Shuker says that “all popular music consists of a hybrid of musical traditions.” The music industry is driven by massive multi-national recording companies, retailers, press, merchandising and music technology. This structure was created to maximize profits for the record companies. Because of this, the popular music market discourages taking creative risks and therefore, popular music generally sounds the same and this sound is popular for a mass audience. The music industry controls the sound of popular music that it has created and therefore the audience.
However, there is a new driving force behind the music industry - TV. Shows like the X Factor draw attention to popular music, and builds up new pop stars. For example, Joe McElderry sang Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” which also featured in Glee, this drew attention to a song which otherwise may have remained unheard by the current popular music audience and the result was another number one for them. This suggests that though the music industry may have created the popular music audience, this is slowly changing.
