Call for Papers

Popular Music Worlds, Popular Music Histories
IASPM 15th biennial conference
University of Liverpool, UK
July 13-17, 2009

For its 15th biennial conference, the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) invites papers which explore the various connections and disconnections between popular musical worlds and popular music histories. Given Liverpool’s important place in relation to both areas, it will provide an ideal setting for papers submitted to the following streams:

Studying Popular Music: A Reassessment
Convenor: Martha Tupinambá de Ulhôa

Since the first attempts in the late 1970s and 1980s much has been done in terms of adapting analytical tools from several disciplines to the study of popular music. This stream welcomes papers dealing with the analysis of specific aspects of popular music (timbre, texture, prosody, melody, rhythm, harmony, arranging, etc.) or case studies of particular songs or instrumental pieces from any theoretical perspective.

Popular Music and Technology in a Historical Context
Convenor: Carlo Nardi

Different intellectual technologies have contributed to the way people produce and listen to popular music, be it orality, printing, recording or even the Internet. This stream welcomes papers dealing with the technological impacts upon popular music practices, including questions from cultural, aesthetic, ideological, economic, sociological, historical, legal or musicological perspectives.

Music, History and Cultural Memory
Convenor: Shane Homan

This stream seeks contributions that investigate popular music histories and the methodological challenges in their researching and writing. What particular historical narratives and agendas emerge, and what are their effects? The stream includes work that examines the role of popular music history in wider national histories and their presence in both informal (e.g. fan club newsletters) and formal (e.g. museums) contexts. Papers are also welcome that explore the role of ‘unofficial’ / ‘shadow’ music histories that challenge or offer alternatives to grander narratives and industry mythologies, to comprehend a politics of cultural memory studies in terms of what is officially preserved from oblivion and what is socially excluded from remembrance.

Music, Mediation and Place
Convenor: Geoff Stahl

The intersection of place-making and music-making as a site of mediation is a complicated one. From the use of certain music scenes or moments which have been mobilized as heritage myths and tourist packages, to issues related to the use of micro and mass media to bind musicmakers together–locally, regionally, nationally, and globally–the intersection of time and place as a highly mediated process has proven a vexed and complex phenomenon. We welcome papers which explore the many issues relating to music histories, representations, discourses, spaces and places, as well as those that consider the various research methods which might be best be deployed to capture this phenomenon.

Musical Struggles
Convenor: Michael Drewett

Being a musician inevitably involves struggle: Musicians starting out struggle to make it, musicians ‘in the margins’ struggle towards mainstream coverage, some musicians involve themselves in political struggle to do with identity issues and/or social issues, while in contexts of censorship, repression and control some musicians struggle to be heard. Even commercially successful musicians can become embroiled in corporate struggle over contractual obligations. This stream seeks contributions which document and conceptualise such struggles within a socio-political framework.

Abstracts should be no longer than 250 words (one page) and should be sent in the following format:

Title
Presenter(s)
Institution
Email
Abstract
Keywords (five keywords that best describe your topic)

Abstracts should be sent to BOTH the conference address and the convenor of your stream. The conference address is:

iaspm2009@iaspm.net

Please label your abstract with your last name (i.e. smith.rtf, or smith.doc), not the title.

The deadline for abstracts is July 1, 2008.

We will notify participants no later than November 1st, 2008.

We look forward to seeing you.

The IASPM-International Executive

Nov. 14-16, 2008
Hosted by William Moylan at The University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA

Call For Papers

Conference Summary:
The ARP Conference gathers together industry professionals, academic scholars, and musicians who utilize and study recording technology as a principle means of creative expression. It is the aim of this conference to facilitate the exchange of ideas between these groups, drawing upon broad areas of expertise, and providing a unique opportunity for individuals to inform, challenge, and stimulate the discourse surrounding the intersection of technology and music. ARP provides a platform for the exchange of ideas and multiple perspectives across disciplines.
The conference addresses a range of topics such as; how creative expression is achieved through technological practices; how changes in recording technology have impacted upon and informed musical practices; the so-called “democratization” of access to modes of creative expression and the resultant opportunities for the distribution of recorded work in the age of computer-based recording and the Internet.
The conference will comprise academic papers, industry speakers and panels, practical demonstrations and masterclasses as well as plentiful opportunities for networking and informal debate.

The 2008 Conference will deliver four streams of papers and panels around the following topics:

1. The Studio as Musical Instrument.
In 1983 Brian Eno described the recording studio as his musical instrument. After several decades of technological change, it is worth considering how the definition of what constitutes a “studio” has shifted, and the various technological, economical, and political impacts these shifts have had and continue to have on contemporary music. What does “The Studio as Musical Instrument” mean today? How has recording practice affected composition, arranging and song writing practice? How have “composer,” “performer,” “engineer,” “conductor,” or “musician” been redefined? How has the “recording studio” changed music and music making? Please send proposals for this stream to: arp08_smi@artofrecordproduction.com

2. Recording Practice and Performance.
How have changes in recording practice affected performance practice amongst recording musicians? How has technology influenced the sound art which results? How do record producers, musicians and sound engineers communicate in the studio? How do they view each other? How have the control surfaces of the studio been absorbed into and influenced musical performance? How do issues such as comfort and non-verbal communication between musicians balance against separation and audio quality in the recording process? How is the creative power distributed between musicians, producers, record companies and technicians? Please send proposals for this stream to: arp08_rpp@artofrecordproduction.com

3. The Empowered Artist
The means for composing, performing, recording, promoting and distributing sound recordings is available to all artists. Is the ‘capability’ to do it all being matched by the ‘ability’ to do it well? Are the potentially conflicting challenges of business and creation being juggled without undermining the economic or artistic value of what results? How has low-cost audio production technology impacted the recording industry, both economically as well as in re-casting the creative technologies contained in professional facilities? Please send proposals for this stream to: arp08_tea@artofrecordproduction.com

4. Production and the Listener
How aware are listeners of the possibilities and actualities of production? How aware are the industry professionals who are not involved in production? How do production practices impact on notions of authenticity? Are alternative mixes regarded by listeners as aesthetically equivalent? Do producers work with specific listening environments or audiences in mind? How has this impacted on the historical development of record production? Please send proposals for this stream to: arp08_pl@artofrecordproduction.com

Other subject areas will be considered and we encourage the submission of papers on any topic associated with the art of record production.

Proposals for individual papers and poster presentations should not exceed 300 words.

Proposals for panels should include the names and brief CVs of all panel members and their individual contributions and should not exceed 1000 words.

The deadline for proposals is the 15th April 2008.
General enquiries can be addressed to Simon Zagorski-Thomas

1st Global Conference
Monday 3rd November – Wednesday 5th November 2008
Salzburg, Austria

It is about time, that with a growing critical interest in the music and culture of heavy metal, a conference be held to explore, critique and bang heads on what this long standing movement is about, where it is going and what it has to offer, politically socially and philosophically. Characterised by extremes, it is a music movement that has a range of lifestyles attached to it, comprising of quite disparate and radically different views amongst both fans and its progenitors. Recent publications such as Bill Irwin’s edited Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery (2007), documentary films and past texts such as Deena Weinstein’s 1991 Sociological study Heavy Metal The Music and its Culture and Keith Kahn Harris’ Metal Studies site indicate a continuous, serious interest in Heavy Metal.

Submissions are welcome on any of the following themes: Heavy Metal and:

• Origins, Definition and History
• Genres and classification. Classical music/Opera
• Culture – Subculture – Underground – Popular Culture – Fans
• Religion – anti religion – Evil – Satanism
• Politics – Nationalism – the Apolitical – Fascism
• Imagery – Iconography – Aesthetics
• Art – Design – Fashion – Performance – Theatre – Sleeve Art
• Gender Issues – Misogyny – Homo sociality – Masculinities – Deviant Sexualities
• Monsters – Madness
• Philosophical themes: Existentialism – Nihilism – Hedonism – Ethics
• Literature – Cinema – Documentaries – Soundtracks – Horror – Gothic – Anime – Cartoons
• Fashion

Papers will be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 13th June 2008. If your paper is accepted for presentation at the conference, an 8 page draft paper should be submitted by Friday 10th October 2008.

300 word abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract.

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Niall Scott
Centre for Professional ethics
University of Central Lancashire
Preston PR1 5HE
Lancashire, U.K
Email

Rob Fisher
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Priory House, Wroslyn Road
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
Email

The conference is part of a larger series of ongoing conferences entitled Critical Issues, which aim to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.

All papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. We aim to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore innovative and challenging routes of intellectual and academic exploration. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference are eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers will be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume.

For further details about the project please visit: www.inter-disciplinary.net/ci/mmp/mmp.html

For further details about the conference pleaser visit: www.inter-disciplinary.net/ci/mmp/mmp1/cfp.html

Annual Conference of IASPM-ANZ
International Association for the Study of Popular Music
Australia-New Zealand branch

Stuck in the middle
The Mainstream and its Discontents

28-30 November 2008
Presented by the Centre for Public Culture and Ideas (CPCI)
Griffith University
Brisbane, Australia

Whilst “cutting edge” and “alternative” music has played a central role in popular music studies, these terms depend upon being juxtaposed with a real or imagined “middle” or “mainstream.” The mainstream has often played the negative role in this relationship, against which the positive, resistant qualities of music subcultures have been measured. However, as music scenes and genres continue to fragment and blur, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish between a normative mainstream and a smaller number of resistant subcultures. Ultimately, today’s mainstream music reflects a complex set of negotiations between individuals, industry, production and consumption.

We invite contributions that address the topic of the mainstream from any perspective. The organising committee also gladly welcomes any general papers in the study of popular music.

Topics may include:

• Redefining the mainstream
• Mainstream music and everyday life
• Global and local mainstreams
• Mainstream music in educational contexts
• Music, the mainstream and sporting cultures
• Mainstreams, margins and minorities
• Conflicts and controversies in the mainstream
• Mainstream music across generations
• Mainstream entertainment for children
• Gender and sexuality in mainstream music
• Mainstream music in the media

Abstract Submission
Abstracts should be submitted as an email attachment (Word document, 12pt Times New Roman font) to Gavin Carfoot.
The deadline for receipt of abstract is 30 June 2007.
Please use your surname as the document title (for example, “Carfoot.doc”). The abstracts will be reviewed by an IASPM-ANZ committee and successful applicants advised by email. Please include the following details (in this order):
1. Name of author(s) (as you would like it to appear in the programme)
2. Institution or affiliation (where applicable)
3. Contact phone numbers
4. Email address
5. Title of paper
6. Abstract (200-300 words)
7. Consideration for 2007 IASPM-ANZ postgraduate prize? (Yes/No)

Registration details will be available on the conference website .

Pease send registration forms to:

Jill Jones, Events Coordinator
Centre for Public Culture and Ideas
Nathan Campus
Griffith University
170 Kessels Road, Nathan
Brisbane, Queensland 4111
AUSTRALIA Ph: (07) 373 57338
Email: Jill Jones

Call for papers

Time and place: November 13-14, 2008 in Roskilde, Denmark
Proposal deadline: May 1, 2008
Main contact person: Fabian Holt (please write Roskilde conference in the subject line)
Venue: Roskilde (more details will be announced soon)
Web site: http://web.mac.com/fabsound/Site/Conf.html

Keynote speakers:
Angela McRobbie (Goldsmiths College)
David Hesmondhalgh (University of Leeds)
Gerhard Schulze (University of Bamberg)
Kevin Hetherington (Open University)

The overall theme of this conference is the changing role of professional entertainment in contemporary, post-industrial society. Concepts such as the “culture society,” “creative industries,” and “experience economy” all signal an increase in the volume of production and consumption of cultural commodities. This development has implications for producers, consumers, and society at large.

The shifting relations between producers and consumers, between production and experience, generate two key questions: The first is how new strategies and forms of cultural production relate to changing forms of consumption and experience. This concerns the embodiment of cultural production in social life. The second question is how cultural commodities, live or mediated, are being consumed and how they affect consumers on both macro- and micro-levels of social life.

The conference organizers value new approaches and original perspectives grounded in empirical research. We welcome work in all areas of the creative and cultural industries, including tourism, media, publishing, music, theatre, film, event, national and amusement parks, and ICT (e.g. computer games and mobile phone entertainment). Presenters are also encouraged to explore connections across industries and genres in various aspects of production and consumption. This could include issues of convergence and cross-branding.

A major aspect of the theme is the organizational and institutional contexts of production. It is pertinent to recognize the changing roles of national and city governments and new alliances and networks between private and public sectors.

Research in these areas has responded to commercial and political agendas organized around the concepts of the creative and cultural industries and the experience economy. Interdisciplinary research and collaborations between the social and human sciences, business studies, and schools of art and design are still relatively few and far between. We welcome such initiatives and provide space for discussions of different and even conflicting notions of cultural production, consumption and experience. A particular concern is how the feedback loop between theory and practice, idea and product, can be sustained via methods of product design.

[A more detailed description can be found at the conference website]

Organization of the conference: The basic model is plenary keynotes alternating with parallel tracks of paper presentations and a few roundtable discussions. We accept proposals for research papers and for roundtable panels.

Paper proposals: Max. 500 words must be sent to Fabian Holt of the conference committee by May 1, 2008. Again, please write “Roskilde conference” in the subject line. The proposals will be reviewed by a committee. Notification of acceptance will be given by June 1.

Roundtables: The roundtable panels should facilitate dialogue between scholars and professional producers. Each roundtable is expected to begin with a two-minute statement by up to five presenters and then move on to discussion with a moderator. The presenters must submit a one-page written statement prior to the conference, which will be available at the conference Web site one week before the conference.

Deadline for paper submissions: Papers for the ordinary panels (max. 8000 words) and statements for roundtable panels (max. 1 page) must be submitted to fabianh@ruc.dk by October 15.

Conference committee:
The conference committee consists of Fabian Holt, Jørgen Ole Bærenholdt, and Jon Sundbo of the Center for Experience Research at Roskilde University, Denmark.

Publication
Some presenters will be asked to write their paper into an article for a special issue of a distinguished international journal. Our decisions will be based on the criteria of the quality and relevance of the papers.

Price
300 Euros including meals and accommodation.

Registration
All participants should by sending an e-mail to e-mail to Hanne Tofteng, Roskilde University, hannet@ruc.dk before October 15, 2008.

The Research Networks Sociology of Arts and Sociology of Culture of the European Sociological Association (ESA) are organizing a joint mid-term conference this year in Venice, 4-8 November 2008 on

Arts, Culture and Public Sphere
Expressive and Instrumental Values in Economic and Sociological Perspectives

The local organizer is Prof. Pier Luigi Sacco from the Faculty of Design and Art (FDA), and in cooperation with the Department of Art and Industrial Design (DADI), from the IUAV University in Venice.

The conference represents the 5th ESA Sociology of the Arts Research Network mid-term conference and the 2nd ESA Sociology of Culture Research Network mid-term conference, and it will be the first opportunity to have three European networks – the two ESA-Research Networks and the network ‘Economics and Planning of Arts and Culture’ – meeting around a common theme.

Call for papers and information: artculturevenice2008