Genre
Genre generally means ’style’. Genres are not specifically limited to music. It could also be associated to styles of art or literature.
Record companies and distributors generally classify music based on genres, so that a buyer may jump to a genre of his choice such as, World Music, Indie Pop, Jazz or Heavy Metal.
Sometimes it is difficult to associate a genre to a piece of music due to its inter-genre characteristics. Genres are further subdivided into sub-genres and are then even more difficult to define. A music genre may not always be purely classified by the music itself. Sometimes, it is even geographic (as with reggae) or could be defined from the lyrics (as with black metal) or instrumentation.
Genres are subjective. A composer might think that the composition is a of a particular genre while the listener may feel differently. It is limited to personal understanding of music. To understand the complexities of defining genres, have a look at this chart which tries to characterize and map the genealogy of Cuban music.
For example, what is Pop? Generally it refers to popular music. Would this mean that jazz was the pop music of the 50s? But then, the term ‘pop’ emerged very much later. Talk of Green Day and they would immediately be associated with punk or punk-rock. Are they not pop? They are popular!
