Call for Papers: Handbook of Critical Media Industry Studies

We seek chapter proposals for inclusion in the Handbook of Critical Music Industry Studies. Critical Music Industry Studies (CMIS) is an encompassing and inclusive field that describes research and analytical perspectives on the music industry that move beyond operational concerns or introductions to subsets of the sector. The Handbook marks an important step in the development of CMIS as a legitimate field of study, bringing together industry professionals and academics from a diverse set of disciplinary perspectives. As Music Industry Studies explodes, it is time to revisit the field as an academic mode of inquiry. Too often, music industry programs of study emphasize getting students jobs and hiring faculty with “real world experience.” As such, the field diverges from other scholarly projects (especially with “studies” in their title). These programs tend to resemble trade schools that emphasize working within the system at the expense of re-envisioning the system. By narrowly focusing on getting students jobs, these systems end up reenforcing structures of domination within the music business. We seek to bring together scholars to intervene in the field and provide teachers with a text to teach music industry students the problems, potential, and promises of performing music.

Musicians and fans alike are hungry for a more equitable music performance and recording system. The industry exudes patriarchy, white supremacy, cultural imperialism, ableism and worker exploitation. In the context of gendered (e.g. #MeToo/#TimesUp) and racialized (e.g. Black Lives Matter) inequity, rampant precarity and casualization, and modes of musical dissemination that are changing faster than policymakers and regulatory bodies can keep up with, the timing for assembling such an interdisciplinary collection could not be more appropriate.

We seek contributions on a broad range of topics that take a critical perspective on the music industry (and closely related industries). The suggested topics below are a loose collection of concerns we deem vital to the cause of critical music industry studies but are by no means exhaustive. We are eager to hear from scholars working on diverse and critical projects targeting all aspects of the industry.

Chapters will be between 4000-7000 words, inclusive of bibliography and notes. As we are invested in re-envisioning the music industry, successful chapters will be accessible to upper-undergraduate students and graduate students, but appeal broadly to the diverse academic communities who congregate around cutting-edge cultural industries research.

Please submit your title and abstract proposals of no more than 300 words by December 15, 2022. If you have any questions, contact Ryan Nolan (r.c.nolan@exeter.ac.uk) and/or David Arditi (darditi@uta.edu).

Timeline:

• December 15, 2022 – Abstracts due
• February 15, 2023 – Notification of Acceptance/Rejection
• August 15, 2023 – Completed Papers Due
• November 15, 2023 – Editorial Reviews Completed
• February 15, 2024 – Revisions Completed

Indicative list of concerns, but not limited to the editors’ lack of imagination:

• The Politics of Representation and Power in the Global Music Industry Landscape
  • Gender, race, disability
  • Systems of oppression: racism, patriarchy, imperialism
• The Labor of Music
  • Cultures of Work
  • Reproductive Labor; Health and Wellbeing; Education
  • Performance Contracts/Pay Mechanisms (equity); Cashless Society; Emerging Practices; Live Music Cultures in Industry Perspective
• Global Music Industry Landscape
  • Cultural Geopolitics; Monopolization and Integration; Supply Chains; Platformisation
  • K-pop, J-pop, C-pop, Bollywood, Latin Music, Nigerian Music Industry, Caribbean Music
• Music as Media
  • Data governance; Remuneration in the context of streaming; New and Emerging Technologies; Big data/market intelligence
• Copyright
  • IP and Emerging Markets; As a Structure of Domination; Alternatives