Understanding the Music Industries

Chris Anderton · Andrew Dubber · Martin James

Dec 2012 · SAGE

About this ebook

Everyone knows music is big business, but do you really understand how ideas and inspiration become songs, products, downloads, concerts and careers? This textbook guides students to a full understanding of the processes that drive the music industries. More than just an expose or ′how to′ guide, this book gives students the tools to make sense of technological change, socio-cultural processes, and the constantly shifting music business environment, putting them in the front line of innovation and entrepreneurship in the future.

Packed with case studies, this book:

• Takes the reader on a journey from Glastonbury and the X-Factor to house concerts and crowd-funded releases;

• Demystifies management, publishing and recording contracts, and the world of copyright, intellectual property and music piracy;

• Explains how digital technologies have changed almost all aspects of music making, performing, promotion and consumption;

• Explores all levels of the music industries, from micro-independent businesses to corporate conglomerates;

• Enables students to meet the challenge of the transforming music industries.

This is the must-have primer for understanding and getting ahead in the music industries. It is essential reading for students of popular music in media studies, sociology and musicology.

About the author

Dr Chris Anderton is Associate Professor in Cultural Economy at Solent University, Southampton, UK. His research interests focus on the music industries, music culture and music history. He is author or co-editor of several books including Understanding the Music Industries (2013), Music Festivals in the UK. Beyond the Carnivalesque (2019), and the forthcoming books Media Narratives in Popular Music and Researching Live Music: Gigs, Tours, Concerts and Festivals. He has also guest edited issues of the academic journals Rock Music Studies and Arts & the Market, and published in numerous other edited collections and journals.

Martin James is professor of music industries at Southampton Solent University. Martin joined Southampton Solent University from the University of Sunderland in July 2007. He studied for his first degree at Nottingham Trent University where he was awarded a BA (Hons) Communication Studies. He gained an MA Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Sunderland, where he also received a PhD. His doctoral thesis was called ‘Versioning Histories and Genres’, a commentary on his books State of Bass: Jungle – The Story So Far(1997) and French Connections: From Discotheque to Discovery (2002). Prior to becoming a lecturer in 2004, Martin was an internationally renowned music journalist who had worked on the editorial teams of some of the biggest magazines on the market. He also regularly contributed to almost every major music and lifestyle magazine, and numerous daily broadsheet newspapers. Martin has also written several internationally published and critically acclaimed books about music, including biographies of The Prodigy and Dave Grohl. Since 2009 Martin has coordinated Southampton Solent University’s associations with some of the UKs finest independent festivals including Glade, Bestival, Camp Bestival, Blissfields and Common People. Through these link-ups our students have been able to gain experience in various areas of music and media performance and production industries. In 2009 Martin organised the University’s first music industries conference ‘Solent Music Industries Live Event’ (SMILE). Featuring some of the biggest names in the world of music sharing their knowledge with students. SMILEfest is now an annual student organised event that includes gigs, club nights, employability challenges, masterclasses and workshops. In 2014 he co-edited the ‘Music Journalism Special Edition’ of the peer-reviewed International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) journal.In 2015 Martin launched IAMJREP (The International Association of Music Journalism Researchers, Educators and Practitioners), a collaborative venture with scholars throughout the world.