Pop music

Pop music is a general term given to commercial popular music of the sort popular in much of the Western world from the 1950s onwards. While the term connotes music produced in a certain commercial context, it can also be used as a stylistic term, for music which exemplifies or draws upon the forms pop music has taken over the years.

Pop music is often considered a product of the technologies and commercial environment of the time: in the 1910s and 20s, travelling male gospel quartets would tour the American South performing in churches to sell songbooks; radio was a crucial element in the dissemination of rock and roll; television, especially color television, gave a new venue for music from the 1960s onwards, and would later evolve to music videos on channels like MTV and VH1. Today, the Internet and electronic media serves a similar role. The style of popular music has shifted throughout the decades and almost all styles have been used as sources for pop - now, pop performers will often release records with elements coming from rock, rap and hip hop, dance, soul and international sources including Indian bhangra pop and Latin music.