ABSTRACT
At the heart of the frenetic activity of the record industry and of all the conflicting opinion to which this activity gives rise, lies a common goal: popular success. Pop music has been able to systematize the very principle of its own diversity within an original mode of production. These three elements (music, lyrics, character) are conceived of as empirical mixtures based on know-how, as ephemeral alloys which cannot be codified. The song is the result of their articulation and is just as empirical and fugitive. Music is the fundamental ingredient in a song, giving it its form. In pop songs, the choice of tune usually precedes that of the lyrics, which will often be altered completely in the process of adapting the two elements to one another. The mediation which pop music introduces between the social truth of a singer and the public's desire to identify is probably the chief task of the producer.
