Call for papers
A Symposium organized by the Sound Studies Group, Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art & Culture
Carleton University, Ottawa March 9 – 11, 2012
Keynote speakers: Dr. Jonathan Sterne (McGill University), Dr. Tim J. Anderson (Old Dominion University)

This conference is about the history and significance of stereo sound reproduction in aural culture. Stereo is everywhere: the whole culture and industry of music and sound became organized around the principle of stereo during the mid twentieth century. But nothing about this – not the invention or acceptance or ubiquity of stereo – was inevitable. Nor did the aesthetic conventions, technological objects, and listening practices required to make sense of stereo emerge fully formed, out of the blue. Continue reading →

Call for papers
Sounding the Nation? Diaspora, Indigeneity, and Multiculturalism
IASPM-Canada Annual Conference
Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia
June 14 – 17, 2012

What does a critical examination of diaspora offer to our understanding of popular music in the multicultural settler nation of Canada? Over the past twenty years, the term diaspora has proliferated as a way of making sense of how groups of people, defined through ethnicity, culture, religion, and homeland, have circulated and settled in a postcolonial and increasingly globalized world. Although the history of diaspora is shaped by violence and inequality, the concept has also permitted scholars to move beyond a static sense of a “homeland” or a “multicultural mosaic” and examine the complicated interstices, hybridities, and networks that link populations through travel, communication, memory—and music. Continue reading →

Taipei, 2012
July 13 (Fri) – 15 (Sun), 2012, featuring Postgraduate Sessions on July 13

We are pleased to announce the 3rd Inter-Asia Popular Music Studies (IAPMS) Conference, which will take place on July 13-15, 2012 in Taipei, in collaboration with the Department of Psychology at Fu Jen Catholic University and the Graduate Institute of Mass Communication at National Taiwan Normal University. Following the first conference in Osaka in 2008 and the second conference in Hong Kong in 2010, we move our next meeting to Taipei—hub of vibrant indie music scenes and Mandarin pop music industries. Continue reading →

A one-day conference organised by the Media Industries Research Centre (MIRC), University of Leeds, in conjunction with the MeCCSA Race Network and the ECREA Media Industries and Cultural Production Temporary Working Group

Wednesday 14th Sept 2011
Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds
Call for Papers

This conference will explore issues of race, the cultural industries and cultural production. Following Greg Dyke’s famous comment that the BBC is ‘hideously white’ there has been an increasing recognition of how non-whites are marginalised in the media – both in terms of participation and portrayal. Indeed, in recent years there have been numerous initiatives launched across the cultural sector that have made efforts to increase and encourage participation from minority communities. Yet tensions remain regarding social and cultural barriers to entry as well as critical issues to do with the representation of non-white groups. Continue reading →

2011 Conference
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Wednesday 23 to Friday 25 November 2011

Call For Papers (pdf version)
We are delighted to announce the call for papers for the 2011 annual conference of IASPM-ANZ. This year, the conference will be organised by convener Dr Geoff Stahl, and held at Victoria University of Wellington. We are pleased to stage our annual event in New Zealand once again, in keeping with the rotating conference schedule of Australia and New Zealand locations. Abstracts for paper presentations are now invited from researchers with an interest in popular music, regardless of disciplinary orientation. All papers detailing new and established research in the field will be considered, though preference may be given to papers that demonstrate clear engagement with the stated conference theme. Papers with a theoretical orientation are particularly encouraged, as are submissions from postgraduate students. Continue reading →

North American British Music Studies Association (NABMSA)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
July 25-28, 2012
Call for Papers

NABMSA’s fifth conference will once again bring together scholars and lovers of British music from various academic fields and locales for three days of papers, discussions, and musical performances. The 2012 conference will take place from July 25-28 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Continue reading →

December 2nd – 4th 2011
San Francisco State University
Call For Papers

21st Century Production: Technology, Performance & the Workspace

The conference panel invites proposals for papers on the following themes:

Performing in the Studio:

Evan Eisenberg described the paradox of recording as being “that [for the performer] the audience is not there…[is] the flip side of the fact that, for the listener, the performer is not there”. How does this affect the relationship between the performer or listener and the music? Continue reading →

An interdisciplinary conference examining the theme of break-up and reunion in popular music acts, focusing on Take That
University of Salford
3-4 June 2011
Extended deadline: 20 April 2011



Organised by the University of Salford 
in conjunction with the exhibition
 “Fan Networks in the Pre-Digital Age:
Take That Fans 1990-1996”

The long-anticipated reunion of Take That and Robbie Williams and the unprecedented sales figures for their summer tour 2011 offer an excellent opportunity for scholars from a range of academic disciplines to discuss key issues arising from this contemporary popular music phenomenon. From at least the time of the Beatles, the break-up of a favoured band has had profound implications for fans, followers, and the music industry.

The convenors invite papers from any discipline which address the themes of break-up and reunion of popular music acts. We are particularly interested in papers addressing these issues in relation to Take That and boy bands generally but welcome any proposals that address these themes more generally in popular music. Continue reading →

1-3 September 2011
Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford
Call for Papers

Christian congregational singing is a vital and vibrant dimension of church communities worldwide.  It reflects, informs, and articulates local convictions and concerns as well as global flows of ideas and products. Congregational song can unify communities of faith across geographical and cultural boundaries, while simultaneously serving as a contested practice that communities use to inscribe, challenge, and negotiate identities. Many twenty-first century congregational song repertories, including British and American revival hymns, gospel music, and praise & worship music, are transnational genres that cross boundaries of region, nation, and denomination. The various meanings, uses, and influence of these congregational musics cannot be understood without an exploration of both the musics’ local roots and global routes. Continue reading →

International conference
Paris, 27-28 octobre 2011
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)
Call for papers

This international conference held in Paris will gather together researchers from diverse disciplinary orientations (historical, sociological, anthropological, musicological) working on the tango and its various aspects (music, dance, poetry). This interdisciplinary conference, organized by the Center for Research in Arts and Language (CRAL, EHESS-CNRS) and affiliated with the ANR GLOBALMUS research program, takes place after UNESCO’s official recognition of the tango as international Intangible Cultural Heritage. Continue reading →