Pop music, East versus West.: Pop music in Western countries.

Western culture is one that we all are familiar with, mainly because it is the society in which we have been brought up in, and currently live in. Therefore, all aspects of Western pop music will be familiar to those of us in countries such as the US, the UK, Ireland, etc.
Many artists in Western culture are merely discovered by chance, or strive to gain fame themselves by doing smaller performances in clubs and bars, and producing home made demos. But within the past few years, the X Factor/American Idol route to stardom is one travelled down by many.
The process of becoming a famous singer by way of a reality show, is where first you must audition to take part in the show, and if your voice is good enough, you move on to the next stage in the competition. You go through all these stages where your singing ability and stage prescence is judged, and people are gradually eliminated until you are left with roughly a dozen people left, who are supposed to be the very best out of everyone who auditioned. Those who are chosen to go through to the live shows which air every week - where the contestants are judged by the public - were chosen by apparent experts in the music industry, who know what will make a good pop star.
This path to take on the route to fame and fortune, is one largely based on musical ability, which some would say makes the artists more credible, as pop artists have frequesntly been critiqued on their singing capability, or lack thereof.
Pop music has been made widely available and popularized by MTV, a music television network. In the past, MTV would broadcast the latest music videos by the popular, and not so popular artists. These days, MTV usually only shows reality shows.

Image source: lovetripper.com

In Western pop music, image is everything. These days it sometimes seems like genuine musical talent is hard to come by. Technology in music has become so advaced these days that producers can make someone with the voice of a crow appear to have the voice of an angel. Regardless, there are some genuine artists with real talent who are keeping music alive today.

Some of the most well known artists in Western pop music from past and present, include:
• The Beatles