Craig Hamilton was a Research Fellow in the School of Media at Birmingham City University between 2018 and 2021 and is now working as an independent researcher. You can see more about his work by visiting www.popmusicresearch.org
Craig explores contemporary popular music reception practices and the role of digital, data and Internet technologies on the business and cultural environments of music consumption. This research is built around the development of The Harkive Project (www.harkive.org), an online, crowd-sourced method of generating data from music consumers about their everyday relationships with music and technology. Craig is also the co-Managing Editor of Riffs: Experimental Writing on Popular Music (www.riffsjournal.org) Supervisors: Nicholas Gebhardt and Tim Wall
The experience of listening to music: methodologies, identities, histories, 2019
Through an analysis of how respondents to The Harkive Project (www.harkive.org) describe their us... more Through an analysis of how respondents to The Harkive Project (www.harkive.org) describe their use of vinyl records, this article will demonstrate and reflect upon the development of an experimental methodological approach derived from the fields of digital humanities and cultural analytics, and show how this was applied to my ‘home’ discipline of popular music studies. Before proceeding to my analysis, I first describe the context and rationale for taking this approach. In reflecting on this approach I discuss how it enabled me to explore how data-derived knowledge creation works through practice within contemporary popular music culture, highlighting some of the issues raised by data-related technologies and techniques in both popular music culture and in arts and humanities research. My hope is that work in this area may help popular music studies begin to account for the technologies and practices that have so changed the field. Towards that aim, and in consideration of Sandvig and Hargittai’s recent work highlighting the importance of ‘benchwork’, my article links to code, sample data, and instructional blog posts that may enable scholars to replicate and/or build upon my work.
This article explores how respondents to The Harkive Project (www.harkive.org) are enfolding stre... more This article explores how respondents to The Harkive Project (www.harkive.org) are enfolding streaming services and automated recommendation systems into their everyday music reception practices. Harkive is an online project running annually on a single day in July that invites people to provide detail and reflection on their experiences with music. Since the project first ran in 2013, it has gathered over 10,000 individual entries. It is conceived as an ongoing experiment in research methodology that attempts to produce an online social space that encourages reflection from respondents about the detail of their music reception practice, while simultaneously acting as a place able to replicate commercial practices around data collection and analysis. This article will demonstrate how such a research process can produce rich descriptive data from respondents who provide a useful snapshot of contemporary music reception practice. The article begins with an overview of how streaming services, data collection from numerous online channels and automated recommendation systems interrelate, and how together they raise questions around how people engage in acts of music reception. It then describes how Harkive is based on similar types of computational/ algorithmic processing to those used by key players in the digital music space. The analysis that follows shows that although respondents are engaging in everyday use of streaming services and dynamic recommendations, this engagement tends to be spread across a variety of online channels used in differing combinations, and that it is often recommendations from 'traditional' routes, such as media outlets (newspapers, radio stations) and users' own social groups, that feature prominently in respondent descriptions. Indeed, what Nowak (2016) calls the 'affective' element of recommendation appears to be rooted in existing practices that are still in the process of being transposed to the relatively recently emerged digital platforms, rather than-and sometimes in spite of-the rhetorical framing of those platforms
For the live music industry, and those who work in it, the COVID-19 outbreak has been predominant... more For the live music industry, and those who work in it, the COVID-19 outbreak has been predominantly framed as an economic crisis, one in which the economic systems through which revenue is derived from music-based products and practices have been abruptly closed off by a crisis of public health. Using Lefebvre's trialectics of spatiality as a theoretical lens, we will argue that, for live music, the COVID-19 outbreak can be seen as a crisis of spatial materiality. During a time of lockdown and social distancing, spaces of music production (rehearsal spaces, studios) and consumption (venues, nightclubs) have found themselves suddenly unfit for purpose. Drawing upon empirical data from ongoing research projects in Scotland and the Midlands, we will highlight the ways in which COVID-19 has disrupted the spatial practice of music. From there, we will argue that there is a need for new representational spaces of music, and the creation of new forms of musical-spatial practice, appropriating spaces of the domestic and the everyday, and fusing / overlaying them with new cultural meaning and (crucially for musicians) a reconsideration of value by potential consumers.
Purpose-This paper sets out to compare different methodologies for measuring the value(s) of live... more Purpose-This paper sets out to compare different methodologies for measuring the value(s) of live popular music and to explore the different motivations amongst a range of organisations engaged in that work. Design/methodology/approach-The authors analyse how the values of live music are measured, who does it and why. Based on this analysis the authors present a model that visualises the myriad of organisations, methods, aims and objectives involved. Findings-The authors identify three approaches to measuring the impact of live music (economic impact studies, mapping and censuses and social sciences and humanities) and three types of actors (industry, policy and academia). The analysis of these demonstrates that measuring live music is not a neutral activity, but itself constructs a vision on how live music ecologies function Practical implications-For cultural organisations, demonstrating the outcomes of their work is important in acquiring various forms of support. The model presented in this paper helps them to select adequate methodologies and to reflect on the consequences of particular approaches to measuring live music activities. Originality/value-While the number of studies measuring live music's impact is growing, theoretical and methodological reflection on these activities is missing. The authors compare the different methodologies by discussing strengths and weaknesses. This results in a model that identifies gaps in existing studies and Measuring the values of live music
Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, live music spaces-and the practices which produce them... more Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, live music spaces-and the practices which produce them as economically viable-have found themselves in crisis. In spite of a UK government announcement on the 25th of July 2020 which allocated £2.25 million to support 150 music venues across the country, the processes of allocation, the conditions under which this emergency funding is allocated, and capacity to secure medium-to-longterm sustainability of the live music industry in the UK, remains unclear. In this paper, we present a Lefebvrian analysis of live music, highlighting the complex ways in which space is produced and consumed within a live music environment. By extending this framing to consider Lefebvre's conceptualisation of dominated and appropriated space, we argue that the economic viability of live music stems from its spatiality, and that ongoing responses to the crisis require greater sensitivity to the spatial practices of music production and consumption.
This short essay reflects on the process of learning new skills during the course of my PhD studi... more This short essay reflects on the process of learning new skills during the course of my PhD studies. Specifically it explores the manner in which computation and code can be used in cultural studies, and describes the benefits of laborious learning in terms of Sandvig and Hargattai's idea of 'Benchwork' in the Humanities and Social Sciences. It was originally published on The Sociological Review website in May 2017.
This report is an overview of my progress through a 3-year, AHRC-funded doctoral research project... more This report is an overview of my progress through a 3-year, AHRC-funded doctoral research project looking at the changing nature of Popular Music consumption, with a particular focus on digital technologies. I am undertaking this project within the School of Media at Birmingham City University in the United Kingdom. After providing an overview of the project and work completed so far, I will then highlight some of the key challenges I am facing now that I have reached the halfway point in my studies, before outlining some of the ways I am seeking to address these. I will end this report with a short reflection on the process of working towards a PhD.
Guest Editor: Dr. Ash Watson, University of New South Wales
Perhaps you have a comic strip that ... more Guest Editor: Dr. Ash Watson, University of New South Wales
Perhaps you have a comic strip that you wrote on issues of representation in the music industry, or a piece of short fiction that considers popular music heritage, work that has not yet found a home. Or maybe your experiences as a musician, a music fan or researcher have provided you with rich characters, begging to be explored through a dialogue or a short story. We invite you to flex your imagination as a tool for analysis and criticism, to find a fictional form for your insights and arguments, and to imagine potential popular music futures (utopian or dystopian) as a means to critique the present.
“Playing music, for me right, it gets some heads together…. get a little tribal thing going on, ... more “Playing music, for me right, it gets some heads together…. get a little tribal thing going on, you know. Get the frequency up…. Everybody’s on that frequency. It’s always been about that…and exciting people and changing their frequency.”
– Robbo Dread, Birmingham 2017
As the journal title suggests, we are interested in pieces that take an experimental approach to the consideration of popular music. In relation to this prompt, we are keen to receive written/visual/audio submissions that attempt to represent/document sound system culture and music scenes more generally in ways that are true to the experiences of its practitioners and participants.
Guest edited by Simon Jones (author of Scientists of Sound: Portraits of a UK Reggae Sound) and peer reviewed by the Riffs editorial team.
“There is nothing wrong with hating rock critics” - Of Montreal, 2003
In their own ways and for ... more “There is nothing wrong with hating rock critics” - Of Montreal, 2003
In their own ways and for different purposes, writers and musicians draw upon their creative, critical, and experimental qualities. Sometimes a song, or a phrase, will leap from the imagination, perfectly formed. At other times a degree of elbow grease is required. When the two worlds meet - as they do often through music journalism, interviews, research, and elsewhere - the relationship between writer and musicians can be fraught, or else riddled with delight, but seemingly always contains an underlying tension. In this issue of Riffs, we explore that relationship through various forms of experimental writing about popular music.
Riffs: Experimental writing on popular music is an emerging and exciting postgraduate journal at ... more Riffs: Experimental writing on popular music is an emerging and exciting postgraduate journal at Birmingham City University, offering postgraduates at BCU and beyond a creative and experimental space for writing and thinking about popular music, in addition to an online forum for the publication and hosting of high calibre postgraduate research in the area of popular music studies.
The experience of listening to music: methodologies, identities, histories, 2019
Through an analysis of how respondents to The Harkive Project (www.harkive.org) describe their us... more Through an analysis of how respondents to The Harkive Project (www.harkive.org) describe their use of vinyl records, this article will demonstrate and reflect upon the development of an experimental methodological approach derived from the fields of digital humanities and cultural analytics, and show how this was applied to my ‘home’ discipline of popular music studies. Before proceeding to my analysis, I first describe the context and rationale for taking this approach. In reflecting on this approach I discuss how it enabled me to explore how data-derived knowledge creation works through practice within contemporary popular music culture, highlighting some of the issues raised by data-related technologies and techniques in both popular music culture and in arts and humanities research. My hope is that work in this area may help popular music studies begin to account for the technologies and practices that have so changed the field. Towards that aim, and in consideration of Sandvig and Hargittai’s recent work highlighting the importance of ‘benchwork’, my article links to code, sample data, and instructional blog posts that may enable scholars to replicate and/or build upon my work.
This article explores how respondents to The Harkive Project (www.harkive.org) are enfolding stre... more This article explores how respondents to The Harkive Project (www.harkive.org) are enfolding streaming services and automated recommendation systems into their everyday music reception practices. Harkive is an online project running annually on a single day in July that invites people to provide detail and reflection on their experiences with music. Since the project first ran in 2013, it has gathered over 10,000 individual entries. It is conceived as an ongoing experiment in research methodology that attempts to produce an online social space that encourages reflection from respondents about the detail of their music reception practice, while simultaneously acting as a place able to replicate commercial practices around data collection and analysis. This article will demonstrate how such a research process can produce rich descriptive data from respondents who provide a useful snapshot of contemporary music reception practice. The article begins with an overview of how streaming services, data collection from numerous online channels and automated recommendation systems interrelate, and how together they raise questions around how people engage in acts of music reception. It then describes how Harkive is based on similar types of computational/ algorithmic processing to those used by key players in the digital music space. The analysis that follows shows that although respondents are engaging in everyday use of streaming services and dynamic recommendations, this engagement tends to be spread across a variety of online channels used in differing combinations, and that it is often recommendations from 'traditional' routes, such as media outlets (newspapers, radio stations) and users' own social groups, that feature prominently in respondent descriptions. Indeed, what Nowak (2016) calls the 'affective' element of recommendation appears to be rooted in existing practices that are still in the process of being transposed to the relatively recently emerged digital platforms, rather than-and sometimes in spite of-the rhetorical framing of those platforms
For the live music industry, and those who work in it, the COVID-19 outbreak has been predominant... more For the live music industry, and those who work in it, the COVID-19 outbreak has been predominantly framed as an economic crisis, one in which the economic systems through which revenue is derived from music-based products and practices have been abruptly closed off by a crisis of public health. Using Lefebvre's trialectics of spatiality as a theoretical lens, we will argue that, for live music, the COVID-19 outbreak can be seen as a crisis of spatial materiality. During a time of lockdown and social distancing, spaces of music production (rehearsal spaces, studios) and consumption (venues, nightclubs) have found themselves suddenly unfit for purpose. Drawing upon empirical data from ongoing research projects in Scotland and the Midlands, we will highlight the ways in which COVID-19 has disrupted the spatial practice of music. From there, we will argue that there is a need for new representational spaces of music, and the creation of new forms of musical-spatial practice, appropriating spaces of the domestic and the everyday, and fusing / overlaying them with new cultural meaning and (crucially for musicians) a reconsideration of value by potential consumers.
Purpose-This paper sets out to compare different methodologies for measuring the value(s) of live... more Purpose-This paper sets out to compare different methodologies for measuring the value(s) of live popular music and to explore the different motivations amongst a range of organisations engaged in that work. Design/methodology/approach-The authors analyse how the values of live music are measured, who does it and why. Based on this analysis the authors present a model that visualises the myriad of organisations, methods, aims and objectives involved. Findings-The authors identify three approaches to measuring the impact of live music (economic impact studies, mapping and censuses and social sciences and humanities) and three types of actors (industry, policy and academia). The analysis of these demonstrates that measuring live music is not a neutral activity, but itself constructs a vision on how live music ecologies function Practical implications-For cultural organisations, demonstrating the outcomes of their work is important in acquiring various forms of support. The model presented in this paper helps them to select adequate methodologies and to reflect on the consequences of particular approaches to measuring live music activities. Originality/value-While the number of studies measuring live music's impact is growing, theoretical and methodological reflection on these activities is missing. The authors compare the different methodologies by discussing strengths and weaknesses. This results in a model that identifies gaps in existing studies and Measuring the values of live music
Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, live music spaces-and the practices which produce them... more Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, live music spaces-and the practices which produce them as economically viable-have found themselves in crisis. In spite of a UK government announcement on the 25th of July 2020 which allocated £2.25 million to support 150 music venues across the country, the processes of allocation, the conditions under which this emergency funding is allocated, and capacity to secure medium-to-longterm sustainability of the live music industry in the UK, remains unclear. In this paper, we present a Lefebvrian analysis of live music, highlighting the complex ways in which space is produced and consumed within a live music environment. By extending this framing to consider Lefebvre's conceptualisation of dominated and appropriated space, we argue that the economic viability of live music stems from its spatiality, and that ongoing responses to the crisis require greater sensitivity to the spatial practices of music production and consumption.
This short essay reflects on the process of learning new skills during the course of my PhD studi... more This short essay reflects on the process of learning new skills during the course of my PhD studies. Specifically it explores the manner in which computation and code can be used in cultural studies, and describes the benefits of laborious learning in terms of Sandvig and Hargattai's idea of 'Benchwork' in the Humanities and Social Sciences. It was originally published on The Sociological Review website in May 2017.
This report is an overview of my progress through a 3-year, AHRC-funded doctoral research project... more This report is an overview of my progress through a 3-year, AHRC-funded doctoral research project looking at the changing nature of Popular Music consumption, with a particular focus on digital technologies. I am undertaking this project within the School of Media at Birmingham City University in the United Kingdom. After providing an overview of the project and work completed so far, I will then highlight some of the key challenges I am facing now that I have reached the halfway point in my studies, before outlining some of the ways I am seeking to address these. I will end this report with a short reflection on the process of working towards a PhD.
Guest Editor: Dr. Ash Watson, University of New South Wales
Perhaps you have a comic strip that ... more Guest Editor: Dr. Ash Watson, University of New South Wales
Perhaps you have a comic strip that you wrote on issues of representation in the music industry, or a piece of short fiction that considers popular music heritage, work that has not yet found a home. Or maybe your experiences as a musician, a music fan or researcher have provided you with rich characters, begging to be explored through a dialogue or a short story. We invite you to flex your imagination as a tool for analysis and criticism, to find a fictional form for your insights and arguments, and to imagine potential popular music futures (utopian or dystopian) as a means to critique the present.
“Playing music, for me right, it gets some heads together…. get a little tribal thing going on, ... more “Playing music, for me right, it gets some heads together…. get a little tribal thing going on, you know. Get the frequency up…. Everybody’s on that frequency. It’s always been about that…and exciting people and changing their frequency.”
– Robbo Dread, Birmingham 2017
As the journal title suggests, we are interested in pieces that take an experimental approach to the consideration of popular music. In relation to this prompt, we are keen to receive written/visual/audio submissions that attempt to represent/document sound system culture and music scenes more generally in ways that are true to the experiences of its practitioners and participants.
Guest edited by Simon Jones (author of Scientists of Sound: Portraits of a UK Reggae Sound) and peer reviewed by the Riffs editorial team.
“There is nothing wrong with hating rock critics” - Of Montreal, 2003
In their own ways and for ... more “There is nothing wrong with hating rock critics” - Of Montreal, 2003
In their own ways and for different purposes, writers and musicians draw upon their creative, critical, and experimental qualities. Sometimes a song, or a phrase, will leap from the imagination, perfectly formed. At other times a degree of elbow grease is required. When the two worlds meet - as they do often through music journalism, interviews, research, and elsewhere - the relationship between writer and musicians can be fraught, or else riddled with delight, but seemingly always contains an underlying tension. In this issue of Riffs, we explore that relationship through various forms of experimental writing about popular music.
Riffs: Experimental writing on popular music is an emerging and exciting postgraduate journal at ... more Riffs: Experimental writing on popular music is an emerging and exciting postgraduate journal at Birmingham City University, offering postgraduates at BCU and beyond a creative and experimental space for writing and thinking about popular music, in addition to an online forum for the publication and hosting of high calibre postgraduate research in the area of popular music studies.
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Perhaps you have a comic strip that you wrote on issues of representation in the music industry, or a piece of short fiction that considers popular music heritage, work that has not yet found a home. Or maybe your experiences as a musician, a music fan or researcher have provided you with rich characters, begging to be explored through a dialogue or a short story. We invite you to flex your imagination as a tool for analysis and criticism, to find a fictional form for your insights and arguments, and to imagine potential popular music futures (utopian or dystopian) as a means to critique the present.
https://riffsjournal.org/2020/08/27/riffs-volume-5-call-for-contributions/
– Robbo Dread, Birmingham 2017
As the journal title suggests, we are interested in pieces that take an experimental approach to the consideration of popular music. In relation to this prompt, we are keen to receive written/visual/audio submissions that attempt to represent/document sound system culture and music scenes more generally in ways that are true to the experiences of its practitioners and participants.
Guest edited by Simon Jones (author of Scientists of Sound: Portraits of a UK Reggae Sound) and peer reviewed by the Riffs editorial team.
In their own ways and for different purposes, writers and musicians draw upon their creative, critical, and experimental qualities. Sometimes a song, or a phrase, will leap from the imagination, perfectly formed. At other times a degree of elbow grease is required. When the two worlds meet - as they do often through music journalism, interviews, research, and elsewhere - the relationship between writer and musicians can be fraught, or else riddled with delight, but seemingly always contains an underlying tension. In this issue of Riffs, we explore that relationship through various forms of experimental writing about popular music.
Perhaps you have a comic strip that you wrote on issues of representation in the music industry, or a piece of short fiction that considers popular music heritage, work that has not yet found a home. Or maybe your experiences as a musician, a music fan or researcher have provided you with rich characters, begging to be explored through a dialogue or a short story. We invite you to flex your imagination as a tool for analysis and criticism, to find a fictional form for your insights and arguments, and to imagine potential popular music futures (utopian or dystopian) as a means to critique the present.
https://riffsjournal.org/2020/08/27/riffs-volume-5-call-for-contributions/
– Robbo Dread, Birmingham 2017
As the journal title suggests, we are interested in pieces that take an experimental approach to the consideration of popular music. In relation to this prompt, we are keen to receive written/visual/audio submissions that attempt to represent/document sound system culture and music scenes more generally in ways that are true to the experiences of its practitioners and participants.
Guest edited by Simon Jones (author of Scientists of Sound: Portraits of a UK Reggae Sound) and peer reviewed by the Riffs editorial team.
In their own ways and for different purposes, writers and musicians draw upon their creative, critical, and experimental qualities. Sometimes a song, or a phrase, will leap from the imagination, perfectly formed. At other times a degree of elbow grease is required. When the two worlds meet - as they do often through music journalism, interviews, research, and elsewhere - the relationship between writer and musicians can be fraught, or else riddled with delight, but seemingly always contains an underlying tension. In this issue of Riffs, we explore that relationship through various forms of experimental writing about popular music.