Ethnicity and culture in music

Ethnicity - Where you are from, ancestry, origins.
Culture - Social behaviour of a particular group of people.

Rock music in the modern day, on the surface, is dominated by white males. However its origin comes from 1940/50's African-American Blues music which quickly spread across the U.S. Classic rock from the 50's featured ethnicities from all over the globe. This opened up white audiences to the African style of music.

Cultural appropriation is a good thing. It opens up the minds of people outside one culture and allows them to be welcomed into another. However it can be taken out of context, and the appropriation can be taken advantage of, and be misrepresented. Take for example, Bounce, by Iggy Azalea. She uses Indian culture, but uses no lyrics or accurate representation of the culture. A good example of cultural appropriation would be Avril Lavigne's 'Hello kitty'. She isn't from, or has any link to the Japanese culture, but wrote the song for her Japanese fans, she doesn't slander the Japanese and tries to use certain Japanese terms in her song, as an effort to connect with her overseas fans. You could argue the Iggy Azalea track was trying for the same effect, but the lyrics have nothing to do with the Indian culture, an is viewed as more insulting.

Another positive example of cultural appropriation would come from the band UB40. Formed in Birmingham, they perform reggae music. As appose to performing A certain genre of song with visuals that present another genre (How Iggy Azalea performs a hip hop track within the Indian video), they aren't from a Rastafarian, however one member is of a Jamaican background, they perform wearing casual clothes, which welcomes the genre and culture to places outside of its origin. We see this in one of their many videos, 'One in ten', they don't feel the need to over exaggerate their style.

That, would be deemed as appropriate, and if the culture is respected when being delivered by someone not of that culture it's a good example of cultural appropriation, and if artists deliver material in that fashion, there would be a more positive outlook on cultural appropriation.