Question

Suppose that the major music recording company Sony BMG Music Entertainment

(Sony BMG) has announced that it plans to hire several college students to form a team that will invest in the “next big things in music.” The selected students will be paid $50,000 per year for working part-time. Sony BMG will also allocate up to $10 million for hiring artists, producing records, and so on based on the team’s recommendations.

The new team has been dubbed the Top Wave Team (TWT). If TWT’s recommendations are fruitful, the company will sign each member of the team to $150,000 full-time contracts. The company also plans to keep the team together and to give its members bonuses and promotions based on their group performance. The class has been chosen as the representative college class. The music company is now asking the class to form affinity groups by musical preferences (e.g., a country music group, an urban/hip-hop group). Each group will nominate one of its members to receive the first $50,000 internship as a TWT team member at Sony BMG. The new TWT group will meet and discuss initial plans and investment recommendations, and then the class will discuss the process and outcomes.

1. Choose your musical affinity.

Identify yourself with one of the following musical genres based on (a) preference/affinity (i.e., “I prefer this music”) and (b) knowledge/understanding (i.e., “Of all types of music, I know the most about ____ music/musicians”):

___ 1. Rock	__a_ 6. Jazz/R&B
___ 2. Country	___ 7. Pop/Mainstream
___ 3. Religious/Spiritual	___ 8. Classical
___ 4. Urban/Hip-Hop	___ 9. Folk/Bluegrass
___ 5. Electronic

Other: ____________ (please identify)

2.Discuss what is important about your type of music and what investments should be made by the TWT team. Keep in mind that the investments made by the TWT team could have a big impact on the future of your favorite music. Recommend a dollar amount or percentage of the $10 million that a representative of your genre in the team ought to secure for investment in it.

3.Now imagine you are nominated to be part of the TWT group as that representative of your favorite genre. Your teammates have strong backgrounds/interests in other genre groups. How might you and your teammates from the rest of the TWT group allocate investment by genre given your differences?

4.Is there a connection between musical interests and cultural affinity? Might you sense some cultural affinity with others who share your musical tastes? Why, or why not?

Answer 1

1. Other: Latin Trap / Reggaeton

2. Trap music is what is selling the most lately in the music industry, therefore, making an investment in this genre expands the TWT team opportunities to increase their profit by making such investment, also helps them create a legacy in the industry by expanding their cultural acknowledgement on artists, and finally it also create deeper connections with those that have an influence and/or attachment to this genre. Usually, trap just like any other genre that describes someone’s story, however, in this genre there are no limits to expose such story due to the freedom on the use of language. Some may think that this type of music is offensive and aggressive to society because of the ways some artist like to express their music. Trap is a reminder that you do not have to become what someone else wants you to be; just be yourself and express it the way you desire. Being transparent about their history and showing their creativity to demonstrate such things is what creates a connection between the artists and the fans. On the other hand, one of trap’s attributes is the beat creativity in the song track by creating a captivating music that is hard to stop listing. Moreover, what makes this genre now more than ever more demanded by the audience is the fact that the Latino population is increasing drastically everywhere. In other words, Latin Trap music creates an environment to reconnect with your roods making hard to forget from where you came from. Similarly, trap just like any other genre has that special attribute that makes it just perfect for its followers to feel every cell vibrating when their favorite song in playing. Therefore, investing in new artists and high-quality music staff to expand this music genre is a great investment to succeed the competition and increase the company’s profit.

3. The fact that my teammates have strong backgrounds in other genre groups is an advantage that should be highly consider as a winning point. More ideas can be presented in different perspectives to the group as well as to the whole TWT team which can eventually create the new stylish generation of Latin Trap like it has been evolving in past year. Incorporating other genres styles is now creating a huge movement in the Latin Trap community. For example, Rosalia’s flamingo trapping style has taken many of our hearts because of her unique style to represent Latin Trap. Likewise, Bad Bunny whom has a diverse trapping style by incorporating different attributes in his beats and lyrics such as bolero, bachata, racheras, R&B, Hip-Hop and many more has placed him as one of the most well-known trapping artists; However, many people would say that he is the king of Latin Trap due to his diverse verses in his lyrics. The problem in this case is not the different backgrounds but how to agree with each other to make it happen; nonetheless, that seems hard but not impossible if we all have the same passion and mentally towards music. Moreover, knowing how to sale the overall idea of the musical project after is establish is as important as the agreement to all be on the same page.

4. In my perspective music does have to do with your cultural affinity and how involved and connected you are to it. Is easy to have a connection with someone who understand the roots of the music you are surrounded by. For example, Reggaeton is view as the door that opened new opportunities to females such as Ivy Queen, Karol G, Becky G, Natti Natasha and many more to express their feelings, passion and creativity in music. Throughout the years, more females have gotten involved in this industry and in this genre creating a more diverse trap music because just like Bad Bunny they have created their signature in music by using instrumental beats and expressions of other genres. Also, the fact that the culture from where Latin Trap/Reggaeton first originated was such a supportive and welcoming environment in Puerto Rico, throughout the years it has become a habit of artists threating each other as family and supporting the new talents not matter the music label they are in. Latinos are well-known for their charisma and warm heart, therefore, is easier to affiliate with their music. Sharing the sensation that the music have is something special that identify each and every one of us.

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