Are blackness and whiteness useful concepts in the study of popular music?

They are concepts related to popular music but they cannot be separated as popular music has always depended on the interaction between white and black traditions (Hatch & Milward). There’s also interaction in terms on Bhangra as they use traditional instruments (Dholak) with electric guitars and Punjabi.

“The rise and development of rock is the result of white people’s fascination with black music” (Shank) that’s why when Marvin Gaye sang ‘Yesterday’, Lenon and McCartney recorded a version of it.

But you still can’t look at popular music as black and white because 1) there’s no clear definition and 2) it denies others of certain feelings and situations. Elvis was poor and was brought up on gospel music but he isn’t black so it isn’t right to class music as black or white. You can’t trace music back to its routes because each genre grew and matured through different places and situations

Can popular music achieve genuine political change

It can be used to help political change but for the benefit of whom is a different question. In November 1985 Red Wedge were created to help the labour party advance in the 87 election but unfortunately they didn’t win and the band faded and disbanded in 1990. When it is used directly for political use the public may not take it seriously.
Longhurst second dimension is the connection between popular music and politics. Billie Holidays “strange fruit” was inspired by 1937 poem by Meerpol after seeing a picture of Leeching. The song didn’t have political intent which Ballinger speaks about but sparked the awareness of slavery.
When Bob Marley sang “Get up, stand up”, he wanted a political change but had to work alongside the capitalist economy to get his voice heard, this was a homogenised two way system so everyone got what they wanted so change was slowly made

Does the emergence of the digital download signal the end for the music industry ?

The industry was in trouble from 1962 when Philips made cassettes which were rigid, small and the sound quality was good. The BPI realised this threat and they campaigned against it. With the ability to listen to music personally since Marantz created the personal stereo then Sony introduced a version with headphones in 1979, people had the ability to record their music and listen to it without buying it on cassette. CD’s were invented in 1980 allowing 74 minutes of music which was more than cassettes. When Fraunrofer realised they could decrease the size of files without destroying the quality, MP3’s flew onto the market starting with SaeHan 1998 to the iPod 2001 which stored 1000 albums. Lessing breaks down file sharing into four types
1) A substitute for purchasing - this will threaten the industry cause people won’t buy anything anymore
2) To sample the music before buying - since music is a commodity, the buyer should be able to try before they buy
3) To access copyrighted material not being sold - the industry is threatening themselves since the material isn’t available so they have to download it.
4) To access non-copyrighted material

what is world music? what is it's function

World music is global and local music but as Farley said, defining these two words is a controversial thing. Local music is small scale but it promotes global music if the person is singing a song by Madonna or The Beetles, you cannot separate a local artists and a global song but that doesn’t make the artist global.
World music is always in English as the charts are dominated by mainly UK and US artists but they all sing in English because it’s a world known language and its function is to allow everyone worldwide to enjoy it .
American music is a global template and Shuker states its culture is imported into third world countries which waters down their culture but is also a sign on rebellion .
World music allows the creation and acceptance of local music for instance grime is now a global genre which derived from the already global genre hip hop and it’s still performed in English which contradicts Shuker’s point.