Is the Mainstream Ready Once Again for Dance Music?

Not since the heyday of Dance/Pop Artists like Taylor Dayne and Paula Abdul has Dance Music been a mainstream category. Today, "Dance Music" as defined by Billboard's Dance Club Chart represents only a very small segment of the music market. But thanks to the recent CD Release "Sleeping in the Nothing" from Kelly Osbourne and another upcoming CD release from Entertainment Media magnet Paris Hilton, that could very well change.

Osbourne is a Reality TV Star and Mainstream Solo Artist who has embraced the Dance Music Genre on her latest CD. And because of her Star Status, she's bringing a lot of mainstream attention back to "Dance Music". It is ironic that Osbourne, a newcomer to the genre, might yet turn a Dance CD into a multi-platinum Mainstream hit.

After the country's musical tastes moved towards Hip Hop, Urban, and R&B/Pop, the Major Labels redirected their focus away from the Dance/Pop genre and it fell into decline. The dance music landscape attracted more than it's fair share of sub-standard Producers, Vocalists, and Songwriters. It got so bad that even legit Artists who could hold their own in any genre, like Grammy Nominees Amber and Deborah Cox were affected by it. Cox has even suggested publicly that being labeled a "Dance Artist" hurt her mainstream career.

Though these Artists have continued to release Remix Singles (Amber's latest "Voodoo" is out June 21), many of them have embraced other musical genres. Amber has gotten great notices for her multi-genre (Alt Rock infused Electronica, Pop/Rock, Dance, Jazz) CD "My Kind of World" and Cox has said that she is recording a CD of Broadway and Jazz standards. Even Kristine W told the Toronto Press after an appearance at last year's Fashion Cares that she'll do a Jazz CD next.

If Osbourne has a mainstream hit with "Sleeping in the Nothing" though, Dance Music's fortunes may turn once again. And the announcement from the Internet's most searched for celebrity Paris Hilton that she too will release a Dance CD shortly (which will reportedly include a remake of Blondie's Disco Classic "Heart of Glass") virtually guarantees that Dance Music will get a huge Mainstream Media boost. If these Artists are successful in turning younger CD Buyers onto Dance Music, the genre might once again become a Commercial force.

Kevin Snook is the editor of Dance Music, a site focusing on dance/pop music artists, articles and reviews.

MORE RESOURCES:

Music industry eases tactics in fighting piracy - Reuters

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#39;08 music sales hit record high - Hollywood Reporter

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Music marketers target female shoppers at home - Reuters

Hyundai Super Bowl ad to feature music by Yo-Yo Ma - Reuters

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A Year in Love and Music - New York Times

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Read all #39;Macworld 2009#39; posts in Digital Media - CNET News

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5i-0fd=Rurl=http://news.cnet.com/8300-1023_3-93.html%3Fkeyword%3DMacworld%2B2009cid=1287366747ei=DjxjSe2OOqqi9gS9mciWBAusg=AFQjCNEpZhNpq29fb1GskOErNyQTkEWuZQimg src=http://nt2.ggpht.com/news?imgefp=ipP30G3Vh4EJimgurl=news.cnet.com/i/ne/pg/fd_2009/090105_itunes.jpg width=80 height=60 alt= border=1brfont size=-2CNET News/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-0fd=Rurl=http://news.cnet.com/8300-1023_3-93.html%3Fkeyword%3DMacworld%2B2009cid=1287366747ei=DjxjSe2OOqqi9gS9mciWBAusg=AFQjCNEpZhNpq29fb1GskOErNyQTkEWuZQRead all #39;Macworld 2009#39; posts in Digital Media/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fCNET News,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobr9 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Apple has cut deals that will finally enable iTunes to offer songs free of digital rights management software from the three largest bmusic/b labels, b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-1fd=Rurl=http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/244653/apple-strikes-drmfree-deal-with-big-four-music-labels.htmlcid=1287366747ei=DjxjSe2OOqqi9gS9mciWBAusg=AFQjCNFfx1AcnFCqdJ4ZF6xHQBYmRxeb5wApple strikes DRM-free deal with big four bmusic/b labels/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrPC Pro/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-2fd=Rurl=http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/01/05/apple_inks_deals_for_all_drm_free_itunes_3g_downloads.htmlcid=1287366747ei=DjxjSe2OOqqi9gS9mciWBAusg=AFQjCNGny8TKfhWPUGJUr954O-fPnZwc9QApple inks deals for all DRM-free iTunes, 3G downloads/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrApple Insider/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-3fd=Rurl=http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/01/05/apple-finally-drops-drm-on-itunes-music-ota-3g-music-downloads/cid=1287366747ei=DjxjSe2OOqqi9gS9mciWBAusg=AFQjCNGO94Eluf4Q9-m-bSSlQDsqQS75kwApple finally drops DRM on iTunes bmusic/b, OTA 3G bmusic/b downloads?/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBoy Genius Report/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-4fd=Rurl=http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/05/drm-close-to-extinction-on-itunes/cid=1287366747ei=DjxjSe2OOqqi9gS9mciWBAusg=AFQjCNEjD1BW50TWX2YQjYokdXBlUdeMBwnobrVentureBeat/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-5fd=Rurl=http://mashable.com/2009/01/05/drm-free-music-on-itunes/cid=1287366747ei=DjxjSe2OOqqi9gS9mciWBAusg=AFQjCNHV0wXsMhScFj4XGybZUttPcrQbJQnobrMashable/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1287366747hl=ennobrall 21 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Musebin: The future of music reviews? - Los Angeles Times

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6i-0fd=Rurl=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/01/musebin-the-fut.htmlcid=1287319293ei=DjxjSe2OOqqi9gS9mciWBAusg=AFQjCNHp-oGOrqOGFIGnkBRLH8j27Wn2HQimg src=http://nt2.ggpht.com/news?imgefp=ngf9aeILEXwJimgurl=latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/01/05/musebin_300.jpg width=80 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Los Angeles Times/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6-0fd=Rurl=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/01/musebin-the-fut.htmlcid=1287319293ei=DjxjSe2OOqqi9gS9mciWBAusg=AFQjCNHp-oGOrqOGFIGnkBRLH8j27Wn2HQMusebin: The future of bmusic/b reviews?/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fLos Angeles Times,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobr11 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1The user-driven site allows for only a sentence or two, paring down bmusic/b reviews to a Twitter or Facebook status update. Although the launch of such a site b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6-1fd=Rurl=http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/01/musebins-140-ch.htmlcid=1287319293ei=DjxjSe2OOqqi9gS9mciWBAusg=AFQjCNH1EAtC5gFIK35aFAnpX4t3PAi9OQMusebin#39;s 140-Character Reviews Go Live, Power Hype Machine/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWired News/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6-2fd=Rurl=http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/hype_machine_zeitgeist.phpcid=1287319293ei=DjxjSe2OOqqi9gS9mciWBAusg=AFQjCNETYNW9b7dY1DfnadQzkuelnsodJAHype Machine Zeitgeist: Listen in Full to the 50 Most Blogged b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrReadWriteWeb/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1287319293hl=ennobrall 4 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

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Music matters at Sundance - Variety

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Painting with Sound
Whenever I go to a Borders bookstore here in San Diego, I make it a point to look at the art instruction books. I'm not a visual artist, but I've always enjoyed the step-by-step approach authors of the better books take to teach students how to create a finished painting.

Benatar and Geraldo - Still Rockin on a High Note
Most people look forward to the summer months because they bring warmer temperatures, vacations, outdoor gatherings, and longer days. Those are all fine and dandy, but what really gets my fires stoked for the warm season is when the Queen of Rock (a.

Dance Musics Most Popular and Enduring Theme: The Declaration of Independence
It all started with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" in 1979, perhaps the biggest fluke in popular music history. To follow up her hit "Never Can Say Goodbye", Gloria's label issued a song called "Substitute".

Shut Up And Sing
What is it with these performers and their politics? Do they really think that people who pay $100 or more to hear them sing want to hear them utter political opinions? The audience pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to see and hear a performer PERFORM. You want to spout politics, run for freakin office, you moron! When performers use a paid venue to play politics they are abusing the paying audience, the venue, the sponsors and everyone connected to their artistic performance.