Call for papers
4-5 May 2012
Venue Bar Meeting Room, Leeds College of Music, Leeds

A conference to mark the start of a new AHRC-funded initiative: the Live Music Exchange, a knowledge transfer project emerging from three years of wide-ranging research into the social, cultural, historical and economic dimensions of live music. For more information about the Live Music Exchange, please see http://www.livemusicexchange.org

This conference is designed to forge links between industry and the academy by examining the issues facing those working at the front-line of local live music, and exploring the ways in which academic research can encourage and assist a vibrant and sustainable live music ecology.

We invite papers on any aspect of the business of live music from any disciplinary perspective, but with a particular focus on the problems of local live music promotion in the current global economic crisis. Our conference runs in conjunction with the Live @ Leeds festival (http://www.liveatleeds.com), therefore we particularly welcome papers about Leeds and surrounding areas. Themes for discussion could include local live music and the global live music industries, live music and the state, promotion as a business, DIY promotion, the live musical experience, and local histories of live music. Our research is cross-genre and our interests range from living room gigs to arena tours. We welcome papers on any kind of music at any level.

Presentations will be limited to a maximum of 20 minutes and proposals should be no more than 200 words. For further information please contact Emma Webster (emmaswebster@gmail.com) or Adam Behr (adam.behr@gmail.com).

Closing date for proposals: March 14 2012. While we appreciate that this is a short lead-in time, we hope that you will be able to get involved with this exciting new project. We intend to tour the Live Music Exchange Event around the UK, so please get in contact if you would be interested in participating in and/or hosting such a conference in the future.