Wiktionary
n. (context music English) Any genre of music that has a wide appeal amongst the general public of a society dominated by urban culture and advanced technology, especially music with less complexity than "classical music".
WordNet
n. any genre of music having wide appeal (but usually only for a short time) [syn: popular music genre]
Wikipedia
The term popular music belongs to a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional or "folk" music. Art music was historically disseminated through the performances of written music, although since the beginning of the recording industry, it is also disseminated through recordings. Traditional music forms such as early blues songs or hymns were passed along orally, or to smaller, local audiences.
The original application of the term is to music of the 1880s Tin Pan Alley period in the United States. Although popular music sometimes is known as "pop music", the two terms are not interchangeable. Popular music is a generic term for a wide variety of genres of music that appeal to the tastes of a large segment of the population, whereas pop music usually refers to a specific musical genre within popular music. Popular music songs and pieces typically have easily singable melodies. The song structure of popular music commonly involves repetition of sections, with the verse and chorus or refrain repeating throughout the song and the bridge providing a contrasting and transitional section within a piece.
In the 2000s, with songs and pieces available as digital sound files, it has become easier for music to spread from one country or region to another. Some popular music forms have become global, while others have a wide appeal within the culture of their origin. Through the mixture of musical genres, new popular music forms are created to reflect the ideals of a global culture. The examples of Africa, Indonesia, and the Middle East show how Western popular music styles can blend with local musical traditions to create new hybrid styles.
Popular Music is a 2004 Swedish comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Mikael Niemi.
Usage examples of "popular music".
Instead, it spent $5 million advertising 45 RPM as the preferred speed for popular music.
It is the inspiration of some of the world's great art, and it is also at the root of an enormous amount of bad theatre, and Hollywood movies, and the boo-hoo-hoo of popular music.
My world had been the popular music scene, and it had been sometimes full and sometimes empty.
Apparently, the Chief, despite his passion for popular music, was tone-deaf.
My boyhood pal David Craig, who made a radio in a German tank stop playing popular music during World War Two, is a builder in New Orleans.
The fact that it does well also doesn't mean anything in and of itself, because everybody knows that if you look at popular music or popular art or popular culture of any kind—.
My father, a religious cleric, said he would rather pour hot lead into his ears than hear popular music.