Manufactured pop music

A type of music where the primary creative work is performed by producers, casting agents, choreographers, videographers, and, sometimes, studio musicians. In short, everyone except the "artists".

Usually accompanied by flashy costumes, lighting, and dance numbers, it achieves its effect by repetition of familiar themes and lowest common denominator appeal.

BlueJayW's easy 9-step half-baked recipe for Pre-manufactured Pop Tarts Stars

1. Gather Board for a meeting new ideas on how to cater to the youth and increase value of company for shareholders.
2. Set up TV talent searches that you can find on late LATE night on the more obscure channels, or nowadays on primetime. Additionally, you can seek out the kids by looks, advertising actors/actresses and models work especially well. This step is actually optional, as you could already seek out kids that have established themselves in the TV/Movie industries.
3. Attract every other kid who can sing a few bars on-key, while promising big money, bigger prizes, and the biggest contracts for their potential singing talent AND photogenic looks. "The cuter they are, the better they can sing"
4. Under NO circumstances are record companies to seek out garage bands who actually have some skill in playing any instruments. All "artists" shall have their music track provided by the record company's in-house band or a nice MIDI setup, the "artists" simply need to provide the voices.
5. Get the recording industry to produce a cookie cutter song that is mostly similar, yet slightly different from all the rest of the Pop music playing on the radio, or just redo an oldie to a hip new beat of today.
6. Add water. Mix thoroughly. Bake in preheated oven at 350° for 30 minutes.
7. Spend millions in airtime pumping the radio stations to play the brand new "smash hit" single by this new group that has just been formed.
8. Spend even more millions in getting these kids to appear in cameos on the prime-time sitcoms.
9. ???
10. Profit!
11. When record sales are off, either get them to produce new fodder (and only if the producers are feeling lucky), or repeat cycle and let the "one-hit wonder" be relegated to the used CD bin at the local record store.