A few days ago, while updating the music on my MP3 player I started to sort music by different genres. Then I thought that is an interesting word: genre, meaning category. Immediately I started to think back to my time promoting music. DJ’s, radio program directors, distributors and buyers alike, used categories extensively. All in an effort to decide what the public would hear and eventually choose to buy. I thought about a specific record that I had to promote and a subsequent meeting with a regional distributor. He, the distributor, was very cordial, which is a quality sometimes lacking in the music business. After talking a while, he wanted to hear the song. He listened about 15 to 20 seconds, turned it off, looked at me and said, “it’s R & B“. What I found interesting is that most of the local productions at the time, and even today, share elements of different musical styles. Local and national productions have sounds originating from dance, Latin, reggae, rock and more, making the lines blurred when it comes to clear-cut genres. The lines are so undefined today that we now have sub-genres, with music execs attempting to categorize even more. I am very happy to see so many artists’ using technology (the internet) to get their music heard around the world. Now they are skipping several middle persons and selling their own music. Good for them! Good for us too. Now, because of internet radio and MP3 technology, we really have many musical choices within several…….genres.