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Imeem.com is a great idea, but for music outside popular genres, Imeem is also a record of our collective musical ignorance. If you're not familiar with Imeem, it's a website that allows users to upload music and tag the music, thus putting the songs into various categories, or genres, if you like.
 I subjected myself to listening to all the top 100 "most played" songs in the Blues category and in my opinion none of those songs belong to the blues genre. And there are only a few of the songs tagged "Blues" that I would even describe as "bluesy."
It's pretty much the same story for the Jazz category, although jazz fairs a little better thanks to Michael Buble who appears as number 2 in the list. And while he may be a jazz artist, it's no surprise that the tracks of his that do place well are not his jazz tracks. Number 2 on the list is "Home" which is a folk ballad. And placing number 5 is his version of "Sway," though that is at least getting close to jazz.
But otherwise, the "most played" songs in the jazz category of Imeem are not jazz at all. Under the most played "blues" songs on Imeem, I found rap, pop, hard rock, pop-rock, heavy metal, R&B, but no blues.
Testing My Theory
To test the theory, I thought I should have a listen to some other categories to see if imeem users get all categories wrong, or just some. So I had a listen to the top Electronica and top Hip Hop lists. They were all definitely electronica and hip hop in my opinion.
So it would seem that there is widespread ignorance of the musical genres blues and jazz.
For the classical category, I was aghast. In that category I would expect to find some Bach, Beethoven, Puccini, or some recent orchestral soundtracks. Nothing like that shows up on the "most played" classical list until spot 27 (The Hobbit by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra).
Even the Classical category is infiltrated by the syrupy pop ballads that infest the jazz and blues categories. How could someone think that Celine Dion is classical music? Songs from the High School Musical soundtracks are also frequently tagged "Classical."
Misguided by ourselves
What if someone wanted to know what Blues sounded like so they went to Imeem.com and clicked on the "Blues" category and had a listen? They would be so misguided.
Many of the songs tagged "blues" are about lost love, and perhaps that's how many Imeem users categorize blues. But there is more to blues music than a theme of heartbreak. Technically, it's a song form that is typically 12 bars, but not always. It usually doesn't stray far from the chords I, IV, and V. It uses lots of dominant harmony, and of course the Blues Scale.
But even without the music theory, it's the sound of the blues that defines it. It's the sound of heartbreak. It's the sound of hunger. The blues is about life in the gutter.
Who defines musical genres?
It's not easy to define musical genres. Any genre will have artists who borrow styles and ideas from other genres, blending the sounds and blurring the lines. Blues and jazz are certainly no exceptions to that.
But who defines what a genre is? The listeners? The musicians? The record companies? In the age of Imeem I think it will be the listeners.
And if it is listeners who define a genre, then we should expect the definitions of musical genres to change soon. If most people think that syrupy pop ballads are blues songs, then perhaps that is eventually how "blues" will be defined.
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