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Popular Music in Theory provides a critical introduction to the key theoretical issues which arise in the study of contemporary popular music.
This book is organized in a way that shows how popular music is created across a series of relationships that link together industry and audiences, producers and consumers. Starting from the dichotomy between production and consumption which characterizes much work on popular culture, Negus explores the equally significant social processes that intervene between and across the production-consumption divide, examining the ways that popular music is mediated by a series of technological, cultural, historical, geographical and political factors. This broad framework provides signposts to various tracks taken by the sounds and images of popular music, and also highlights distinctive theoretical routes into the study of contemporary popular music.
This volume is intended mainly for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in sociology, media and communication studies, and cultural studies. However, it will also appeal to those who enjoy thinking and talking about popular music and who might like to delve a little deeper.
List of contents
Introduction.
1. Audiences.
2. Industry.
3. Mediations.
4. Identities.
5. Histories.
6. Geographies.
7. Politics.
Bibliography.
Index.
Summary
aeo This is a clear and straightforward introduction to the main issues raised by the study of popular music, written by a leading authority in the field. aeo It is wide--ranging and covers the main studies and theoretical contributions to the field, including studies of the industry, and of the reception and use of popular music in everyday life.
Report
"An excellent critical introduction to major theoretical issues and debates in the study of contemporary popular music, drawing on illustrative case studies that will be familiar to a wide readership. Clearly written and well argued, the book will be essential reading for students, researchers and teachers." Sara Cohen, University of Liverpool
"A bumper primer for the field as a whole ... instructive and enlightening." Q Magazine
"The book functions both as an introduction to theories in the field, and as an outline of a coherent theoretical model of its own." European Journal of Communication
