Music production and recording industry: Homogenization in adolescents and an educational challenge

Abstract

Urban-popular music is among the musical genres preferred by teenagers. Despite their motivational character, they are still little present in secondary education curricula, and furthermore, they are usually treated in the same way as other musical styles. The modes of production and access to popular-urban musical genres are highly conditioned by the musical production processes and technological manipulations promoted by the recording industry. This work aims to know the degree of sound manipulation present in mass music for adolescents and how this influences a certain cultural homogenization through the social construction of identity. To do this, interviews have been conducted with five music producers that have revealed the methods the recording industry has developed to establish homogeneous profiles in adolescents based on their shared musical practices. In light of these results, possible good practices are proposed in the context of secondary music education that guarantee the achievement of their educational objectives and improve our educational model.