{"id":2942,"date":"2010-01-28T14:48:04","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T19:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/?p=2942"},"modified":"2015-01-07T13:53:29","modified_gmt":"2015-01-07T17:53:29","slug":"music-industry-and-digital-youth-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/?p=2942","title":{"rendered":"Music Industry and Digital Youth Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next Tuesday (Feb 2) will be the initial meeting of the first class I’m teaching at MIT. I’m excited about the course, a new one, which invites students to read along with me and collectively investigate what I’ve been calling music industry<\/em> — that is, a broader understanding of musically-propelled cultural practice than something like “THE music industry,” with its focus on commerce, tends to demarcate — in particular as it relates to the more well-worn (if no less confusing) term, digital youth culture<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Wording aside, the subject matter should be familiar for readers of this blog. The discussions about music I try to host here are often, and perhaps also increasingly (see, all the youthful youtubery<\/a> posted here in recent years), centered on the fraught and fertile intersections between musical\/cultural practice, technological tools, industry and commerce, public debates, and the stories we tell about all these things. <\/p>\n

If the subject matter is familiar to regular readers, I suspect some of the specific readings I’ve selected might be new to some — in part because some are fairly new. In sketching out the course’s — and my larger project’s — purview, I reach across various disciplinary literatures and genres (from the dry to the webby) to focus our foray on a few primary areas of inquiry: music\/culture industry history; digital\/media theory; and youth ethnography. <\/p>\n

Finally — & this probably goes without saying — I welcome any comments, other suggested readings, etc. I will likely offer this course again in 2011 and intend to keep tweaking it. Plus, as already noted, this course emerges out of my current research project, and any help on that would be, as the digital youth used to put it, teh awesome.<\/p>\n

Without further…<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

21F.060 \/ 21M.539: Topics in Media and Cultural Studies
\n\u201cMusic Industry and Digital Youth Culture\u201d
\n<\/strong>
\nSpring 2010
\nMIT<\/p>\n

Wayne Marshall
\nMellon Fellow in the Humanities
\nForeign Languages and Literatures
\nMusic and Theater Arts<\/p>\n

Tuesday\/Thursday 2:30-4:00 pm
\nRoom 16-628<\/p>\n

Course Description
\n<\/strong>
\nGiving emphasis to the specific tools used to produce and disseminate media today, this course examines how digital technologies — especially peer-to-peer networks and so-called social media sites — are shaping and being shaped by the practices and values of the people using them. Taking into account a variety of forms and platforms, our study will focus on music as a crucial connective thread in contemporary media and culture. <\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

The convergence of global pop, social networks, and international digital youth culture constitutes a profound shift in how we imagine and access the world around us, but one which has yet to undergo a sustained and appropriately interdisciplinary examination — in particular, an approach which attends to specific tools (e.g., YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, imeem, blogs, torrents, production software, etc.) while situating them in the broader contexts of media studies, social science approaches, and digital humanities. Reading across these perspectives, we will ask: What is music industry today? And what can it tell us about the possibilities and constraints of cultural production in our digital, increasingly networked, and perhaps \u201cpost-scarcity\u201d age.<\/p>\n

Class meetings will involve discussions of readings and various musical and video texts as well as regular demonstrations\/investigations of particular technologies of production, circulation, and representation. Assignments will include documentation of collective and individual research topics, developing a hands-on familiarity with particular digital tools, conducting online ethnographic experiments, composing critical appraisals of readings and media texts, as well as a final research project which \u2013 in terms of topic, scope, and expression \u2013 will be primarily developed by individual students depending on their areas of interest.<\/p>\n

Course Requirements and Grading Distribution:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Discussion, Attendance – 20 % – Throughout term
\nResponse Papers \/ Wiki work – 30 % – Throughout term
\nIndividual Presentations – 20 % – Week 14
\nFinal Paper (8-10 pages) – 30 % – Due last day of class (5\/13)<\/p>\n

COURSE SCHEDULE
\n<\/strong>
\nPart I: 20th Century Pop Culture and Music Industry 1.0
\n<\/strong>
\nWeek 1:<\/strong> Mass\/Pop\/Web Culture & Its Discontents <\/p>\n

Middleton, Richard. 1990. \u201c\u2018Roll Over Beethoven\u2019: Sites and Soundings on the Music-Historical Map\u201d (short excerpt: p. 13-16) and \u201c\u2018It\u2019s All Over Now\u2019: Popular Music and Mass Culture \u2013 Adorno\u2019s Theory\u201d (34-63). In Studying Popular Music<\/em>. Philadelphia: Open University Press. <\/p>\n

Shirky, Clay. \u201cThe Shock of Inclusion.\u201d Edge: World Question Center<\/em>. Jan 2010.
\nhttp:\/\/www.edge.org\/q2010\/q10_1.html#shirky
\n<\/a>
\nKeen, Andrew. 2006. \u201cWeb 2.0: The second generation of the Internet has arrived. It\u2019s worse than you think.\u201d The Weekly Standard<\/em> (Feb 15).
\nhttp:\/\/www.weeklystandard.com\/Content\/Public\/Articles\/000\/000\/006\/714fjczq.asp<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Week 2:<\/strong> Music Industrialization, Commodification, & Consolidation<\/p>\n

Suisman, David. 2009. Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music<\/em>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (prologue, ch. 1, 8)<\/p>\n

Taylor, Timothy D. 2007. \u201cThe Commodification of Music at the Dawn of the Era of \u2018Mechanical Music.\u2019\u201d Ethnomusicology<\/em> 51(2): 281-305.<\/p>\n

Kot, Greg. 2009. Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music<\/em>. New York: Scribner. (ch. 1, 2)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Week 3:<\/strong> Enclosure and Read-Only Culture<\/p>\n

Boyle, James. 2008. The Public Doman: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind<\/em>. New Haven: Yale University Press. (ch. 3, 4, 6)<\/p>\n

Lessig, Lawrence. 2008. Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy<\/em>. New York: Penguin Press. (ch. 1, 3)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Part II: Digital Turns in Music, Culture & Society<\/strong><\/p>\n

Week 4:<\/strong> The Politics of Digitization (Napster, Mashups, & Hip-hop)<\/p>\n

Abelson, Hal, Ken Ledeen & Harry Lewis. 2008. Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness after the Digital Explosion<\/em>. New York: Addison-Wesley. (ch. 1, 6)<\/p>\n

Gillespie, Tarleton. \u201cThe Politics of \u2018Platforms.\u2019\u201d New Media & Society<\/em>, 2010.
\nhttp:\/\/ecommons.library.cornell.edu\/bitstream\/1813\/12774\/1\/pop.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Katz, Mark. 2004. Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music<\/em>. Berkeley: University of California Press. (ch. 7) <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Week 5:<\/strong> The MP3 Era<\/p>\n

Sterne, Jonathan. 2006. \u201cThe MP3 as Cultural Artifact.\u201d New Media & Society<\/em> 8(5): 825\u2013842.<\/p>\n

Katz, Mark. 2004. Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music<\/em>. Berkeley: University of California Press. (ch. 8)<\/p>\n

Rodman, Gilbert and Cheyanne Vanderdockt. 2006. \u201cMusic for Nothing or, I want my MP3.\u201d Cultural Studies<\/em> 20(2): 245-261.<\/p>\n

Kot, Greg. 2009. Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music<\/em>. New York: Scribner. (ch. 3, 20)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Week 6:<\/strong> Peer Production<\/p>\n

Benkler, Yochai. 2006. The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom<\/em>. New Haven: Yale University Press. http:\/\/www.congo-education.net\/wealth-of-networks\/ (ch. 1, 3, 8)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Week 7:<\/strong> Dot Organizing<\/p>\n

Shirky, Clay. 2009. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations<\/em>. New York: Penguin. (ch. 2, 3)<\/p>\n

Weinberger, David. 2008. Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder<\/em>. New York: Holt. (ch. 1, 7)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Week 8:<\/strong> Spreadability, Virality, and Value<\/p>\n

Jenkins, Henry. 2009. \u201cIf It Doesn\u2019t Spread, It\u2019s Dead (parts 1-8).\u201d
\nhttp:\/\/www.henryjenkins.org\/archives.html
\n<\/a>
\nLessig, Lawrence. 2008. Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy<\/em>. New York: Penguin Press. (ch. 5, 6)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Part III: Digital Youth Culture and Music Industry 2.0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Week 9:<\/strong> Digital Youth Practices & Problems<\/p>\n

Palfrey. John and Urs Gasser. 2008. Born Digital<\/em>. New York: Basic Books. (Introduction, ch. 5, 6)<\/p>\n

Watkins, Craig. 2009. The Young and the Digital<\/em>. Boston: Beacon Press. (ch. 1, 4)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Week 10:<\/strong> New Media Literacies & Cultural Production<\/p>\n

Lange, Patricia G. and Mizuko Ito. \u201cFinal Report: Creative Production.\u201d In Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media<\/em>. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009.
\nhttp:\/\/digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu\/book-creativeproduction<\/a><\/p>\n

Horst, Heather A., Becky Herr-Stephenson, and Laura Robinson. \u201cFinal Report: Media Ecologies.\u201d In Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media<\/em>. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009.
\nhttp:\/\/digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu\/book-mediaecologies<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Week 11:<\/strong> YouTube & Participatory Culture<\/p>\n

Burgess, Jean and Joshua Green. 2009. YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture<\/em>. Cambridge: Polity Press.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Week 12:<\/strong> Blogs & \u201cNu\u201d World Music <\/p>\n

Zuckerman, Ethan. 2009. \u201cFrom protest to collaboration: Paul Simon\u2019s \u2018Graceland\u2019 and lessons for xenophiles.\u201d http:\/\/www.ethanzuckerman.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/02\/from-protest-to-collaboration-paul-simons-graceland-and-lessons-for-xenophiles\/
\n<\/a>
\nMarshall, Wayne. 2007. \u201cNu Whirl Music, Blogged in Translation?\u201d
\nhttp:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/?p=143
\n<\/a>
\nDacks, David. 2009. \u201cState of the World: How Globalistas Are Tearing Down Cultural Barriers.\u201d
\nhttp:\/\/www.exclaim.ca\/articles\/research.aspx?csid1=130<\/a><\/p>\n

Clayton, Jace. \u201cWorld Music 2.0.\u201d The National<\/em>, 31 December 2009.
\nhttp:\/\/www.thenational.ae\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20091231\/REVIEW\/701019840\/1008\/<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Week 13:<\/strong> Social Networks, Network Culture, and 21st Century Music Industry<\/p>\n

boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. 2007. \u201cSocial network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication<\/em> 13(1): article 11.
\nhttp:\/\/jcmc.indiana.edu\/vol13\/issue1\/boyd.ellison.html
\n<\/a>
\nAndrejevic, Mark. \u201cExploiting YouTube: Contradictions of User-Generated Labor.\u201d In The YouTube Reader<\/em>, eds. Pelle Snickars and Patrick Vonderau, 406-23. Stockholm: National Library of Sweden, 2009.<\/p>\n

Varnelis, Kazys. \u201cThe meaning of network culture.\u201d Eurozine, 14 January 2010.
\nhttp:\/\/www.eurozine.com\/articles\/2010-01-14-varnelis-en.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Williamson, John and Martin Cloonan. 2007. \u201cRethinking the Music Industry.\u201d Popular Music 26(2): 305-322.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Week 14:<\/strong> Project\/paper Presentations<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Next Tuesday (Feb 2) will be the initial meeting of the first class I’m teaching at MIT. I’m excited about the course, a new one, which invites students to read along with me and collectively investigate what I’ve been calling music industry — that is, a broader understanding of musically-propelled cultural practice than something like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[400,191,118,412,8,409,57,301,107,407,95],"class_list":["post-2942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-academic","tag-ethno","tag-industry","tag-internet","tag-media","tag-politricks","tag-race","tag-syllabus","tag-tech","tag-video","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2942"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8307,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942\/revisions\/8307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}