I'm not sure if anyone has cared to think about this before, but "mainstream" music, recently, hasn't meant "mainstream". The majority of people pirate their music, so there really isn't any way of tracking and recording ALL the different places people get their music in order to provide an accurate statement on what music is popular. "Mainstream" now is just a term that applies to music which appeals to those who can't or don't pirate their music, which seems to be little children, or girls. This may seem stereotypical, but it's a semi-accurate generalization that girls are less likely to pirate music, or know how. This also is backed by the fact that popular music appeals to practically only girls. If anyone has any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them. I don't know much about it, this is my ignorant analysis.
i would think a mainstream title would rely on more than sales of CDs but now more, concert tickets, merchandise and CD sales because of pirateing music things like TOTP went away because it relied only on sales of singles and i would think of mainstream as anything popular now although there are many mainstreams now including the "alternative" music wich has become so popular that it has become mainstream
So? 'Pop' music originally just meant popular, but has now become so entrenched as a specific classification which reflects certain musical styles or qualities (or, more often, lack thereof) that it's lost all objective meaning in terms of being 'popular' that it once had. Perhaps 'mainstream' is just going the same way. Mainstream almost started out meaning that anyway, as it pertains (and always has) not just to widespread acceptance but to a certain commercial integration in to the music industry and 'mainstream' cultrue if that's any more certain as a definition than just music. Sure those things basically go hand in hand, but they're not quite one and the same. And, to be frank, I think you're reading a little too much in to the pirating thing. I'd say that record sales still reflect widely popular artists. Even without accepting that, there are other ways to judge popularity and 'mainsteam-ness' than just record sales. Youtube and various other internet playback attention plays a big part, plus just what people talk about on the net and various other media forums. Who appears on television, and more importantly in what context (channels, shows and the demographic those things have) on television is also very telling. You're looking at this in very simplistic terms.
Who the **** told you that the majority of people pirate music? Mainstream, to me, means a product that attracts a multitude of audiences. Whether that be through the genre specifically, marketing strategies, cult followings.. whatever. And Pop has become more of a genre because pop music is so ****ing stagnant people make the same stuff to appeal to an audience that is unwilling to listen to anything different.
imo Mainstream is the music that every bandwagons on. Especially with no previous knowledge of the band/ artist. Some good examples would be Greenday w/ American Idiot, Soldier Boy w/ Soldier Boy, Weezer w/ Beverley Hills...etc. Most music becomes mainstream eventually, but thats because the artist gets famous. Mainstream can also be used for many other things too... But to answer your question more directly, No I don't think the definition of the word has really changed. Music comes and goes just like it always has.
I phrased that wrong. I just meant that a lot of what's recorded as "popular/mainstream" music isn't really as popular as it seems. i. e. often the "top downloaded artist/song/album" etc. has a fraction of the downloads another is recorded to have during the same time frame on torrent trackers such as what.cd.
Okay that'l do. But I guess the best way to look at it is that 'Mainstream', 'pop' and 'the charts' or whatever you want to use to gauge popularity, are always adapting in tandem. Regardless of what the real download figures are when you consider illegal, the way we gauge mainstream music currently is through legal downloads. Now that has adapted a lot with iTunes changing the way people purchase music. Music made for this class is usually done so deliberately. Even when it's someone you might consider to be quite niche or independent, unless by accident, they usually have some idea that the album is designed to get a lot of popularity. This is why people always say '----- were great until they went mainstream'.
Yeah, I used to pirate music way before anyone else did. Now it's become so mainstream...ugh. I mean seriously, torrents have just gotten shittier now that they've sold out. oh god don't infract me
So you agree with my point that mainstream is becoming a genre, instead of just referring to popular music?
No because it has no lasting qualities. Genres don't change fundamentally, they can adapt or become more intricate, but they don't change. Mainstream music does change, you can look at specific points in time where it has, and work out the causes and effects.