artist of the 80s and earned him the title “King of Pop”.

Madonna was another emerging 80s artist who reached iconic status. Widely regarded as the “Queen of Pop”, Madonna has experimented by blending pop with a number of other music genres and has sold over 230 million albums globally. Her album, Like a Virgin achieved Diamond status; one better than Platinum and her single Vogue is one of the biggest selling singles in history. It has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.

The 90s was not a good decade for pop. It saw the emergence of boy bands and girl groups resulting in the Backstreet Boys, N’SYNC and that fascinating UK phenomenon, the Spice Girls. Groups were assembled more for their looks and appeal to teenage audiences than any real singing talent. Towards the end of the 90s we saw a rise of bubble gum pop and aspiring divas, Britney Spears and her competition, Christina Aguilera. Christina experimented and evolved; Britney stagnated in the sex kitten look and had a breakdown. Australia’s Kylie Minogue, a former 80s icon, experienced a revival that carried her through to the next century. Latin pop burst onto the scene with Ricky Martin swinging his hips and Shakira shaking everything else.

The 2000s have seen a lot of artists take time off from their bands to record solo albums such as Gwen Stefani, while others simply left their bands to pursue solo careers like Justin Timberlake and Robbie Williams. We’ve seen the rise of Teen pop, who’ve been given a boost by the Disney Channel, as well as Pop Punk like Fall Out Boy and pop rock like Pink. The popular reality show American Idol has changed the way in which many people achieve fame and commercial success in the music industry. Some artists have proved that it is possible to successfully blend pop music and R&B, artists like Nelly Furtado and Rihanna.

Some modern day icons include:

Justin Timberlake, who rose to stardom on the tails of one of the more successful boy bands, N’SYNC. He chose to leave the band and pursue an independent solo career and in 2002 released his debut album titled, Justified. After a break of about four years, in which he recorded with other artists, began a movie career, started a fashion label, William Rast, and established his own record label, Tennman Records, he returned to the studio and released his second album, FutureSex/LoveSounds. He has sold over 15 million albums worldwide.

Nelly Furtado first came to our attention in 2000 when she released her debut album, Whoa, Nelly. “I’m like a bird”, her breakthrough single from the album, won her a Grammy award and established her as an artist to watch. In 2003, after taking some time off to have her first child, she released her second album, Folklore, which didn’t fare as well commercially as Whoa, Nelly did. However, her latest album, Loose, which she released in 2006, has put her firmly back on the hit parade. It has had several hit singles, most notably, “Promiscuous”, “Maneater”, “Say It Right” and “Do It”. Nelly is not afraid of experimenting with her sound and often incorporates different instruments, sounds, languages and vocal styles into her music. She claims to have attributed her new youthful sound on Loose to the presence of her two-year old daughter.

Kylie Minogue has one of the longest standing and most successful careers in pop music history. She’s seen out the 80s, the 90s and has enjoyed huge success in the 2000s. She is primarily famous in Europe and Australia, although her popularity in the US is growing. She is one of the world’s most easily recognisable celebrities and earned herself thousands of new fans by the brave manner in which she battled breast cancer and dealt with her resulting hair loss. In January 2007 Madame Tussaud’s in London revealed a new waxwork of Kyle, the fourth one. The Queen is the only person in the world to have had more models created.

This November Kylie will release her much anticipated 10th album, her first in four years. For most of her career Kylie has been regarded as a gay icon, which she encourages with good humoured comments such as this one, “I am not a traditional gay icon. There’s been no tragedy in my life, only tragic outfits.” She acknowledges and appreciates her gay support base by openly supporting AIDS and gay rights causes.

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By: Sandy Cosser

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With the economic crisis nowadays, everybody appreciates the beauty of free publicity. Artists on the rise do not have the means to generate much publicity for them to become popular in a short span of time because this actually costs a lot. But many still pull off the impossible feat of becoming popular with lesser cost. How can this be done? The simple answer is by writing a good press release. This will be what the information-hungry mass media are looking for and, at the same time, the tool you need to cement your place in whatever industry you want to be famous in.

The music industry in not an exemption to the above rule, and the value of a good music press release is unparalleled. The music press release can be used to make you or your band famous by featuring any news worthy information to help you connect with the public such as your success story or the unique assortment of songs you feature, announce your next gig or concert, or just about any publicity you need and want as an artist.

With all the competition present out there, what separates you from the others is a good music press release. Before submitting a release, be sure to spend more time in coming up with the best. Research on the type of audience that you have and write a release which you know will appeal to them. If you are a hit to the teenager populace, be sure to use terms which they can relate to. Cover as much base as possible while being mysterious enough for your audience to actually check you out.

Try to check if you have all parts of the release covered especially the contact information. This is important for those with a promotional Web site which directs your fans or audience to such site for important announcements. Proof read your press release many times. You can obtain an editing service for this if you have written the story yourself or if you have acquired a press release writing service, have your manager or other trusted people read the story first. It’s better to delay the publication of the release than to cover up for a bad release, which can ultimately damage your career. This is where finding a service, which knows what they are doing and has good reviews, comes in. A quality service will ensure that you generate the publicity that you need as a rising star and help your career take off.

Find the right type of media to publish your release. The Internet is a good medium because of the number of people that use the Internet day in and day out. This is especially useful if you have a Web site because this will help in generating traffic for you to achieve higher rankings on search engines. For the traditional type of print and radio, find a medium which are read and listened to more by your target audience or fans.

The power of a good music press release should never be underestimated.

By: Michael C. Goudelock

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Although music styles have recently began to boom in Africa, artistes are still struggling with international promotions and exposure.

Nowadays in Nairobi (KENYA), locals are finally embracing and loving their home grown talents. Kenyan music can be heard playing on every street corner. High end clubs and bars that once scoffed at the idea of playing local music are now seeing certain benefits of playing these in-demand songs. People want to hear the latest Genge or Kapuka jam (the new genres of Kenyan music that were created through this revival).

But given all the above, why are these ever-so-popular musicians still not reaping the benefits of their obvious successes? If one were to attend a concert it would be evident that these nouveau celebrities are living in the lap of luxury, what with the thousands of adoring fans scrambling for front row.

A decade ago there was only a handful of artistes trying to forge a name for themselves. At the time, in a continent where the only music heard on the radio were imported top 40 hits, it was practically a lost cause to follow a dream in the music industry. The popular music seen out of Africa were Youssou N’Dour and Salif Keita just to name a couple. These were the pioneers and legends for the continent.

But what of the new generation of music? A number of European music award organizations have started presenting awards for this category which is finally a step in the right direction and a welcome breath of fresh air. But African Hip Hop is still an untapped market. Does it in fact have a solid future and how long will it take before it hits the mainstream market?

By: Lina Okoko

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There is so much of interesting news on Jay Z And Beyonce both hugely popular singers in their own right. Both have sold millions of albums world wide and have adoring fans lapping every news bit of theirs.

One of the biggest news is that Beyonce and Destiny’s Child are planning for a grand reunion in 2010. They had split in 2005 to pursue different solo careers and Beyonce in particular had reached the peaks of success with all her albums creating records.

The latest you hear on Jay Z is his press conference to announce the holding of his concert on Sept 11 2009 at Madison Square Garden in honor and in memory and to benefit the New York Police and Fire Widows and Children’s Benefit Fund. The event will be telecast live on Fuse TV and the rapper is said to be immensely disturbed by the 9/11 events. Both these news pertain to the current month of Sept 2009.

The stars were very much in the news during the month of August and every where they went and everything they did created news. The fact that they were spectators during the Barclays Golf Tournament created a lot of buzz.

Celebrities make small news into big news events. Beyonce change of rooms in Ukraine created a lot of news. The room was exchanged due to security reasons of the President of Ukraine who was staying in the same hotel.

Beyonce performing at the MTV awards and been chosen the Woman of the year also made a lot of headlines. News On Jay Z And Beyonce created a lot of curiosity among fans.

By: Steve R Michael

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The music download industry keeps evolving, as more players enter the game and alliances are formed within a blink of an eye. We’re all aware of AT&T partnering with giant Apple Inc. to promote the iPhone, which of course uses iTunes for its ringtone capabilities. As more mobile phones encompass multimedia functions, the music and telecommunications industries are realizing their unfolding opportunities to meld together.

AT&T and Napster, one of the original music download services, are joining together and providing direct download capabilities, according to CNNMoney. In an effort to avoid mobile-to- PC connections to transfer music files, direct downloads are growing in popularity. More mobile phone owners are using their cell phones as MP3 players, not to mention the added benefit of using downloads as ringtones.

Similarly, in Australia, Nokia is stepping up to the plate in music downloads, providing free Wi-Fi zones for Nokia Nseries customers. They plan to launch a music download service of their own sometime this year, and with their free Wi-Fi campaign, more and more Australian-based Nokia users will be more apt to try it out come launch time.

Telecommunications companies and mobile phone service providers aren’t the only ones switching up the music download industry. Amazon’s newest service, AmazonMP3, is offering lower prices on individual songs and albums than some of their competitors, such as iTunes.

Their 2-million some music collection stands out in that its music files are DRM-free and iTunes and Windows Multimedia Player-compatible. Though competition amongst music download providers is inevitable, anyone with a mobile phone or MP3 player will continue to be exposed to countless options.

By: Kelly Liyakasa

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According to a document, Michael Jackson wore a prosthetic nose. The prosthetic nose was noted as missing from his face as the body lay in a morgue located in Los Angeles, California.

A small, dark hole surrounded by bits of cartilage was left behind according to eye witness accounts who saw the body of the King of Pop while it lay on the autopsy table. The prosthetic nose was worn by Michael Jackson because he was very shy about his appearance, masking the effects of an abundance of plastic surgeries.

Several claim Michael Jackson went through way too many nose-job sessions, & the public might be right according to many plastic surgeons. The nose appears to have collapsed considerably more than it ever should have over time, although it is said to be consistent with the wearing of surgical masks in recent times.

Plenty of plastic surgeons say it is dangerous to go back & do work on Michael Jackson’s nose, & that they would be hard pressed to find a plastic surgeon for the next round.

It’s been noted by many surgeons that with each nose job a person goes through, the blood circulation to the area decreases & the risks of infection & scarring increase. It was widely believed that he had finally accepted his nose for the way it was, considering each surgery increased risks it was probably in his best interest.

Most people who go through plastic surgery for nose jobs don’t have the results looking like Michael Jackson, but it is estimated to have consisted of at least 5 jobs & there had to be some form of complications during each surgery.

Plastic surgeons who have studied photos say there may have been more like 30 or 40 surgeries performed.

When the entertainer was ordered to remove the surgical mask in a court room session, the appearance caused a stir & prompted several gasps from the audience & fans who were present that day.

The objective Michael Jackson had was to alter his flat, broad African-American nose in to more of a Caucasian nose. If credit was to be given to Michael for plastic surgery success, it was to serve as a warning for all of us–not to go far in plastic surgery!

The final surgery Michael Jackson had for his nose was done by a surgeon from Germany who agreed to repair the current nose. The surgery was done by taking part of the ear to place inside the nose, & the surgeon said it was fine after the operation but was close to collapsing after having twenty years of plastic surgery.

By: Alan Riggs

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Reputation describes how those around us judge us. They judge our character, the way we dress, and they way we perform. We can’t always control how others judge us, or how they will speak of us to others. In your personal life or in business, what others say about us can put us in a better position, such as a promotion at work, or it can hurt us, such as losing our job. As a musician or band, you may have control over some factors that affect your reputation, like the way you treat your fans, or the way you conduct business, but you don’t have control over everything. Much of your reputation will hinge on how others see you. Word of mouth is what you depend on to promote your band and gain you more exposure, but word of mouth can work in your favor, or it can work against you. A music critic, or music journalist, makes a career out of judging musicians and bands, and letting fans and the public in general know how a band rates in the music industry.

In any industry, those that work in the media influence how others see the world. They shape the way we look at politics, world events, and even entertainment. A music journalist is no different. A music journalist’s job is to know the music industry inside and out. A good one has to gain the respect and trust of their readers by reporting as objectively as possible. That means they often aren’t popular with musicians. The music industry is constantly changing, so music journalists have to stay a step ahead of everything that’s going on. In many cases, their articles may even be the cause of some shaping trends. They have to know music techniques, music styles, and basic fashion to apply to any given band they are reviewing. A review from a well respected journalist could help a band get recognized by a talent agent, but a review may also cause a band to lose their recording contract. When a band is trying to gain recognition, they may send their demo to an established industry journalist in the hope it will be reviewed favorably.

Publicists for bands often spend a lot of time working with journalists. For the most part, a publicist cannot control what a music journalist will write about the band they represent, but the publicist can try to help their odds by maintaining a positive working relationship with the music media. Publicists may submit press releases or new albums to the music journalists in their area, or even nationwide to increase exposure for a band. If a music journalist writes a negative review for a band, a publicist may arrange a meeting between the band and the music journalist to persuade them to write a more favorable review to repair the band’s reputation.

A band depends on their reputation to tell the world how to perceive them. Reputation is how they gain fans, and how their business partners know they can be trusted. In the music industry, one of the most powerful ways to make or break a reputation is in the media. Music journalists know the music industry inside and out, and they have the influence to significantly effect a band’s reputation. In the music industry, the journalist may be one of the most powerful players your band will ever meet.

By: Scotty Henderson

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