The Medium is the Message

This blog post is for 10/15/18.

Expanding on the change in genre for different audiences, I do think that the changing of genres resulted in the better distribution of music. Back in the days of segregation, a great deal of people would not listen to a song that was created by “a person of color,” so changing the music could allow for the music to be heard. However, I do not believe this was done to honor the music or to ensure that the song was heard simply because the music deserved to be heard. It was spread in order to have a financial gain and to try to white wash the music industry. While controversial, I think certain songs that were edited to be a different genre were edited in order to create a “white” version. As mentioned in class, King records published the white records much more often than the race records, now whether this was because that’s what they sold or because that’s what they preferred, I don’t know.

Hitting on Cowboy Copas Filipino Baby, or just Cowboy Copas in general: they’re a prime example of this misuse of music to spread the idea that they are “honoring” the cultures they are insulting. The song initially sounds like a love some made out to someone who is missed and loved. Later in the song though, he uses words like “pet,” “dark face,” and “claim” which directly show that this relationship was not out of love, but ownership. Love is well known now and then for being “blind,” so by the fact that he noted her color in the lyrics at all proves the point. I can see how the name of the song wouldn’t be too offensive since it’s a culture more than a locality, but there cannot be an argument for the other points. You own pets as property and property is claimed as well, so there is no other meaning to the song other than he thought he was owed her since he “owned” her.

I feel less strongly about the idea that the style of song should be attributed to whoever first wrote it, because each version of the song is very different. There are covers of songs on YouTube that are way more popular than the original, and it’s not because people like the YouTube users better. The cover artists are just singing differently, and that difference made it more appealing. Each version still should have been published the same amount, but I can understand the need to save money by not publishing goods that don’t sell. I’m also sure that advertising would have gone a long way as well.

I am also disturbed by the idea of “Finger Poppin’.” I don’t know what it is, and I’m a little worried to find out.