Eli5: At what point does a music genre go so far that it breaks off into a newly named genre? Example – country music changes drastically every few decades. Who/when is it decided to make it a new genre?

Question

Eli5: At what point does a music genre go so far that it breaks off into a newly named genre? Example – country music changes drastically every few decades. Who/when is it decided to make it a new genre?

In: 12

Answer 1

Although the musical innovations are made by the artists, a lot of music genres began as marketing categories. As you note, examples of music in the same category can be drastically different—R&B has also included a lot of different styles over the years. Sometimes the music and its marketing category aren’t a good match, and categories change over time (read about the history of the Billboard R&B chart, which has been renamed many times, and merged and demerged with hip hop. In contrast, the Billboard country chart has been called that for decades, even though Jimmie Rodgers and (for example) Florida Georgia Line don’t have much in common musically