Western Pop

From about 1967, the term "pop music" was increasingly used in opposition to the term rock music, a division that gave generic significance to both terms.

Pop music has been dominated by the American and (from the mid-1960s) British music industries, whose influence has made pop music something of an international monoculture.

Early pop music drew on traditional pop, an American counterpart to German Schlager , French Chanson or Italian "Canzone". Western Pop Music is a wide umbrella encompassing influences ranging from Tin Pan Alley songwriting, Broadway theatre, and show tunes.

In the 1960s, the majority of mainstream pop music fell in two categories: guitar, drum and bass groups or singers backed by a traditional orchestra.

At the same time, pop music on radio and in both American and British film moved away from refined Tin Pan Alley to more eccentric songwriting and incorporated reverb-drenched electric guitar, symphonic strings, and horns played by groups of properly arranged and rehearsed studio musicians.

The main medium of pop music is the song, often between two and a half and three and a half minutes in length, generally marked by a consistent and noticeable rhythmic element, a mainstream style and a simple traditional structure.

The structure of many popular songs is that of a verse and a chorus, the chorus serving as the portion of the track that is designed to stick in the ear through simple repetition both musically and lyrically.

The chorus is often where the music builds towards and is often preceded by "the drop" where the bass and drum parts "drop out".

Common variants include the verse-chorus form and the thirty-two-bar form, with a focus on melodies and catchy hooks, and a chorus that contrasts melodically, rhythmically and harmonically with the verse.

The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment.

The lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions.

In EML are considered Western Pop artists popular music bands or musicians or soloist having more than 51% of their repertoire as English-language pop music works that have had or are having a large spread in at least one of the Anglo-Saxon music markets : USA, Great Britain , Canada, Australia, New Zealand.

A Western Pop artist might also be a not native English speaker soloist or band, that has reached a worldwide success or that have created an unique subgenre of pop based works.

Indie Pop, Art Pop, Adult Contemporary Pop are example of level 3 Clusters of Western Pop Music