My entire life I have loved music. From scream singing as loud as I can to Deep Purple from the time I was old enough to talk all the way to doing the exact same thing at the Nick Jonas and Justin Bieber concert I went to in December.  Even though I personally am not very good at it, music has consumed every fiber of my being. Like every other person in the United States of America, I cannot escape the Top 40 radio songs and artists. Do not get me wrong, I love listening to that type of music while I am getting ready for a big night or hanging out with my friends, but when I am in the mood to actually enjoy the music, it becomes increasingly difficult to sit down and turn on the radio to listen to good, worthwhile music. Sirius XM used to have a station called 20 on 20 that would play songs from up and coming artists to give them airtime to help further their career. This was one of my favorite stations. I was constantly finding new music and new artists to listen to, but this time last year it was changed to a station called Venus that played Top 40 songs. It took what was one of my favorite stations and turned it into something that I could find on any other station. Just this small change completely altered the accessibility listeners had to good, new music.

My first article was about the reunions of boy bands. It first talked about the breakup and moved on to the re-appearance into the music industry. Overall, according to the article the success of the reunion depends on the success of the solo members during the break up period. This article was probably meant for readers a little older than me. Many of the bands that were mentioned were before my time. They seemed to be very interested in the 1990's British boy band era, but to try and tie it back into the American pop groups she talked about New Kids on the Block as well. The writer was largely influenced by the era she, I assume, grew up in. Because the research was focused in a specific area, the writer assumed that the reader would know who certain bands were. There were a few that I was not familiar with and had to look up which caused a bit of discourse while reading the article.

The second article took a much more argumentative stance against the boy band phenomenon. They claimed that boy bands see their fans as seduced and cater to the teenage girl and occasionally the homosexual male. The author claims that although boy bands may sometimes write their own music, they are still seen as "inauthentic" in the music industry. This article dives into the behind the scenes of the boy bands. The fans play a large role in the makeup this argument. While the previous article focused on the reunions, this one focused on the things that keep a band a float. Facts are very important to this author. This article is written by a male, and it seems a bit harsher than the previous article. This is could be because the author possibly never went through the obsession with a boy band that the female author before had gone through in her younger years.

According to my final article, the Top 40 music industry is making it increasingly difficult for good, new artists to emerge. The ten best selling songs are played 82% more times than they were ten years ago. Because of this trend, the radio is a tool for the "famous to get more famous". Streaming has made it even easier for the market to concentrate their airplay based on geographical location. The three major labels are in charge of most of the music that is produced and they are creating things that are starting to sound more and more similar. The author makes it very clear that they are against the airplay on the radio, and they take into account how the major labels can know what will be a success and what will be more popular based on region. While this all may be true, the author is very biased against all of these facts. They do not like the machine that the music industry is producing and they are in favor of the small bands that are trying to get off their feet. The author feels that the current music industry is oppressing the what could be a fantastic era of music.

This question is very arguable because everyone has a different opinion of the current music situation. The younger generation is probably very happy about One Direction, 5SOS, and all of the other Disney Channel bands that I am too old to know. Some people could argue that the current music industry is very profitable, but as the third source argues, the industry is profitable for a select few individuals. Overall, it is becoming harder and harder for bands to be successful because the radio is so focused on the money makers. The third article changed my argument completely. Originally, I was going to argue that boy bands were fueling the music industry, but the more I researched I found that it was actually the exact opposite. Since I started the first ILP I have already revised my question multiple times.

