Elvis Costello at 50

An discussion of Elvis Costello's identity and songwriting, based on a review of Graeme Thomson, Complicated Shadows: The Life and Music of Elvis Costello, Canongate Books, Edinburgh, 2004; Larry David Smith, Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell and the Torch Song Tradition, Greenwood Publishing, Westport, CT, 2004

Perspectives on cultural economy: personal, institutional, historical

This short essay responds to Toby Bennett’s request for a personal account of the emergence of cultural economy during the 1990s. It brings together reflections on a particular journey into academia, identifies the influence of specific individuals, considers the institutional environment in the UK at the time, and includes observations about the broader political and intellectual context within which cultural economy emerged as a distinct idea

The Singles: A Playlist for Framing Dylan's Recording Art

A discussion of 10 tracks that give various insights into Bob Dylan's imagination as a recording artist

Producing Pop: Culture and Conflict in the Popular Music Industry

A study of the recorded music industry

When the artist meets the audience: amour, anxiety and ambivalence

The theme of this paper is the relationship between artists and audiences, the links that connect musicians, songwriters, or performers to their fans, and the dynamics and consequences of that relationship. It links the study of audiences and their activities to the creative practices of musicians

From cultural intermediaries to platform adaptors: the transformation of music planning and artist acquisition in the Chinese music industry

Drawing from interviews with staff who sign and work with musicians and songwriters in the Chinese music industry, this article adopts the concepts of ‘cultural intermediary’ and ‘platform adaptor’ to trace a series of transformations since the post-1978 market reforms up to the present day. We argue that significant artistic and cultural shifts have occurred as the creative practices of music planners at record companies are superseded by content operators more narrowly focused on constructing content at digital platforms and adapting songs to short video platforms. The article locates the affordances of new media within a broader context of change and continuity in the Sinophone popular music world, contributing new knowledge about the work of music industry personnel involved in artist acquisition and repertoire development, adding to scholarship on an important yet under researched period in the history of the Chinese music industries

Eurasian entanglements: notes towards a planetary perspective of popular music histories

In recent years, music scholars have argued for a shift towards writing and researching world history, in line with other planetary impulses that invite a more inclusive, de-centred, and less parochial view of cultural life. This intervention argues for a focus on the exchanges, influences, and dialogues of popular music across Eurasia, as just one dynamic cultural space of creative dialogues stretched across and entangled with many other places and peoples around the planet

East Asian pop music idol production and the emergence of data fandom in China

This article traces the formation of popular music idol industries in China and the emergence of data fandom. It charts the growth of digital platforms and historicises the commercial and geopolitical itinerations linking cultural production in Japan, South Korea, and China. It locates data fandom as an integral part of the popular music industries reconfigured by digital social media platforms; a structural change from the production-to-consumption ‘supply chain’ model of the recording era towards emergent circuits of content that integrate industries and audiences. Data fans understand how their online activities are tracked, and adopt individual and collective strategies to influence metric and semantic information reported on digital platforms and social media. This article analyses how the practices of data fans impact upon charts, media and content traffic; illustrating how this activity benefits the idols they are following, and enhance a fan’s sense of achievement and agency

Derek Scott, Musical Style and Social Meaning, Selected Essays, and Stan Hawkins (ed.) Critical Musicological Reflections: Essays in Honour of Derek B Scott

Derek Scott was crucial to the establishment of critical musicology in the UK in the 1990s, a project he succinctly described as ‘a concern with critique, including the critique of musicology itself’, an idea framing these two books, volumes that demonstrate his significant contribution to the theorising, study and teaching of music. Critical musicology in the UK, like the so-called ‘new musicology’ in the USA, was reacting against the perceived limitations of traditional musicology and resp..

Understanding musical copyright in the digital age

Copyright appears in one of two guises. It is either the backdrop to arguments about plagiarism - about how 'Blurred Lines' was stolen from Marvin Gaye, or about how Donald Trump is making (allegedly) illegitimate use of Adele and others to accompany his rallies. Or copyright is seen as central to the development of the digital economy - hence, Ian ..