Commodification: The “Re-Branding” of African-American Blues Music

For centuries, Europeans have taken the song, soul, and attempted spirit if African-American music. Within the genre of Blues, which originated in the deep south of the United States, Caucasian artists such as the Beatles have stolen and attempted to re-brand Blues music. With this, they stripped the genre of music and turned it into rock, pop, and other genres for their own personal satisfactions and monetary awards. The commodification of Blues music continued into the 1980’s until black artist were finally recognized for their creativity and originality within the genre. Today, black artists still go unrecognized for their influence on popular music.

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