POPULAR MUSIC​ is music with wide appeal that is typically

distributed to large audiences through the music industry.

● These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by

people with little or no musical training (like rock, rhythm &
blues, ballad, jazz & hip hop)

It stands in contrast to both ART MUSIC and TRADITIONAL or

FOLK MUSIC.

● Art music was historically disseminated through the

performances of written music, although since the beginning
of the recording industry, it is also disseminated through
recordings ​(like the western classical music of Bach &
Beethoven).

● Traditional music forms such as early folk songs

(dandansoy, leron leron sinta, & bahay kubo)​ songs or
hymns were passed along orally, or to smaller, local
audiences.

The original application of the term is to music of the 1880s Tin

Pan Alley period in the United States.

Although popular music sometimes is known as ​"pop music"​, the

two terms are ​not interchangeable.

POPULAR MUSIC​ is a generic term for a wide variety of genres

of music that appeal to the tastes of a large segment of the
population, whereas ​POP MUSIC​ usually refers to a specific
musical genre within popular music (along with rock, rhythm &
blues, rock, dance, hip hop & rap)

● Popular music songs and pieces typically have easily

singable melodies.

● The song structure of popular music commonly involves

repetition of sections, with the verse and chorus or refrain
repeating throughout the song and the bridge providing a
contrasting and transitional section within a piece.

In the 2000s, with songs and pieces available as digital sound

files, it has become easier for music to spread from one country
or region to another.

Some popular music forms have become global, while others

have a wide appeal within the culture of their origin.

Through the mixture of musical genres, new popular music forms

are created to reflect the ideals of a global culture.

The examples of Africa, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Philippines and

the Middle East show how Western pop music styles can blend
with local musical traditions to create new hybrid styles.

Scholars have classified music as "popular" based on various

factors, including
 ● whether a song or piece becomes known to listeners mainly
from hearing the music (in contrast with classical music, in
which many musicians learn pieces from sheet music);
● its appeal to diverse listeners, its treatment as a marketplace
commodity in a capitalist context, and other factors.

Sales of 'recordings' or sheet music and number of streams and

“likes” are one measure.

Evaluating appeal based on size of audience (mass appeal) or

whether audience is of a certain social class is another way to
define popular music.

POPULAR MUSIC is produced by large media conglomerates

and passively consumed by the public, who merely buy or reject
what music is being produced.

Moreover, "understandings of popular music have changed with

time". Middleton argues that if research were to be done on the
field of popular music, there would be a level of stability within
societies to characterize historical periods, distribution of music,
and the patterns of influence and continuity within the popular
styles of music.

Anahid Kassabian separated popular music into four categories;

● "popular as populist," or having overtones of liberation and

expression;
 ● "popular as folk," or stating that the music is written by the
people, for themselves;
● "popular as counterculture," or empowering citizens to act
against the oppression they face;
● and "popular as mass," or the music becomes the tool for
oppression.

A society's popular music reflects the ideals that are prevalent at

the time it is performed or published.

David Riesman states that the youth audiences of popular music

fit into either a majority group or a subculture.

The majority group listens to the commercially produced styles

while the subcultures find a minority style to transmit their own
values.

This allows youth to choose what music they identify with, which
gives them power as consumers to control the market of popular
music.