It's 2012 and you still think "Screamo" is a genre.

Yes, people generalize entire genres of metal by putting them in to the "screamo" category. But screamo is a real genre of it's own. It just gets a bad wrap because of said generalizations.

Screamo: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jUDcR0sxEA

Also screamo: www.youtube.com/watch?v=E76LCK_t6_c

Metalcore: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN4IIgFz93k

Wrong.
I do Music Technology at AS, and learnt that there is no such genre as screamo.
The genre conventions of such a thing are too vague, and it groups bands who have next to nothing in common together.

It's a common misconception. Screamo is a real genre. There is nothing else the first link could be classified as, at all. The second one is on the verge of post-hardcore, but not quite.

Here, look: www.last.fm/music/CityCop.

"A Screamo/Indie/Acoustic band out of Ashtabula, Ohio"

www.last.fm/music/Pianos+Become+The+Teeth

"Pianos Become the Teeth is a post-rock/screamo band from Baltimore, Maryland."

People do use the term to falsely generalize a large area of music, but it is a real genre. I promise you. It's just that the term has been falsely used so much now it's become a bit of a dirty word. So now every time I tell someone I enjoy screamo I'm looked down upon for it. It is a real genre and there are bands who classify themselves as screamo. Promise.

Still, officially, screamo is not a genre.
I put that as an answer in my industry-approved music technology exam, and I'll get an F.
It's kinda like the mentality of a large group of people believing something is true, so a lot of people use this thing and it becomes a common belief that the thing is true, even though it's not.
I mean, the first two youtube links had very little in common but the screaming.

Yeah, I know. As I said, the second one is on the verge of post-hardcore. The first one is screamo though. There is absolutely nothing else it could be classified as. And officially, it is a genre. I'm not sure who told you that but they were misinformed, sorry. I actually listen to the genre quite a good bit. It's a real genre.

Look,

"Screamo is a subgenre of hardcore punk which predominantly evolved from emo, among other genres, in the early 1990s. The term 'screamo' was initially applied to a more aggressive offshoot of emo that developed in San Diego in 1991, which used short songs that grafted 'spastic intensity to willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics.' The genre experienced a popularity boost in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and by mid-2000s the over-saturation of the scene encouraged bands to incorporate more experimental elements. Due to the popularity and evolution of the style to a point of being unrecognizable, the term "skramz" is sometimes used to describe bands from the first wave of screamo."

"Screamo essentially describes a particularly dissonant style of emo influenced by hardcore punk. Screamo uses typical rock instrumentation, but is notable for its brief compositions, chaotic execution, and screaming vocals. The genre is 'generally based in the aggressive side of the overarching punk-revival scene.' Primary characteristics of the genre are described by Allmusic....
In addition to melodic transitions from heavy to soft styles, the genre is also characterized 'by frequent shifts in tempo and dynamics and by tension-and-release catharses.' Screamed vocals are used 'not consistently, but as a kind of crescendo element, a sonic weapon to be trotted out when the music and lyrics reach a particular emotional pitch.' Some consider the genre to be a bridge between hardcore punk and emo."

Okay, screamo reached it's peak in the 90's and is now an almost completely underground genre. The industry doesn't dictate what is and isn't "real music" or a "real genre". I could ask a top producer if he thought shoegaze was a real genre too and he probably wouldn't know what it was. That doesn't mean it isn't a real genre, it very much is. The mainstream industry's job is to produce music for the masses, that is easily approachable, listenable, and well-liked by many. Screamo and shoegaze obviously don't fit these categories, so the mainstream industry has no interest in them. Remind me why you think the mainstream industry's voice in music means anything again?

This isn't the just the mainstream industry (I never said it was), it's the industry in general. Every single producer you go to would say the same thing.

But can you please stop grasping at straws? I've shown you articles on the genre describing what it is precisely. I've linked you to actual screamo songs. I've linked you to self-proclaimed screamo band's pages. Now you're arguing that because a producer says screamo isn't a genre, it isn't. And your only other argument was that you study music somewhere and someone told you that it wasn't a real genre, a common misconception, mind you. I listen to this genre and I know it to be real. The word has become overused and somewhere along the line people started saying "screamo isn't a genre" when it was misused. They were right in the fact that what they were calling screamo wasn't screamo, but they were wrong because it is a real genre. It has been ever since it evolved from 90's emo and bands started becoming self-proclaimed screamo bands. It's not exactly a well-known genre, but it is a genre.

Just because a band defines themselves as something, doesn't make it true.
And I'm really not trying to be rude, but I think I'd trust industry experts, who, even if their labels don't produce music for a certain genre, still know that the genre exists.
What I have learnt has came from professors of music and people who actually work in the industry.