Keywords

Music, pop, rock, hip-hop, Billboard, radio, preferences, students

Disciplines

Music | Musicology

Mentor

Kurt Ellenberger

Abstract

Music plays a part in every person's life, whether they realize it or not. From the radio to background music to ringtones, music influences most aspects of our lives. Radio took music from local clubs and concert halls to places that were thousands of miles away. Radio evolved to vinyl discs and then into cassettes and compact discs. These went further in MP3 recordings and on into streaming services that control the music of today’s industry. The 1960s brought soul, R&B, Motown, and rock to the world. The 1970s brought hard rock and pop and pushed the industry into less city individualism. The 1980s took on punk rock head-on and pushed pop even further into the scene. The 1990s continued the pop takeover and included hip-hop into the charts. The 2000s took hip-hop and rap further into a less censored industry and kept pop in the top. The 2010s made people feel more in their emotions by bringing in topics that weren’t written about previously. Students at Grand Valley State University had preferences that matched with the trends that were current with the music industry. Their preferences headed towards pop and hip-hop, much like the previous decade. Pop, hip-hop/rap, and rock had significant evidence to say there was a difference between genre and year in college. Alternative, hip-hop/rap, and country had significant evidence to say there was a difference between genre and honors status. There was significant evidence to say there was a difference between years in college and whether or not they changed in preference in the past three years. There was no significant evidence to say there was a difference between honors status and whether or not they changed preferences in the past three years. The top platform that students did use was Spotify.

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