Talk:Urban contemporary music

Use of "urban" in music and radio articles

Should the usage of the term "urban" in a music context—"urban music", "urban contemporary", etc.—be deprecated? Raymie (t • c) 04:09, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

Explanation

As a result of events of the last two weeks, several important players in the music and radio fields are shifting away from the use of the word "urban" in the description of genres of music and radio formats. In music, important players that have made this decision include The Recording Academy, Warner Music Group and Republic Records, as well as influential artists like Tyler, the Creator. On the radio side, iHeartMedia, the largest owner of US radio stations, and the widely cited RadioInsight news blog have stopped using the term.

• The Recording Academy changed the title of the Grammy category "Best Urban Contemporary Album" to "Best Progressive R&B Album".

• RadioInsight has used the labels "hip-hop" and "adult R&B" to replace "urban contemporary" and "urban AC" [adult contemporary]. iHeart is doing something similar.

There is widespread coverage in reliable sources, including the New York Times, of this terminology change in the industry.

For a good wrap-up of changes proposed by industry actors, see this Inside Radio report.

The change by radio actors is particularly notable as "urban contemporary" was coined by WBLS New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the 1970s.

At the present time, the use of "urban" in Spanish-language music contexts, such as Urbano music, has not yet seen the shift in opinion that "urban" has in English and the corresponding categories at the Grammys have not changed. See this Rolling Stone article.

Comments

• I don't see a discussion on this. WP:RFCBEFORE suggests a discussion is enough, and if not, you could go to one of the projects, but I'll bite: if reliable sources call it "urban", then so should we. Walter Görlitz (talk) 01:20, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose. It's good to explain the controversy (as this article does already), but it's way too early to make this name change ourselves. Korny O'Near (talk) 03:02, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose - We write what's in RS. ^Atsme _Talk 📧 09:40, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose - Coming to this a little late, but agreed with the editors above me. For right now, acknowledging the name controversy is the right approach for wikipedia. If, restrospectively, we find that most reliable sources begin and continue to use alternate names, that's the point the article should change as well to reflect common usage (but still with an acknowledgement of the naming controversy, in line with how reliable sources view it at that point). Arathald (talk) 20:09, 26 June 2020 (UTC)
• Support but within reason; a consensus within the industry at large needs to emerge on proper format names, with radio station operators, programmers, record labels, and trade magazine reporters/journalists at-large. While Lance Venta has already adopted "hip-hop" as the replacement term for "mainstream urban" in RadioInsight, it does bear noting that some people may still be opposed to that term and may either prefer something else or keeping the existing name. That being said, let's take a wait-and-see approach to this and see where it goes. :) Nathan Obral (talk) 06:19, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose Until we get a year or two to see where the actual winds change and if the terms stick. Record labels putting out a press release saying 'we're not longer using urban' is one thing, but actually getting it picked up in general in the radio and record industries is going to be another. The term was created by a Black DJ for a Black radio station, so this hardly compares to the racism of master/slave (technology) in comparison and there will be a good contingent that has no issues using the term. Until a consensus builds, keep it as it is. Nate • (chatter) 05:37, 5 July 2020 (UTC)