Turning the Tables

Turning the Tables

Music, to say the least, is a key marker of any culture. Music’s eclecticism has grown over time, but this growth has exploded within the past 25-30 years; new technology, globalization, and the simple evolution of music (Influence A + Influence B = New Genre) are to thank for this. Generation Y has grown up with this increased variety and thus has grown into a musically diverse generation, amongst other things. While some critics claim that this diversity is curtailed by big conventional advertising, Generation Y has become the most musically eclectic generation ever seen.
Whenever a song is played in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, The OC, or The Hills, it is pounced upon; Ingrid Michaelson, CSS, Imogen Heap, and The Fray have benefited greatly from this exposure. However, these artists do not appear out of nowhere. Popular shows such as The OC may inject songs into the popular vernacular, but they arrived there via the airwaves of college radio and the ears and keyboards of bloggers. Rather than using advertisements as a source for music, Generation Y is the advertiser’s source.
Bands such as Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes, and the Decemberists get lackluster advertising compared to “mainstream” acts such as Beyonce and The Jonas Brothers, yet they continue to play to huge crowds. Gen Y listeners search for stuff contrary to the media-endorsed “pop music” and rave about it through blogs and Digg votes. Even those who don’t avoid pop music get exposed via such new media as satellite and Internet radio. Pandora is the epitome of this; a listener inputs songs and artists and Pandora provides music matching these preferences. A rap fan enters Lil Wayne as a preference and becomes exposed to King Geedora; expressing approval of these picks leads to further expansion until each listener has their collection of “hip” artists. Unlike other devices like iTunes’ Genius add-on, Pandora has minimal monetary allegiance with advertisers; it is run by the Music...