Types of Music

Organic 

Organic artists' main focus is music and so business and finance come second. Organic often appeals to a niche but can appeal to a mass audience too.

The Beatles are a good example of an "organic" band as they began as a group of friends with a shared interest in music. Realising this, they formed the band and began earning virtually no money, playing gigs in places like Hamburg, Germany. The boys continued writing and composing music with an ever-growing audience until Brian Epstein managed to sign them a record deal. Despite this, the love and passion for music never shifted. The only difference was that they were beginning to gain popularity worldwide- performing on the Ed Sullivan Show in America. After doing so, The Beatles became the world's biggest music sensation of the 1960s.

The Beatles members:

Paul McCartney
John Lennon
George Harrison
Ringo Starr

The Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in America:

Radiohead is also a good example of an organic band. More recently, Thom Yorke has formed a supergroup called Atoms For Peace which is a modern example of organic music.

Radiohead:                                                                             

Atoms for Peace:

Radiohead's "No Surprises" on OK Computer, 1997.

Thom Yorke performing in the "Ingenue" music video for Atoms For Peace's debut album Amok.

Synthetic

Synthetic artists are driven by the record label and the money. They often have little control in the kind of music they create; their image and target audience is highly controlled by the big bosses for example Simon Cowell with One Direction. Through X Factor, Simon Cowell noticed potential in the individual acts: Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. Seeing a gap in the market for boy groups, Cowell decided to put the five young males into one big group. 

Their dress, appearance and character are manufactured to appeal to a variety of young girls: 

Here, One Direction sing Coldplay's Viva La Vida on the X Factor and it is clear that their image has been carefully constructed to appeal to the younger female audience with modern, cool fashion and hairstyles. 

Little Mix is another example of a synthetic, manufactured group. Like One Direction, they were signed by Simon Cowell on his record label, Syco. Again, it is clear that their fun, upbeat, current look and music is made to appeal to the young female audience.



Their most recent single is Salute which has reached 25 million views on Youtube.