The historical significance of music-makers, music scenes, and music genres has long been mediated through academic and popular press publications such as magazines, films, and television documentaries. Media Narratives in Popular Music examines these various publications and questions how and why they are constructed. It considers the typically linear narratives that are based on simplifications, exaggerations, and omissions and the histories they construct - an approach that leads to totalizing “official” histories that reduce otherwise messy narratives to one-dimensional interpretations of a heroic and celebratory nature. This book questions the basis on which these mediated histories are constructed, highlights other, hidden, histories that have otherwise been neglected, and explores a range of topics including consumerism, the production pressure behind documentaries, punk fanzines, Rolling Stones covers, and more.

Popular music studies is a rapidly expanding field with changing emphases and agendas. The music industry has changed in recent years, as has governmental involvement in popular music schemes as part of the culture industry. The distinction between the major record labels and the outsider independents has become blurred over time. Popular music, as part of this umbrella of the culture industry, has been progressively globalized and globalizing. The tensions within popular music are now no longer between national cultural identity and popular music, but between the local and the global. This four volume collection examines the changing status of popular music against this background. Simon Frith examines the heritage of popular music, and how technology has changed not only the production but the reception of this brand of sound. The collection examines how the traditional genres of rock, pop and soul have broken down and what has replaced them, as well as showing how this proliferation of musical styles has also splintered the audience of popular music.

This book explores the relationships between popular music, technology, and the changing media ecosystem. More precisely, it looks at infrastructures and practices of music making and consuming primarily in the post-Napster era of digitization – with some chapters looking back on the technological precursors to digital culture – marked by the emergence of digital tools and platforms such as YouTube or Spotify. The first section provides a critical overview of theories addressing popular music and digital technology, while the second section offers an analysis of the relationship between musical cultures, taste, constructions of authenticity, and technology. The third section offers case studies on the materialities of music consumption from outside the western core of popular music production. The final section reflects on music scenes and the uses and discourses of social media.

This book analyses the relationships between contemporary media and popular music, both via the mediation of music, and music as mediator. It does so through a series of original interviews with key practitioners: musicians, writers, magazine editors, radio presenters and major and independent label bosses. Those interviewed include Mark Ellen, editor of Smash Hits, Q, Mojo and currently Word magazines; Mark Cooper, producer of Laterwith Jools Holland and CEO of Music Entertainment at the BBC; Ben Watt, half of Everything But The Girl and owner of independent label Buzzin' Fly; and Fiona Talkington, original and current presenter of the Sony Award winning Late Junction on BBC Radio 3. Through these interviews, theory and practice are measured against each other and the book considers their experiences and observations in order to explore the ways popular music is produced, marketed and mediated. Examining visual, print, radio and new media, Media and Popular Music draws together disparate elements odisparate elements of music and media which formerly have not been considered together, and provides a fresh and innovative contribution to the swiftly growing field of popular music studies.

* What is the relationship between youth culture and popular music? * How have they evolved since the second world war? * What can we learn from a global perspective? In this lively and accessible text, Andy Bennett presents a comprehensive cultural, social and historical overview of post-war popular music genres, from rock 'n' roll and psychedelic pop, through punk and heavy metal, to rap, rave and techno. Providing a chapter by chapter account, Bennett also examines the style-based youth cultures to which such genres have given rise. Drawing on key research in sociology, media studies and cultural studies, the book considers the cultural significance of respective post-war popular music genres for young audiences, with reference to issues such as space and place, ethnicity, gender, creativity, education and leisure. A key feature of the book is its departure from conventional Anglo-American perspectives. In addition to British and US examples, the book refers to studies conducted in Germany, Holland, Sweden, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan, Russia and Hungary, presenting the cultural relationship between youth culture and popular music as a truly global phenomenon.

Since the 1980s, music videos have been everywhere, and today almost all of the most-viewed clips on YouTube are music videos. However, in academia, music videos do not currently share this popularity. Music Video After MTV gives music video its due academic credit by exploring the changing landscapes surrounding post-millennial music video. Across seven chapters, the book addresses core issues relating to the study of music videos, including the history, analysis, and audiovisual aesthetics of music videos. Moreover, the book is the first of its kind to truly address the recent changes following the digitization of music video, including its changing cycles of production, distribution and reception, the influence of music videos on other media, and the rise of new types of online music video. Approaching music videos from a composite theoretical framework, Music Video After MTV brings music video research up to speed in several areas: it offers the first account of the research history of music videos, the first truly audiovisual approach to music video studies and it presents numerous inspiring case studies, ranging from classics by Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham to recent experimental and interactive videos that interrogate the very limits of music video.

Understanding Popular Musicis an introductory textbook for students which explores the history and meaning of rock and popular music. Roy Shuker's study encompasses every aspect of popular music, from the history of the record industry to the concept of the `musician', from rock as cultural politics to MTV. Roy Shuker examines the music press; the impact of music videos; the workings of the industry, songs and genres; public performance; fans and subcultures, and the nature of the `pop star'. * Case studies include contemporary icons such as Frank Zappa, Prince and Madonna * Includes full bibliography and song listings Includes annotated guide to the key texts discussed