Category Archives: News

The Arena Concert‏

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Call for chapters
The Arena Concert: Music, Mediation and Mass Entertainment
Deadline for proposals: 23 July 2013

The idea of live popular music as mass entertainment is one that presents an arresting series of challenges and remains mostly unexplored in contemporary academic writing. And yet, it would seem, arena concerts are coming to constitute the commercial future of popular music, and popular music is being shaped by this phenomena. We ask: what, then, is this phenomena? And what then are the challenges that have blocked a critical engagement with this phenomena? Continue reading →

Lecturer in Music

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Lecturer in Music
University of Leeds
Performance, Visual Arts & Communications
Closing Date: 8 July 2013

The School of Music seeks to appoint a Lecturer in Music in the field of musical analysis. You will be able to teach analysis across a range of musics, but with a particular interest in the analysis of popular music. Further information.

Asian Music Special Issue On Indonesian Pop Music

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New journal issue
Asian Music
Special Issue On Indonesian Pop Music

Globalization, post-colonial identities, and Islam inform and complicate pop music in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian nation increasingly important on the global scene. The current issue of Asian Music-“Constructing Genre in Indonesian Popular Music: From Colonized Archipelago to Contemporary World Stage” 44(2) available in July 2013-examines commercial music from this island nation. Continue reading →

Declaration of Support in Relation to the Current Demonstrations in Turkey

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Declaration of support from popular music scholars in relation to the current demonstrations in Turkey.

Resistance of music against the authoritarian discourse and implementation of the government in Turkey.

The music performed by the people of Turkey with pots, pans and whistles is an important part of the current demonstrations against various aspects of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.

There is a variety of grievances such as the authoritarian approach of the government, its perceived Islamic bias in making laws and making changes to society, and its heavy-handed approach to the demonstrations including the physical attacks and arrests of peaceful demonstrators.

The people of Turkey performing with pots, pans and whistles, as well as musicians including our colleagues and students, are in the streets all day and night, and many of them are being arrested and injured by police forces acting on behalf of AKP. Continue reading →

On Sound

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Call for articles
The Velvet Light Trap
Issue #74: On Sound (New Directions in Sound Studies)
Submission Deadline: 1 August 2013

The medium of sound, long placed in a secondary position to the visual within media studies, has experienced a considerable increase in scholarly attention over the past three decades, to the point that “sound studies” is now a distinct field of scholarship. Within media studies, sound-related research today expands well beyond the film and television score or soundtrack to include a broad range of scholarship on radio and popular music. And while sound studies still tends to cohere around media studies departments, an increasing amount of sound media research is interdisciplinary in nature. A “sonic turn” is under way across the humanities and social sciences with sound studies work coming out of philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, science and technology studies, cultural geography, American studies, art history, and cultural studies. Recent issues of differences (2011) and American Quarterly (2011) and anthologies like The Sound Studies Reader (Jonathan Sterne, 2012) are just a few examples of this expanding range of interest. Continue reading →

Pop-Life: The Value of Popular Music in the Twenty First Century

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Call for papers
Pop-Life: The Value of Popular Music in the Twenty First Century
University of Northampton
6-7 June 2014

It has increasingly become a truism to suggest that contemporary popular music practice is in a state of flux. Established patterns of consumption, distribution and production have at the very least been revolutionised by the opportunities afforded by digitalisation and the internet. While subcultural identities may have become increasingly adopted by mainstream media, the proliferation of media outlets has contributed to an increasingly varied and cosmopolitan listening experience both in terms of stylistic breadth but also in terms of historical depth. While some commentators have sounded the death-knell of the music industry, others see an opening-up of opportunity for musicians and audiences around the world that may be far more liberating than at any time since the dawn of recorded music. Continue reading →

Sound, Environment and Action

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Call for articles
Special Issue of Music and Politics
“Sound, Environment and Action”
Deadline: 1 November 2013

The Spring 2014 issue of Music & Politics (7/2) will be dedicated to exploring the intersections of music, culture and the environment as it pertains to politically charged topics. This issue aims to build knowledge around the “politics” of musical works, communities, and practices that share a correlation (consciously or unconsciously) to broader environmental themes. Bringing the topic of “politics” into conversation with “music” and “environment” not only opens up myriad discursive routes, but also raises a multitude of questions regarding the communication of ideas concerning the natural world through sound. For example, what role(s) does music play in environmental activism? In what ways do artists respond to environmental crises? How is the creation of music (from instrument building to performance) tethered to environmental policy? Continue reading →

State of the Music Industry

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Call for articles
The State of the Music Industry
Civilisations

The next issue of the journal Civilisations, published by the Department of Languages and Civilisations, University of Toulouse 1 Capitole, will be dedicated to the music industry. It is a familiar story that the music industry is in a state of turmoil. This issue will look at past, current and future trends in the industry. In line with the journal’s interdisciplinary emphasis, the Editorial Committee is seeking contributions from the disciplines of history, economics, law, sociology, and from the larger field of human social sciences. Continue reading →