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The dubstep craze is sweeping the nation, and many musicians are not too happy about it. This form of dance music that focuses on electronic drum and bass has been spread throughout the country, with artists ranging from producer Skrillex to mainstream acts like Britney Spears.

Why do people love dubstep? Youths cling to this craze for its dance capability and pop culture influence. Seasoned fans of electronic music may enjoy dubstep for its evolving qualities and unification of their community.

So why do people think that dubstep has “murdered music?” Some musicians Read more…

From the private jets of Led Zeppelin to the broke down cargo-vans of small indie-rock bands, the spectrum of decadence and depravity knows no limits when it comes to musicians and touring. Before the days of MP3 file sharing, bands once toured to help promote their albums and bolster vinyl, cassette or CD sales. Now, since most music can be pirated for free, it seems one of the only ways to make money as a musician is from touring alone.

With gas prices cancelling out most revenue from playing smaller venues, many bands in the lower echelons of Read more…

Instead of a two-hour concert with your favorite band, music festivals are all-inclusive entertainment that can last all day. Music festivals often follow a theme. The themes can be rock, jazz, punk, folk, Christian or anything in between those genres. They are usually held annually or for a specific reason, religious or national holiday or for a charitable event.

Some music festivals can get hundreds of thousands of visitors and last more than one day. It’s not like a concert where you see a quick filler singer before the main attraction. In a music festival, the whole Read more…

Although some members of the music industry still may be reluctant to admit this truth, the music industry as a whole needs to evolve. Modern technology now allows artists to record, produce and distribute their own albums and singles to listeners. Streaming audio is turning AM and FM radio into yesterday’s ghosts. Also, many of today’s artists are determined not to make the financial mistakes of their predecessors, forming their own independent labels and self-promoting rather than signing with big-name labels or producers who book tons of shows for bands and artists but don’t pay them fairly. Read more…

It has been said that the blues, as a musical form, is perhaps the single most influential and crucial element in popular music of the last 150 years. Based on the ancient scalar framework of the pentatonic scale, which has been used for thousands of years, the blues scale, known for its “blue” notes, features slightly bent or flattened notes relative to the western major scale. The general relationship of chords and notes setup by the blues idiom is so prevalent in western pop music that it can still be heard today in the Read more…

You don’t have to know a lot about history to know that there were once a lot of race issues and racial tension in the South. Although it took many years and the hard work and sacrifice of a lot of people, things have calmed down quite a bit in the South, and people of all different races typically live and work together in harmony. One unexpected thing that helped make this change, however, was music.

People Read more…

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