Recommended journals #4 'Popular Music and Society'

In the fourth of this ongoing occasional series, we have the rather excellent 'Popular Music and Society'.

Selected mainly in the interests of promoting the fine 2012 'Special issue on Copyright', the journal features regular 'special issues' built around a particular theme which makes for a splendid read.

Notable also for it's book and audio reviews, this journal is guaranteed to stimulate interest amongst readers on a broad range of topics. A recent article by Berg (2013), for example, discusses issues concerning copyright and ownership amongst fans of the Grateful Dead (or 'Deadheads', if you prefer).

With five issues a year, you won't be bored.

Check it out.

References

Berg, J, (2013). On the Removal of Download Access to Grateful Dead Soundboards from the Live Music Archive. Popular Music and Society, 36(2), 175-193.

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Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music [book review]

Given a secondary goal of this blog is to promote my own research, I feel no shame in an entry on a book review I published recently, over on the journal Rock Studies.

Having discussed Nine Inch Nails on multiple occasions on this blog, it's perhaps no surprise to find I am a fan of industrial music (though the author of the book itself argues Nine Inch Nails isn't industrial...)

Technically, the review isn't 'out yet', but you should be able to access it here. You might not be able to read it in full (without payment), but you will get a good taster of Reed's (2013) title just the same.

It's an immersive read, and goes into a lot of detail on different 'scenes' through the relatively short history of industrial music. Along the way, there's frequent lists of bands to check out which was a fun part of it, given how easy it is to seek out and compile playlists of tracks on music subscription services. 

Well worth a read if you're into industrial music. 

Got a separate book review pending in another journal soon which is more in line with the aims of this blog, and that is David Byrne's quite remarkable 2012 book 'How Music Works' which seems to weave it's way into almost post on this blog (do a search). Will post it in due time.

Tweets between meats @musicpiracyblog

References

Brown, S.C. (2013). Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music. Rock Music Studies.

Reed, S.A. (2013). Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music. Oxford University Press: Oxford. 

Economic studies on impact of piracy

Thanks RIAA.

They might get a bad reputation for various things, but no complaints from me for posting links to a variety of studies exploring the economic impact of piracy. The website hosts other relevant links including this one about the law.

Could be doing with updating, in my mind.

Go on, have a look. 

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The beauty of the internet; where music and technology meet

Preamble

I recently discovered Massive Open Online Courses, or 'Moocs'. These are free online courses delivered by academic institutions and available for all to consume.

Over 7 weeks, I had the immense pleasure of watching Professor John Covach (University of Rochester) explore 'The History of Rock Music'. Part of the appeal for me was discovering all of these old rock n' roll bands that I might never have found out about.

Now, despite the canonised tour of rock music through the ages, copyright law meant that no music was played in the video lectures. John notes the ease of hunting down the music cited online as a viable substitute. This is what I want to talk about.

Firstly though, and importantly, I love making playlists and compilations. I have almost 400 playlists on my i-Tunes. Most are expanded versions of my favourite albums, with b-sides and live cuts, etc. I take immense pleasure in putting them together. It's one of my hobbies.

As the online course moved from Bing Crosby to The Beatles via BB King, etc., I pledged to put together some stellar playlists. And so I did. But, not without a little help from my friends...

Someone else, a chap called Rick Leanord who I will never meet or get to thank, took the liberty of putting together Spotify playlists of all of the songs mentioned in each video; week by week. I couldn't believe it. Now, I have recently moved from Spotify to Deezer to fulfil my music discovery needs and thought 'what now?'. Well..

A few clicks and I was stunned to learn how easily it was to copy playlists from Spotify to Deezer. As in, super simple stuff. And, with a premium Deezer account on my phone... I'm up and running with hundreds of songs spanning some 70 decades of rock music. On demand. Whenever I want. No big thing? Let's back track.

The Process

For free, I was treated to a distinguished Professor teaching me all about the History of Rock.

For free, a selfless Spotify user collated the music cited on the video lectures to playlists.

For free, I used software to copy the playlists to another subscription service.

For free, I can listen to these playlists on this service (Deezer).

The Outcome

I am now in a position where I have a staggering volume of recorded music at my fingertips. It not only cost me zero pence, but virtually no time at all. Along the way, an untold amount of people I don't know (and don't know me) made this possible. It's unbelievable.

Concluding remarks

Accessing music has never been easier, or cheaper. It's everywhere. You don't even need to be particularly savvy online to find it. People take it for granted, but remember, the internet is not some living organism but a tool which allows people to come together in creative ways. It's people who post that YouTube video about how to wire a plug.

People help other people, they always have; they are social creatures. People love music; it's a social phenomenon. The case study above is illustrative of the beauty of the internet when music and technology come together; and I am grateful to be a part of it.

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Recommended Journals #3 'Convergence'

Continuing the new series of recommended Journals, this entry concerns the excellent multidisciplinary publication 'Convergence'. Like the previous recommendations, Convergence also published a special issue ('Special issue on online piracy') which was the subject of a previous blog entry here. Dating back to just February 2013, this is one of the most recent special issues.

Published via Sage, the Journal includes articles 'ahead of print'. One of the perks of publishing in the digital era, this allows research to be widely read before it is formally printed in the paper versions (and digital versions) of the actual Journals. Linking back to the first blog entry in this series, this relatively speedy process represents one of the main benefits of publishing in Journals over books - the speed with which you can get your research out there.

Convergence will be of interest to anyone with a general interest in technology, with articles exploring a variety of issues exploring the impact of new media technologies.

Check it out.

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'Official bootlegs'

Further to a previous blog entry 'Is bootlegging piracy?', this short entry explores 'official bootlegs'.

What's an official bootleg? Well, it's essentially a fancy word for a live album. Nothing more. It's a clever fancy word though (think 'b-sides') beyond being an oxymoron as it conjures up ideas of illegitimacy.

Pearl Jam are the market leader in the land of official bootlegs, making high-quality recordings of live shows available to fans since their 2000 Binaural tour. That is, EVERY show (with a few exceptions) can be listened to by fans. Think of how awesome that is, especially if you were at the show (Indeed, I picked up official bootlegs of the 2012 Manchester shows I was at for that very awesome reason).

Pearl Jam, as a live band, essentially capitalised on the fact that fans were trading unofficial bootlegs of their shows by offering them high-quality audio recordings of their shows at a relatively low price. Now trading in digital recordings, Pearl Jam offer even more reasonable prices for these recordings (hence why I bought digital bootlegs and not physical ones, with expensive USA to UK shipping. TRIVIA: This was the first digital song/album I bought and for this reason alone).

There hasn't been much research into official bootlegs, where the most relevant articles are discussed in this article. Importantly, they offer bands a way to advertise themselves in a live context; provide a means for fans to re-live their live concert experiences and presents an additional source of revenue for artists.

They are a good thing - for everyone.

As such, it's no coincidence that more and more bands are monetising recordings of live shows (check out Tori Amos' Spotify profile), with some even including purchases immediately after the show.

Will it roll out into common practice in the future?

We shall see (or hear...).

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Recommended Journals #2 'Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services'

In the second of this new series, another Journal with an entire special issue is recommended to ease blog readers into this way of reading up on music piracy research.

The Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services is an excellent resource, who (as promised) have a special issue 'The future of music retailing'. Published in early 2011, this issue is still one of the most important publications I have come across which is notable for its use of qualitative methodology and general multidisciplinary approach (both lacking across the board).

A really accessible read, this one will really get you thinking about where we are, how we got here and more importantly, where we are going.

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