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List of contents
List of Contributors
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. The Transformed City
3. The Live Music City
4. The Media City
5. The Recording City
6. The Legendary City
7. The Divided City
8. The Branded City
9. Conclusion
Endnotes
References
Index
About the author
Shane Homan is Associate Professor of Media Studies at Monash University, Australia. He is the editor of the Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Policy (2022).
Seamus O’Hanlon is Associate Professor of History at Monash University, Australia. He has published five books, including City Life: The New Urban Australia (2018).
Catherine Strong is Associate Professor in the Music Industry program at RMIT in Melbourne, Australia. Among her publications are Towards Gender Equality in the Music Industry: Education, Practice and Strategies for Change (co-editor, Bloomsbury 2019) and Death and the Rock Star (co-editor, 2015).
John Tebbutt is Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Australia.
Summary
How did Melbourne earn its place as one of the world’s ‘music cities’? Beginning with the arrival of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s, this book explores the development of different sectors of Melbourne’s popular music ecosystem in parallel with broader population, urban planning and media industry changes in the city.
The authors draw on interviews with Melbourne musicians, venue owners and policy-makers, documenting their ambitions and experiences across different periods, with accompanying spotlights on the gendered, multicultural and indigenous contexts of playing and recording in Melbourne. Focusing on pop and rock, this is the first book to provide an extensive historical lens of popular music within an urban cultural economy that in turn investigates the contemporary nature and challenges of urban music activities and policy.
Foreword
A survey of Australia’s 'music capital' since the 1950s, investigating industrial and governmental factors in Melbourne’s rise to global prominence in production, consumption and policy.
Additional text
If you are interested in the music cities concept and related debates, then this case study of the place of pop and rock in Melbourne, Australia will be a must-read. Delving into the pleasures and pressures of urban music activities, industries and policies, the authors guide the reader through the city's 'popular music ecosystem' from the 1950s onwards. Though not intended as a definitive account of Melbourne's music, the analysis - punctuated as it is with the voices of fans, musicians, managers, venue owners, journalists and policy makers - works effectively to bring alive a multitude of historical and contemporary experiences of this important 'live music capital.'
