Genre and Sub Genre

What is Genre?

Genre divides musicians in to categories based on common elements for example, pop genre includes catchy, different clothing style from other artists to make them 'icons' and flamboyent live performances which contrasts to heavy metal genre which consists of screaming, rebellion and black clothing. Daniel Chandler (2001) argues that the word "genre comes from the french (and originally latin) word 'kind' or 'class'. The term is used in rhetoric, literary theory, media theory to refer to a distinctive types of text."

What is Sub-Genre?

Sub genre means genre within a genre to make the music more narrow to target a specific audience. There are many different interpretations of what sub genre means such as Barry Keith Grant (1995) says that "sub genre means dividing the genre into more specific categories that allow audiences to identify them specifically by their familiar and what become recognisable characteristics". However, it is argued that sub genres change over time as music popularity increase, Steve Neale (1995) stresses that "genres are not systems they are processes of systemization for example, they are dynamic and evolve over time". Sub Genre is usually associated with production companies who make the artist target a particular sub genre to earn money from that particular audience. Jason Mitchell (2001) argues that "genres are cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry audience and cultural practices well." Many companies use sub genre to sell music to that specific audience, media producers use that familiar code and conventines to target a potential audience as the company knows the cultural reference to their audience knowledge of the society they live in. Music videos appeal to the youth mainly due to sub cultures as the compant reinforce the generic elements of that particular musical genre. The company also needs to promote the artist to appeal to the audience for example, Dyer (1995) says that "Music videos are post modern texts whose main purpose is to promote a star persona".