Pop music history I have chosen to do pop as my sub-genre as it is my favourite genre of

music. I also believe that this is a very popular sub-genre within society. The word pop originally came from the term ‘popular’ showing it is one of

the most well-known genres around. The pop genre has been around for as long as anyone can remember,

however the term ‘pop song’ is first recorded as being used in 1926. Many people believe that the pop genre didn’t really exist until the ‘king of

pop’ (or Michael Jackson) became known, since then there has been many successful pop artist such as Madonna, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.

The pop genre first started off as a mixture of other music genres; from there it formed its own sound and became what it is today.

In the 1940’s the improved technology and microphone design allowed singers to have a more intimate singing style.

About 10 years later more durable records came about which helped pop music move into the radio and film industries.

Another thing which made the genre so much more popular was the availability of television in the 1950’s.

With performances from stars such as Abba the pop genre had never been more popular.

It wasn’t until the early 1980’s when the promotion of pop music had been greatly affected by TV channels like MTV.

They made artist such like Madonna and Michael Jackson favourites for the public with their strong visual appeal.

Target audience As pop music is an abbreviation of popular music, this means all pop

music is created with the intention of appealing to a wide range audience of different ages and genders.

Nowadays, pop music is influenced by the likes of brands such as one direction, Katy Perry and lady gaga. Therefore one main target audience of pop music for this generation would be teenagers aged 13-18 as they are most likely to listen to the chart music.

However, in previous generations such as the 1960’s artist such as the Beatles and the rolling stones strongly influenced the charts and therefor appealed to a wider range of people ages 20-40.