TRAVELING MUSIC - FOLLOWING THE PATH OF MUSIC THROUGH THE GLOBAL MARKET

Music in the twentieth century means, among other things, big business of mass communication that crosses global boundaries. Several theorie s address the possible effects of such global corporate influences on local culture. This essay reviews such theories and evaluates them in relation to popular music as 12 cultural product. Specifically, we rev iew the history and structure of the popular music industry, examine a pplications of the cultural imperialism theory to popular music and;th e subsequent debate, and survey newer theories that developed as a res ult of the debate. These theories are then assembled and organized alo ng a continuum to establish the progressive relationships between the numerous forms musical flow, can assume. The resulting model is meant to be a heuristic so researchers can keep in mind that not all cultura l exchanges are sinister. Factors that may help to mitigate the predic tions posed by cultural imperialism theory in the global flow of music are also examined.