Music radio has had a special and powerful position for decades, despite or because of several transformations it has had to go through in this time. This part of the assignment will look at the development of music radio and the role of cultural and music policies in the context of the debate about different royalties systems in different countries.

Something that has long been seen as an “instantaneous break with previous radio programming practice” (Rothenbuhler and McCourt, 2004, p. 4) was the introduction of the Top 40 system by Todd Storz after World War II. While the truth is that “Storz worked with audience research” (ibid., p. 5) over a longer period of time, the fact that society has accepted it as such a disruptive moment rather than a continuous development says a lot about the way history is often told (Wall, 2003). Another transformation took place when television became the primary source for programmes like soap operas that had hitherto been a main attraction to radio. From this time onwards, music was the dominant set of media texts broadcast via radio. An advantage of music is its inexpensiveness in comparison to the production of radio plays. However, this did not mean that artists should not be compensated for their contribution to successful radio programming.

Today, the Top 40 system is still very much in place and artists, songwriters, labels and publishers in the UK benefit from airplay in terms of promotion as well as royalties. However, the situation is different in the United States. There has been an on-going debate about the fact that no royalties are paid by commercial stations to the performers. In 2010, Cameron Kerry, in his function as part of the Obama administration, expressed his support of the Performance Rights Act that would change this, but up until now, no such change is in effect (Sheffner, 2010). This serves as an example for both the importance and the difficulties concomitant with policies in general, and cultural and music policies in particular. To make the connection between music industries and music culture in the form of music policy even clearer, one can look at Hesmondhalgh’s definition of the term ‘cultural policy’: “Cultural policy […] could include public broadcasting […] to protect ‘national’ culture, national ownership rules, subsidies and so on […]” (2007, p. 138). The Performance Rights Act in the United States would, thus, protect the national culture by protecting the performers’ livelihood.

Despite its still existing issues, the mere fact that this is an issue of debate shows that policy makers have realised that the creative industries are important and need to be regulated and protected in the form of policies. While cultural policies often work as implicit plans of action, the advantage of more explicit instances such as the Performance Rights Act might be that it draws the attention to the importance of music culture and thus, makes it visible and raises awareness of the growing demand for music policy.

Bibliography

Hesmondhalgh, D. (2007) The Cultural Industries. 2nd ed. London: Sage Publications.

Negus, K. (1993) Plugging and Programming: Pop Radio and Record Promotion in Britain and the Untied States. Popular Music, 12 (1), p.57-68.

Rothenbuhler, E. and McCourt, T. (2004) Burnishing the Brand: Todd Storz and the Total Station Sound. Radio Journal - International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media, 2 (1), p.3-14.

Sheffner, B. (2010) Obama Administration backs Performance Rights Act. Copyrights & Campaigns, [blog] 1 April 2010, Available at: http://copyrightsandcampaigns.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/obama-administration-bac... [Accessed: 14 May 2012].

Wall, T. (2003) Studying Popular Music Culture. London: Hodder Arnold.

Wall, T. (2004) The political economy of internet music radio. The Radio Journal, 2 (1).

Ireland has a long history of emigration, with more than 70 million people around the world claiming Irish heritage. The debate over the effects of this diaspora on Irish identity stretches back many years and continues today (Mcwilliams 2007, Moffatt 2011, O’Keefe-Vigneron 2008 and Ryan 2008), with the diaspora labelled as ‘excessive’ and lacking ‘authenticity’ by those in Ireland. So what effect has the diaspora truly had on cultural identity and defining Irishness?

For the Irish diaspora, common gathering places for cultural activities abroad were Irish Centres, which celebrated Irish culture in its many forms. In London, for example, there were two main centres for Irish cultural expression - the London Irish Centre in Camden, and the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith. Both still actively teach Irish culture and host a range of music, dance and literature events. These centres were set up by migrants but were soon seen by later (post-1980) arrivals as ‘excessive’ and inauthentic in their practices of Irishness (Gray 2004, p. 108).

Even so, any excessiveness was evidence that the Irish were becoming more conscious of (and anxious over) their identity. Ireland’s cultural heritage had been commercialised in leprechauns and tin whistles. A country once famously self-loathing now exported all things Irish (Hussey 1995, p. 470). However, as globalisation exposed Ireland to outside influences, the boundaries of what constituted ‘Irish’ became blurred. U2’s success, for example, may lie in their identity as cultural leaders, an example of cultural hybridity or the result of Americanisation and globalisation - or all of the above. 

U2 began as a Celtic rock band, with a sound influenced by American icons such as Bob Dylan, but they became increasingly global in their focus (Danks and Kennedy 2001, p. 119). Bono saw America as a catalyst in recreating the band’s Irishness, as Kearney (1988, p. 187) observed:

“Now, as we are rediscovering ourselves through our encounter with others, reclaiming our voice in our migrations through other cultures and continents ... we are beginning to realise that the Irish thing was always there.” 

A focus on global politics moved the band away from issues in their homeland, although they always kept their Irish base (Cogan 2008, p. 157). With global popularity they became one of Ireland’s largest cultural exports - whether or not people agreed on if or how they were representing Ireland.

Although U2 is one of Irish music’s great success stories, they were part of a wide circle of musicians driving Irishness - many of whom were not born in Ireland. The Pogues, for example, represented emigrants embracing cultural roots, creating a hybrid genre of punk rock and Irish. Born and raised in London, the band members sense of pride sprang from an Irish diaspora upbringing (Nagle 2009 p.166). Where U2 devised a sound that left the politics and traditional music of Ireland behind, The Pogues thrived off ethnicity and punk attitude to political messages. 

It can be argued that The Pogues projected a greater musical sense of Irishness than U2, although the former were not based in Ireland. U2’s Irishness is based mainly on geography; to say they are a part of Ireland’s success in rebuilding its cultural identity is debatable (Kearney 1997 p.81). While The Pogues are part of a diaspora affected by nationalist projections of Irishness, U2 represent post-nationalist ‘home-born’ citizen, influenced by globalisation and Americanisation (Dawe and Mulreany 2001). 

In 1990, Ireland elected its first female President, Mary Robinson. She took up her presidency with a clear objective - to redefine the meaning of being Irish. For Robinson, the inclusion of the diaspora was key to understanding what the notion of being Irish had become. Robinson’s speech “Cherish the Irish Diaspora” was one of her most famous; delivered to the Irish government in 1995, it highlighted the importance of diaspora to Ireland’s economic and cultural growth:

The more I know of these stories the more it seems to me an added richness of our heritage that Irishness is not simply territorial. In fact Irishness as a concept seems to me at its strongest when it reaches out to everyone on this island and shows itself capable of honouring and listening to those whose sense of identity, and whose cultural values, may be more British than Irish. It can be strengthened again if we turn with open minds and hearts to the array of people outside Ireland for whom this island is a place of origin. (Robinson 1995)

Although the idea of a transnational Irish identity could define a wider sense of Irishness, the thought of an Irish identity inclusive of both those born in Ireland and those born abroad proves difficult to ‘market’. Hostility towards the diaspora is quite common, with those born abroad being labelled “tans” or “plastic paddy” (Gibney and Lansen 2005, p. 324), and their Irish authenticity constantly questioned. The idea of an inclusive Irishness may only exist for those who are not actually citizens. So are there actually two separate Irish identities - in Ireland and outside? Do those born outside the island deserve to be barred from an ‘authentic’ Irish identity? The complexity of Irish culture has caused this rift, but it has not harmed Ireland commercially. With examples of Irish music inspired by liberalism, politics, societal restructuring and the diaspora, is geography becoming a non-issue in the creation and definition of Irish culture (Cleary 2007 p.103)? As long as cultural creativity continues to prosper, the wider debate of “What is Irishness?” may recede.  

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References:

Cleary, J. (2007). Outrageous Fortune: Capital and Culture in Modern Ireland. Dublin: Field Day Publications.

Coogan, V. (2008). U2: An Irish Phenomenon. New York: Pegasus Books.

Danks, C. and Kennedy, P. (2001). Globalization and National Identities: Crisis Or Opportunity? New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Dawe, G. and Mulreany, M. (2001). The Ogham Stone: An Anthology of Contemporary Ireland. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.

Gibney, M. and Hansen, R. (2005). Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present, Volume 1. Santa Babara: ABC-CLIO.

Gray, B. (2004). Women and the Irish Diaspora. New York: Routledge Press.

Hussey, G. (1995). Ireland Today: Anatomy of a Changing State. London: Penguin.

Kearney, R. (1988). Across the Frontiers: Ireland in the 1990s: Cultural, Political, Economic. Dublin: Wolfhound Press.

Kearney, R. (1997). Postnationalist Ireland: Politics, Culture, Philosophy. New York: Routledge Press.

McWilliams, D. (2007). “Ireland's future depends on diaspora's 'soft power'”, The Independant [online]. Available at <http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/david-mcwilliams/irelands-future...> (accessed 30 April 2012).

Moffatt, J. (2011). Paradigms of Irishness for Young People in Dublin (PhD thesis). The National University of Ireland Maynooth [online]. Available at <http://eprints.nuim.ie/2578/1/Joseph_Moffatt_Paradigms_of_Irishness_for_Young...> (accessed 26 April 2012).

Nagle, J. (2009). Multiculturalism's Double Bind: Creating Inclusivity, Cosmopolitanism and Difference. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. 

O’Keeffe-Vigneron, G. (2008). “Celebrating Irishness in London”, in The Irish Celebrating: Festive and Tragic Overtones. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Available at <http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/61/27/23/PDF/OKeeffe_The_Irish_Celebr...> (accessed 15 April 2012).

Robinson, M. (1995). Cherishing the Irish Diaspora. Address to the house of the Oireachtas by President Mary Robinson on a Matter of Public Importance [Public Address], 2 February 1995.

Ryan, D. (2008). The Irish Diaspora and the Creative Economy. Dublin Insititute of Technology. Available at <http://www30.us.archive.org/stream/TheIrishDiasporaAndTheCreativeEconomy/TheI...> (accessed 16 April 2012).

Casting shows such as X-Factor and other similar formats have been an on-going issue of debate in the music and entertainment sector for years. It may be seen as a desperate attempt to successfully create stars the way they used to exist in music culture, others see it as the production of short-term successes that earn money for the involved industry professionals. Both attempts could be explained in correspondence with the issue of media fragmentation as discussed in the previous part of this assignment. This part will look at the phenomenon of casting shows in regard to the way it creates and transforms meaning, and in how far casting shows can and do use their wide reach as a means of cultural activism.

It is a rather recent development, initiated by structuralists such as Barthes (1977) and post-structuralists such as Kristeva (1969) that meaning is not something that exists only within a media text, but that depends on other factors as well, e.g. recipients’ interpretation as well as the metatextual level – the context – of texts. Frith (1988) argues that songs are like plays and compares popular music to theatre: “metteur en scene is the performer who regards a song as an actor does his part – as something to be expressed, something to get across” (p. 122). Frith argues further that genres often use a certain vocabulary they barely ever deviate from. In the context of casting shows, this matches the roles candidates have to play as well as the way any song is being transformed inside the metatextual context of a casting show. In 2008, Alexandra Burke won X-Factor with the song “Hallelujah”, originally written by Leonard Cohen in 1984.

The X-Factor version includes background singers, a full-blown orchestration and strong vocals, perfectly along the lines of the casting show’s vocabulary. Many other interpretations of the song differ greatly from it and follow their own rules, e.g. the version performed by Imogen Heap as seen on the U.S. television series “The OC”, when heroine Marissa Cooper dies tragically in a car accident - certainly a meaning casting shows have no interest in constructing.

Despite all the criticism, the question remains if casting shows can be used as a platform for cultural activism. In 2010, a choir was formed in the Welsh Valleys, a region that suffers greatly from unemployment. The intended purpose of the choir was to give young men new hope and a new perspective on life. Two years later, this choir has reached the semi-finals of “Britain’s Got Talent” and plans, in case of a victory, to donate the money to charity (Dray, 2012). While music can serve as a tool for social change or political activism – as Peter Gabriel’s song “Biko” raised awareness about the apartheid in South Africa (Drewett, 2007) - having a socially aware choir participate is most certainly also part of the casting show’s vocabulary. It might just happen, however, that the meaning that is thereby constructed within the show exists outside of it in the form of actual cultural activism, even if only as a by-product of the producers’ original intentions.

Bibliography:

Barthes, R. (1977) Image Music Text. London: Fontana Press.

Drewett, M. (2007) The Eyes of the World Are Watching Now: The Political Effectiveness of "Biko" by Peter Gabriel. Popular Music and Society, 30 (1), p.39-51.

Entertainmentwise (2012) Britain's Got Talent: Only Boys Aloud Set Up Singing Charity - Celebrity Gossip, News & Photos, Movie Reviews, Competitions - Entertainmentwise. [online] Available at: http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/75212/Britains-Got-Talent-Only-Boys-Alo... [Accessed: 10 May 2012].

Frith, S. (1988) Music For Pleasure. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Kristeva, J. (1969) Bachtin, das Wort, der Dialog und der Roman. In: Ihwe, J. eds. (1972) Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik III. 1st ed. Frankfurt/Main: p.143-173.

Wall, T. (2003) Studying Popular Music Culture. London: Hodder Arnold.

Important debate continues as to whether a nationalist, Catholic Irish cultural identity is sustainable (Smyth 2012, Penet 2008, Laws 2012, Moffatt 2011). With multiple reports of abuse within the church, many Irish are seeking to distance themselves from the organisation, while globalisation and disenfranchisement with government (post-Celtic Tiger) have left the people of Ireland seeking new cultural steerage. Due to many factors, Music, alongside other creative cultural industries, have boomed in the past 20 years, as Ireland also grew further from the church and purist nationalist ideals. To understand this debate, we must highlight how nationalism and catholicism came to lead the nation and Ireland’s current need for a new cultural leader.

The revival of the Irish arts began to take off in the 1890s; it acted to curtail the demise of Irish native language, literacy, music and dance, all of which had been outlawed under British colonial rule. The British had worked to replace the traditional Gaelic language with the ‘modern’ English and had likewise suppressed outlets for traditional music and dancing (McCarthy 1999, p. 55). In 1893, however, Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League) was formed to preserve Irish culture and language. It was also the base from which some Irish nationalist planned an uprising against British Rule (Ó Croidheáin 2006, p. 154).

The 1930s saw Ireland’s government begin bowing to pressure from the Catholic church. The ‘Anti-Jazz’ campaign of 1934 was led by a reaction to foreign music’s influence on public morality (Brennan 2011).  The Public Dance Halls Act of 1935 was soon made law, meaning public gatherings in local halls were licensed and monitored by local government and clergy. Similar restrictions in media and publications were enforced, monitored for blasphemy and heresy.

Nationalism and Catholicism became intrinsically linked, in part because of the dual oppression of cultural and religious expression during occupation. The Irish Free State made it compulsory for state schools to teach the Irish language and education would be led by the church. After the establishment of a Republic in 1937, overt wording in the Irish Constitution supported nationalist and Catholic values and in turn fostered anti-British sentiment.

Irish writers James Joyce and WB Yeats wrote both before and after independence and commented on both cultural instances. Yeats, rejected ideas of cultural hybridity and spoke negatively of the rural, peasant models of Irishness - what he saw as a crude representation of the real traditions. Joyce welcomed the translational hybridity of Irish identity but preferred ideas of a fluid cultural cosmopolitanism rather than one of racial nationalism (Gillespie 2001, p.86). Douglas Hyde, founder of Conradh na Gaeilge, held ideals of an Ireland from a previous era: of fairytales, heroic stories and Gaelic mythology. Like Yeats, he believed the native language was a pure pathway to a true Irish identity which encompassed traditional artistic practices. 

Ireland was shackled by the purists of nationalism and Catholicism.  The church was in charge of education, while the government brought in protectionist policies and distanced themselves from global economics and politics. Globalisation crept in, however, and Ireland could not avoid external influences. After joining the European Union in 1973, respite in new laws and sanctions was found away from the government and its guidance by the church - a key moment in its decline (Banks 2008, p. 64). Globalisation allowed foreign music and film to flood the country, and this was reflected in the music being created. The country experienced series of economic peaks and troughs over the next two decades, alongside multinationalism, multiculturalism and further emigration. Ireland’s nationalist, Catholic identity was slowly watered down by what was leaving and entering the island. 

The Celtic Tiger economic boom in the mid-1990s coincided with a fresh cultural outpouring: the rise of the Irish pop industry through Boyzone, Westlife, The Corrs, Bewitched and The Cranberries, the emergence of Riverdance (and similar shows) and successful films such as ‘In The Name of The Father’, ‘The Commitments’, ‘Angela’s Ashes’ and ‘Michael Collins’ - all movies which reflect important watersheds of Irish cultural identity. It enabled the country to produce creative cultural industries (Keohane et al, n.d.) (Hazelkorn 2001 p. 2) and an independent music industry from Britain - The IMRO (Cogan 2008 p. 65).

However, with Ireland today in economic crisis through the failings of the government and the banking sector, alongside a church in dire straits over multiple allegations of sexual abuse and its loss of influence in areas of education, health care and policy, it is easy to understand the shift from a nationalist, Catholic Irish identity (Smyth 2008 p.149). The wealth Ireland has experienced has created a far more materialistic country and one in tune with the global marketplace. As such, it has built a successful creative cultural, connected to a vast diaspora network to guarantee an audience for cultural exports (Issue 5). These liberal arts sectors thrive off the changes in Irish identity through globalisation, immigration, and individualism (Penet 2008 p.148-149). The government must rebuild its reputation, and through elections and policy changes it may do so. The catholic church may find that harder to do. 

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References:

Banks, M. (2008) Modern Ireland: multinationals and multiculturalism; Information, Society and Justice, Volume 2.1, December 2008: pp 63-93. London Metropolitan University [online]. Available at <http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/library/k89377_3.pdf> (accessed 28 April 2012)

Brennan, C. (2011) The Anti-Jazz Campaign; The Irish Story [online]. Available at: <http://www.theirishstory.com/2011/07/01/the-anti-jazz-campaign/#ednref1> (accessed 5 May 2012)

Coogan, V. (2008) U2: An Irish Phenomenon; New York: Pegasus Books

Gillespie. M. (2001) James Joyce and the Fabrication of Irish Identity; Amsterdam: Rodopi

Hazelkorn, E. (2001) The Dynamics of Cultural Production in Ireland: Economic Strategy, Digital Technology and Public Policy Making; Dublin Institute of Technology [online]. Available at <http://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=cserbk> (accessed 30 April 2012)

Keohan, K., Kavanagh, D., Kuhling, C.; (n.d.), The Creative Scene of Riverdance:  Artrepreneurship and the Celtic Tiger; Cork: University College Cork.

Laws, J. (2012) Generation Bailout Art, Psycho-Geography, and ‘The Irish Mind’ debate; Variant [online]. Available at <http://www.variant.org.uk/43texts/JoanneLaws43.html> (accessed 12 May 2012).

McCarthy, M. (1999) Passing It on: The Transmission of Music in Irish Culture; Cork: Cork University Press.

Moffatt, J. (2011), Paradigms of Irishness for Young People in Dublin; The National University of Ireland Maynooth [online]. Available at <http://eprints.nuim.ie/2578/1/Joseph_Moffatt_Paradigms_of_Irishness_for_Young...> (accessed 26 April 2012).

Ó Croidheáin, C. (2006) Language from Below: The Irish Language, Ideology and Power in 20th-Century Ireland; Bern: Peter Lang Press

Penet, J. (2008) From Idealised Moral Community to Real Tiger Society. The Catholic Church in Secular Ireland;  Estudios Irlandeses, 3, p. 143-153

Smyth, G. (2012) Irish National Identity after the Celtic Tiger; Estudios Irlandeses, 7,  p.132-137

Media fragmentation as an issue of debate is by no means exclusive to the music industries, but it does affect music cultures in many ways. In this blog post, the effects on professional culture within the music industries, recorded music and identity will be examined.

Wikström elaborates on media fragmentation in saying that

[b]ecause the size of the audience has been almost constant, whereas the number of media outlets has grown quite dramatically, it may be assumed that it is harder for each outlet to reach a certain share of the mainstream audience compared to the situation in the past (2005, p. 71 et sq.).

In 2011, a MusicTank conference took place concerning the future of the industry, including a debate about the effects of media fragmentation (Ashton, 2011). The most pressing concern, according to Ashton, was the tendency of industry professionals to follow the trend of media fragmentation to an extent that was harming the industry more than it was a positive innovation. Professional culture is one of the contexts this debate can be continued in.

Deuze argues that there is both a trend “of increasing fragmentation and specialization” in media work (2007, p. 122) as well as a “highly competitive work culture, characterised by discourses of integration and convergence” (ibid., p. 124). The biggest difference between creative labour and other sectors is likely what Deuze describes as a “blur[ring of] the domains of work-life and private life” (ibid., p. 132), a classical “9 to 5” work schedule is almost always unthinkable.

But there is an audience side to media fragmentation as well. For one, it arguably transforms not what people do with recorded music, but how they do it. According to Drew (2005), mixes and playlists are threatening the monopoly of albums. Media fragmentation, i.e. more media content for the same size of audience (Wikström, 2005), allows any individual inside an audience to diversify their musical tastes and preferences, to experience music they otherwise might never have come in contact with and to create new narratives with it. What the industry, as a result, fears is the demise of artists that are successful over a longer period of time and appeal to a large “mass audience” since, due to the media fragmentation, it has become a lot more difficult to even reach such a “mass audience”.

This further affects one of the main functions of popular music culture: the construction of identities. An important process in this aspect is what scholars like Barthes, Levi-Strauss and Hebdige call “homology” (Hebdige, 1979). Wall describes this process as follows: “subcultural groups take products that are available in the mainstream society and transform their meaning through ‘bricolage’ [and] begin to reinforce each other to create a coherent whole” (2003, p. 170). In a sense, the media fragmentation, thus, may lead to a more diverse process of ‘identity compilation’.

Early critics of mass audiences, such as Theodor Adorno and other scholars of the Frankfurt School, “valued the production and consumption of what they saw as high art or folk forms, but attacked those forms they saw commercialised, arguing that mass production created mass consumption and a mass society” (Wall, 2010, p. 168). It can be assumed that, while the development has certainly opened up a way for many musical (sub-)genres outside “high art or folk forms” (ibid.), they might have welcomed this effect of media fragmentation.

Bibliography

Deuze, M. (2007) Media Work. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Drew, R. (2005) Mixed Blessings: The Commercial Mix and the Future of Music Aggregation. Popular Music and Society, 28 (4), p.533-551.

Hebdige, D. (1979) Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Routledge.

Music Week (2011) MusicTank Conference On Industry’s Future Also Tackles Media Fragmentation. [online] Available at: http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?storycode=1045839 [Accessed: 15 April 2012].

Wall, T. (2003) Studying Popular Music Culture. London: Hodder Arnold.

Wikström, P. (2005) The Enemy of Music: Modeling the Behavior of a Cultural Industry in Crisis. The International Journal on Media Management, 7 (1/2), p.65-74.

This blog post will pick up on the debate about the rise of live music and the decline of recorded music as the main source of income for music professionals. While sales numbers of recorded music are indeed declining (Williams, 2012), there has been a considerable upswing in sales numbers of tickets for live events throughout the last five years (Grabstats, 2012).

The biggest change in the structure of record sales caused by this decline is a shift away of the album as the most popular record format, or as Drew describes it “the dematerialization and disaggregation of the album format” (2005, p. 549) in favour of the single, an issue that will be discussed in the next part of this assignment in further detail.

The increase in live sales numbers, however, results in negative cultural effects as well: Apart from the prize of tickets for concerts and festivals rising, the latter seem to be going through two processes. The first one is that of homogenisation. The line-ups of the main festivals, whether in the United Kingdom, the United States or Germany, seem to assimilate throughout, leaving cultural diversity on the proverbial doorstep. This trend can be compared with the Top 40 system in radio as developed by Todd Storz after World War II (McCourt and Rothenbuhler, 2004): Rather than playing a diverse range of music, the most popular songs according to the audience would be played as well as songs similar to that, and most importantly for this comparison, songs that other radio stations played. While this is a proven recipe for success in radio, there are fewer festivals than radio stations, which is why the effect of homogenization and the lack of cultural diversity are more obvious in the festival context. The second process is the transformation of many festivals into trade fairs: rather than performing for an audience, bands perform for industry professionals, actual concerts are merely interludes for conferences and networking events.

It seems surprising that, while live events experience an uprising, popular live venues around the world are being closed down. The organisation Music Heritage UK is currently campaigning against the shutdown of the Mancunian nightclub “The Twisted Wheel”, described “as the birthplace of ‘Northern Soul’” and the “heartbeat of a musical movement of the late 60s to late 70s” (Music Heritage UK, 2012). There seems to be a tension between the overall upswing for live events and the demise of instances of music heritage, despite the fact that venues like The Twisted Wheel seem predestined in their function as music heritage as Kong defines it: “when the past is collectively remembered, and collectively recognised as ‘belonging to a people, then it becomes heritage” (1999, p. 26).

Another example is the famous club CBGB that was shut down years ago. However, as Gilmer reports, “there’s new life in at least the club’s spirit with the announcement of a four-day festival this July” (Newswire, 2012). While this can be considered a revival of an instance of music heritage, it follows the same process as other festivals worldwide in its transformation into such: with the SXSW as its role model, both processes, homogenisation as well as the transformation into a trade fair, are likely to draw the attention away from its function as a music festival or an instance of music heritage once more. Nevertheless, there are also talks about a possible reopening of the CBGB in a new location, its furniture safely stored somewhere in New York City.

 Bibliography

Drew, R. (2005) Mixed Blessings: The Commercial Mix and the Future of Music Aggregation. Popular Music and Society, 28 (4), p.533-551.

Grabstats.com (2011) Music Industry Statistics, Industry Figures, and Information - GrabStats.com. [online] Available at: http://grabstats.com/statcategorymain.asp?StatSubCatID=67&submit=Submit&a... [Accessed: 13 May 2012].

Kong, L. (1999) The Invention of Heritage: Popular Music In Singapore. Asian Studies Review, 23 (1), p.1-25.

Music Heritage UK (n.d.) Music Heritage UK | Campaigns. [online] Available at: http://www.musicheritageuk.org/campaigns.html [Accessed: 28 April 2012].

Music Week (2012) Fall in recorded music sales eased in 2011. [online] Available at: http://musicweek.com/story.asp?storyCode=1048953&sectioncode=1 [Accessed: 13 May 2012].

Rothenbuhler, E. and McCourt, T. (2004) Burnishing the Brand: Todd Storz and the Total Station Sound. Radio Journal - International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media, 2 (1), p.3-14.

The AV Club (2012) CBGB now a festival, could reopen in new location. [online] Available at: http://www.avclub.com/articles/cbgb-now-a-festival-could-reopen-in-new-locati... [Accessed: 13 May 2012].

This blog will address the issue of a DJ’s identity in popular music history, mediation and promotion of popular music, in light of Simon Cowell’s proposed new TV programme: DJ X Factor.

Cowell, unsurprisingly, is going to use the same identical format of the X Factor and carry it over to create a DJ-super-star. Taking a look at the radio chart last year, it’s quite common to see collaborative works by DJs and mainstream artists: David Guetta & Usher, Calvin Harris & Rihanana to name but a few. The answer to the definition of what constitutes a DJ and artist is no longer absolute. Based on the success of Pop Idol and X Factor, the joint venture between Simon Cowell’s SYCO and Sony Music Entertainment has already proven that they have powerful influences in building pop stars and massively influencing the public consumption of music

However, if audiences are used to watching a group of talented singers and dancers performing lively, dynamic shows on stage, how will the format transfer over and still make the show exciting and entertaining by seeing DJs drop tracks in a booth nestled behind a bunch of equipment? Will it be too static? Will it alienate a large percentage of the usual public audience, or will it reach out to a brand new demographic of audience it never did before? Is the idea of making a ‘DJ pop/super start’ beneficial - or detrimental - to the DJ themselves or the public?

Despite the huge amount of negative reaction directed towards this proposed new show, typically from DJ and dance purists who lash-out at anything mainstream or pop – even more so when it involves a subject close to their heart - one commentator shared a different viewpoint: he sees this new show as a positive impetus and a chance to get the general public, and aspiring new DJs, to know more about what is actually involved in becoming a DJ and what kind of role they play.

He accurately points out that X Factor has never just been about looks or appearance to please the audience; its focus has always been about genuine talent, and only the very best of this talent are capable of staying until the endgame. Therefore, as has been proven many times already with this show, if a young contestant thinks he can stand out by simply dress like David Guetta and play a pre-mixed tune from his only specialty – a laptop, then he is completely wrong. In many ways, like it has done for many hopeless and clueless pop-star wannabes, it will be a harsh reality-check for many attempting to enter the world of DJing and also potentially make the general public more aware of the skills involved. So despite its detractors, shows like X Factor can improve standards and raise the bar for music as a whole

Apart from the obvious doubts about whether this new commercial show will achieve its main goal in attracting (and holding onto) all-important viewing figures, the real debate here – and fundamentally understanding issue of identity at hand – is what criteria and what aspects of DJing will these potential contestants be judged and marked on?

Will they be guided on being lively and working the crowd? Will they be challenged to use a variety of hardware and equipment? Will they be required to work with a variety of mediums – vinyl and digital (and thus challenging the purists on either side)? Will they be given a last-minute track or sample to work with, not something they have had hours to manipulate and pre-record at home? Will they be required to play a variety of genres and to contrasting audience tastes, from rave parties to weddings? Because essentially, a really good DJ will be someone who can produce music from any means, and above all, music that is able to create the right vibe, capture the audience and achieve the true benchmark of any successful DJ – to fill the dance-floor. Therefore, with Cowell’s perspectives, it sort of makes the idea of making a pop DJ less cheesy and actually installs some sense of credibility to a DJ’s image and identity, reinforcing the actual depth and range of skills – like their X Factor singing counterparts – they must have to become successful and stand out in the music industry.

This also prompts the reflection on the contradictory held beliefs, with regards to the relationship between the mainstream and DJs (Hesmondhalgh, 2005). When a DJ plays music, they play it for a specific group or crowd who share the same music taste and interests, the performance is the private belongings to that particular night, and under that restriction this activity is not open to public for frantic fans to access across different nations.

Wall (2003) asserts that the role of a DJ in the popular music history has changed the way people produce music as well as the performance form, but over a decade DJ culture has never been adopted into the mainstream scene but only played a significant part in marginalization. It only finally got a foothold in the mainstream field the moment it started to cross over with pop artists; the change has left more thoughts to the generation before and after 1990s. Again, Hesmondhalgh (1997) concurs with this notion, that ‘dance music has always had a profound ambivalence about being popular, about being a mass form.’

This proposed new Cowell venture is quite remarkable indeed; not only does it create a genuine buzz in the ‘hows’ and logistics of producing such a show, but more importantly, will it break through long-held beliefs of DJs and dance music being forever a subculture, and will it have the power to become the final catalyst that propels it into the mainstream? Clearly, this presents a compelling study for the likes of us, to keep an eye on and monitor how this case unfolds.

Reference:
Simon Frith, Andy Bennett, Dave Hesmondhalgh, The Popular Music Studies Reader (Routledge, 2005), p. 246-p. 252

Dave Hesmondhalgh, “The Cultural Politics of Dance Music” (Soundings Issue 5, 1997), p.167-p.178

Jamal Guthrie, “Simon Cowell Launches DJ X Factor But Will He Cash In?”, poddash.com, January 26, 2012, http://popdash.com/news/8733/blog-simon-cowell-launches-dj-x-factor-but-will-he-cash-in

D-Jam, “Simon Cowell’s DJ X Factor: Why It Could Be A Good Thing”, digitaldjtips.com, January 30, 2012, http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2012/01/simon-cowells-dj-x-factor-why-it-could-be-a-good-thing/

In the first of my series of blog posts related to currents issues in the Music Industry, I would like to start with the issue of SOPA, which is significant in the fact that it addresses a number of the weekly module themes, including Internet, Music Policy and Copyrighted works. Even though the last topic was presented in the Commerce module, it is appropriate to bring these three topics together as they are all interconnected in this debate.

The introduction of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), has been led by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith. It first came to prominence at the end of 2011 and has gathered a tremendous amount of news coverage since then – yet it is currently under the stage of evaluation.

According to the provisions of SOPA, each ISP needs to block access to copyright infringement file-sharing sites from users, it requests search engines to stop linking to infringing sites and prohibits any related advertisements or payment facilities from conducting business on such sites; this is where disputes occur. For instance, if Paramount Pictures reports Pirate Bay in Sweden for sharing a copy of Mission Impossible III, the film studio can request Google to remove the site from its search engine results and Paypal will no longer be able to collect or accept any payment from the site. Furthermore, users’ privacy will be inspected as well, to try and locate any alleged infringement. This kind of Act is actually no stranger to the copyright world at all, for it recalls the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 1998) signed by Bill Clinton in 1998. However, its scope did not go as wide as the SOPA does. In the DMCA , it ruled “The provider is protected from any liability to any person for claims based on its having taken down the material.” It means if the service provider promptly removes or blocks access to the material identified with copyright infringement, the provider is exempt from penalty. In this case, a second debate has been generated under the situation of an Act which appeared later in 2011 and which is in opposition to the earlier one.

In 1998, the Act protects both content providers and content owners (referring to authorised authorship, not subscribers nor users), whereas the new act in 2011 favours only the latter. The emergence of this Act is basically built around the fact that both the Film Industry and record companies have claimed massive financial losses caused as a direct result of pirating and illegal downloading modes for a long time.

It is interesting to see that once-upon-a-time the recorded music world or other similar copyright organisations had given a chance to Internet power and acknowledged the technology’s existence. After this ‘ten year trial period’, however, when the shift of power to digital content has been finally done, they have chosen to depreciate the evolution of music distribution and the development of associated technologies, and now claim to regain the right to supreme control in the way that they were used to in older times.

The cultural value of file-sharing in popular music culture has also been overlooked. A scholar once claimed the merits of file-sharing is not only increasing a person’s music tastes but also create more possibilities and wiliness from people to buy CDs as part of their collection, and therefore the consumption of CDs is more meaningful and representative (Katz, 2004). Furthermore, the emergence of pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing sites like Napster, paved the way for the many legal downloading and steaming sites that followed and has opened up whole new thriving businesses like iTunes and NetFlix.

Interestingly, even though geographically in the same location, the perspective about the distribution of cultural products between Silicon Valley and Hollywood is hugely different. Comparing Mark Zuckerberg and Jerry Bruckheimer: one’s development treats sharing content as a piece of communication, while to the other it is potentially a law-violating action. It is the moment to think if is there any way for both parties to create innovations to benefit one another in the future, rather than putting each other in an awkward position. It is possible to think is there a better policy for the copyright industry, ISPs and the user all to be included in a mutual win-win-win situation?

As soon as SOPA emerged onto the scene, it quickly gathered an array of blackout and protest activities on various homepages, including Wikipedia, Google, Mozilla Firefox, WordPress, TechCrunch to name but a few. In addition to that, there is another long list of forty internet companies who have joined the anti-SOPA troop. Condemnation of this move to block access to sites and SOPA’s potential impact on the freedom of speech online, has been widespread. The Center for Democracy and Technology highlighted this sense of concern best by pointing out: “If SOPA and PIPA are enacted, the US government must be prepared for other governments to follow suit, in service to whatever social policies they believe are important—whether restricting hate speech, insults to public officials, or political dissent”.

Yet, as of May 2012, the stark reality of such legislation has already hit the UK, following a High Court ruling that UK ISPs must now block access to The Pirate Bay.

Again, issues of illegal downloading has been largely sidelined by online commentators, and the focus is really on the impact this ruling has for Internet use. Many warn again of the dangers of such controls on freedom and argue that since The Pirate Bay is not actually a host of infringing material and essentially only acts a search engine instead, then why aren’t mainstream search engines that can still provide links to sources of infringing material also implicated?

For a bunch of heavy Internet users, what does a content-based service provider stand for when it loses the service or function it has come to rely on? What is the meaning of these copyrighted corporations and recorded music to the digital generation in this century? Does that mean the digital generation is willing to roll back like it used to do in the old times or just ignore what Hollywood claims? Will they wait to seek for more opportunities and space to create what they want online to strengthen their status? Will the film industry and record companies be the last winners in terms of economic interest under the protection of SOPA?

The debates have led to thoughts of what possibilities SOPA might incur in the Music Industry and in what way people in the Internet world will respond to the changes if they still insist in the pursuit of the source content they want - these are all the factors to affect music culture in present time, the implications of which we are progressively witnessing unfold before our eyes.

Reference:
Mark Katz, Capturing Sound (University of California Press, 2004), p.164-p.190

U.S. Copyright Office Summary, THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1998, http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf

Cynthia Wong, “US piracy law could threaten human rights”, Index, November 18, 2011, http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2011/11/usa-sopa-human-rights-internet/

Alexia Tsotsis, “Over 40 Internet Companies Come Out Publicly Against SOPA ”, techcrunch.com, December 22, 2011, http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/22/over-40-internet-companies-have-come-out-publicly-against-sopa/

Bryan Barrrett, “What Is SOPA?”, gizmodo.com, January 17, 2012, http://gizmodo.com/5877000/what-is-sopa

Dominic Rushe & Ryan Devereaux, “Sopa blackout and day of action - as it happened”, guardian.co.uk, January 18, 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/18/sopa-blackout-day-of-action-live

Dave Lee, “Sopa and Pipa protests not over, says Wikipedia”, bbc.com, January 19, 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16628143