Global impact of music vs. film

I was once asked the question, which medium/art form has reached more people around the world via popular culture: music or film. The questioner specified that they we're talking about 20th century music/film and were excluding literature
from this debate. The question was about which has had the most power to reach the world, that is, to make people react, be it laugh, cry, think, change society, entertain, remain in people's memories etc.

I replied that I lean slightly in the direction of music, but I think, when all is said and done, both mediums are about tied. Film themes and genres and music styles both cross cultures and bring influences from place to place. One musical example that comes to mind is that of reggae, a Jamaican musical genre based on American soul (and later hip-hop), which then, in turn, influenced everything from British punk bands like the Clash, ATV, Buzzcocks, etc., American rappers like KRS-1, various techno artists (particularly dub reggae), Afropop, and probably a whole lot more. As far as the "message" (aside from the sound of danceable "crooked beat" as the Clash once described it) of reggae, it is ambiguous, being an equal mix of feel-good spiritualism (e.g., Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" now used to promote Jamaican tourism) and (gangsta-)rebellion, (e.g., Shabba Ranks) and either message, depending on artist consumed, is what gets delivered. I was recently listening to a tribute record to the Nigerian political popstar, Fela Kuti, and on it, artists from around the world gather to interpret music which is itself a hybrid of forms. Also, in both Jamaica and various African countries, the DJ is still king as a taste maker; something that was the case in the U.S. when Murray the K was spinning Beatles records, before radio became corporatized. In more urbanized parts of the world, the same globalization seems to be occurring, but it seems that music videos are more influential; one could argue that the medium of the music video emphasizes the visual at the expense of the music, but I'm not necessarily convinced that the global audience is now only interested in consuming visual images and not in the music itself. What I think is happening are a series of massive changes by which music is produced, distributed and consumed. It is sometimes difficult to chart these changes.

With film and globalization, one thinks of Hollywood. However, there is, within film, high, low, and middlebrow culture, and it seems that what is most globally popular are either the lower or middle brow style fare; I'm not sure what particular this impact has. In part, I think, audiences can and do read whatever meanings they project onto the screen while watching the film.