One Century of Record Labels – Mapping places, stories and communities of sound

International Centre for Music Studies, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
November 6^th – 7^th 2014
Keynote: Dr Pete Dale (Slampt Records, Manchester Metropolitan University)

This two-day interdisciplinary conference will expose, question and celebrate the enduring role of independent and commercial record labels in the construction of musical patrimony, from the early days of the record industry to the present. Record labels have traditionally functioned as organs of representation (replicating for instance racial stereotypes), codification (setting genres and trends), as well as emancipation (allowing for marginal trends, voices and groups of artists to emerge). They exist at the intersection of the public and the personal, capturing the collective imagination as well as the private fascination of the collector. They occupy different spaces and scales, from internationally influential, legendary record labels (Stax, Motown, or Columbia) to more obscure, bedroom-run, non-commercial labels (Sarah Records, Musical Traditions Records). The aim of the conference is to gather a variety of perspectives on the past and present legacy of record labels, and to examine their changing status and relevance in an age of increasing dematerialisation.

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A long way to the top: The production and reception of music in a globalized world

Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 6-7 November 2014
Keynotes by John Street and Fabian Holt

AIM

Once upon a time, a famous rock ‘n’ roll group sang about what it means to play in a music band. In their lyrics they touch upon the role of the music industry (‘getting sold’), the difficulties of a musical career  (‘under-paid’ and ‘getting grey’) and music consumption (‘if you wanna be a star’), while celebrating music for music’s sake. As such, this song addresses many issues in the production and reception of popular music in the contemporary globalized world. Yet, recent developments in the field of music have changed the ‘way to the top’, such as governmental policy on music, the rise of new media, and the growing number of music festivals. Focusing on a select number of interrelated themes, this conference aims to bring together scholars from various countries each with their own perspective to engage in an international exchange of ideas and current research insights about music production and reception.

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Popular Music Education: Paradigms, Practices, Pedagogies, Problems

Call for Chapters

Popular music has a growing presence in education (formal and otherwise), from primary school to postgraduate study. Programmes, courses and modules in popular music studies, popular music performance, songwriting and many areas of music technology that could be said to relate chiefly to popular music (such as DJ-ing, for example) are becoming commonplace across higher education. Additionally, specialist pop/rock/jazz graded exam syllabi (RockSchool and Trinity Rock and Pop, for example) have emerged in recent years, meaning that it is now possible for school leavers in some countries to have obtained university entry requirements having only studied popular music. In the context of teacher education, classroom teachers and music-specialists alike are becoming increasingly empowered to introduce popular music into their classrooms. However, discourse regarding ‘popular music’ in education still tends to take place alongside normative discourse around ‘music’.

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Entertainment! – Post Punk, New Wave and Authenticity

Thursday 8th and Friday 9th May 2014

For journalists, bands and fans, genre categories are often a convenient short-hand way of discriminating between what is perceived-to-be-‘cool’ and what is not. More often than not, this boils down to a discourse around ‘authenticity’: such-and-such is ‘the real thing’ whilst some other band or set of bands is, by contrast, ‘phonies’, ‘frauds’ and/or ‘Johnny-come-latelies’. The separation of ‘Post-punk’ from ‘New Wave’ c.1977-79 is a particularly interesting case because, firstly, the sense of ‘authenticity’ and commitment to a (punk) cause was so prominent in this period and, secondly, because many reputations and economies of taste continue to capitalise on a sense that, on the one hand, you’ve got the commercial trash and, on the other hand, you’ve got the real deal.

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Creativities, Musicalities, Entrepreneurships

The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance is hosting its third biennial international conference, in partnership with the Art of Management and Organization. The event will take place at the Institute’s London campus from 4^th to 6^th September 2014.

The discourse of artists as entrepreneurs has become commonplace in recent years, perhaps especially in higher education, but there is less discussion of entrepreneurs as artists. Notions of what it is to be musical are increasingly challenged by narrow notions of success and the rise of celebrity (Smith 2013). Writers such as Peter Cook in The Music of Business (2012), Richard Sennett (2012), Peter Gloor (2006) and Cartwright, Gillett & Smith (2014) have begun to expand the discourse between these intimately interconnected domains. The time is right to explore creativities, musicalities and entrepreneurships in a vibrant, collaborative environment.

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Metal and Cultural Impact: Metal’s Role in the 21st Century

Thursday, November 6 – Saturday November 8, 2014
University of Dayton
Dayton, Ohio, USA

Metal Studies is a growing interdisciplinary field, connected to, though not limited to fields as diverse as Popular Culture, Leisure Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, History, English Studies, Music, Cultural and Critical  Studies, Gender Studies, Critical Theory, and Business and Economics.

This conference aims to examine Metal culture’s role in society throughout the world.  Does Metal seek to bring people together or pull them away from mainstream culture? Does it serve as a rallying cry for the oppressed throughout the world? Has its development over time negatively affected the quality of the music, or has the changing nature of our world made it that much more important to its fans, musicians, and those who control the industry? How has Metal music and its culture adapted with the changing world—or has it? And, as Metal continues to be a part of world cultures, how will it not only affect the world, but also how will it be affected by the world?

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The Good Old Days? Negotiating Quality, Mythology and Technostalgia in Contemporary Music Production

Journal on the Art of Record Production ISSN: 1754-9892

 CALL FOR ARTICLES

 Issue #9

The Journal on the Art of Record Production invites articles, provocations and practitioner interviews for Issue #9: The Good Old Days? Negotiating Quality, Mythology and Technostalgia in Contemporary Music Production. In a recent Audio Pro International provocation, columnist, engineer and mixer Ian Dowling rejects the notion of ‘The Good Old Days’ and rails against what he sees as a stifling of innovation caused by a slavish re-modelling of the past in today’s recording and production processes. Conversely, Dave Grohl celebrates analogue technology for its effect on the creative process in Sound City. Mixer Chris Lord-Alge freely blends old technology with new, as do many practitioners. Scholars such as David Morton (2000) and Timothy Taylor (2001) have discussed issues of ‘technostalgia’ in relation to music technology; Alan Williams has described the ‘canonization of process’ (2010) whereby past technologies and methodologies are celebrated (as in Sound City and the Classic Albums documentary series). What questions arise from considering the relationship between contemporary music production and its past, whether celebrated or denigrated?

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Into the Mix: People, Places, Processes

5-7 December 2014
St David Theatre Complex, corner of St David and Cumberland Streets, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Organizing Committee: Jen Cattermole, Henry Johnson and Oli Wilson

The theme of this year’s conference is “Into the Mix”. The “mix” is both literal (referring to various stages in the production of popular music, as well as important creative processes such as sampling, remixing and DJing) and an analogy for all types of musical hybridities and encounters, the fluid nature of musical meanings and musical experiences, and the fluidity or movement of ideas, sounds and peoples. The notion of the “mix” is defined broadly; it might involve popular music production processes, a creative setting, or another space where people, places and processes are foregrounded as part of an interpretive cultural analysis. Contributions might be case-study analyses underpinned by historical, ethnographic or critical enquiry, or focused entirely on theoretical orientations addressing music production, as well as hybridity and related topics.

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Looking Popular: Representations of the Popular in Music Visual Culture

Intercongressional symposium to be held at The Royal Library and Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen, 20-23 August 2014.

The Conference will present recent research on topics related to the manner in which “the popular” in its manifold expressions might be represented in visual culture related to music, theatre and dance. Topics may include, but are not restricted to:

• visual culture and media theory related to music, theatre and dance.
• organology of the instruments in use or of influence in popular music.
• popular music, theatre and dance culture as visually presented.
• topics relating to the popularisation of so-called art music as represented in visual culture.
• rock, jazz and pop music and related art forms in visual culture.

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The Live Concert Experience

Special Issue of Rock Music Studies, Fall 2015

Rock Music Studies is a new popular music journal to be launched by Taylor & Francis in 2014, under the co-editorship of Gary Burns and Thomas Kitts. Contributions are invited to a special issue of the journal, to be published in Volume 2.3, 2015, on “The Live Concert Experience.” The special issue will be co-edited by Nick Baxter-Moore and Tom Kitts.

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