Miaoju Jian is professor of Communication at National Chung Cheng University, Chia-yi, Taiwan. Her research interests and publications have covered topics from the culture and political economy of reality TV programs to indie-music scenes and DIY culture in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and East Asia.
簡妙如(2022)。〈以南韓女性獨立音樂人為鏡:李瀧(Lang Lee)的藝術與批判實踐〉,《婦研縱橫》,117:70-81。
Miaoju Jian (2022). Mirroring So... more 簡妙如(2022)。〈以南韓女性獨立音樂人為鏡:李瀧(Lang Lee)的藝術與批判實踐〉,《婦研縱橫》,117:70-81。
Miaoju Jian (2022). Mirroring South Korea's Female Independent Musician: Lang Lee's Artistic and Critical Practices. Forum in Women’s and Gender Studies, 117:70-81.(in Chinese)
This article introduces Lang Lee, a female independent musician in South Korea, focusing on her music, art, and cultural activism. By examining her work and cultural contributions, this article sheds light on Lang Lee’s significance and impact on important issues. Firstly, she highlights the struggles faced by independent musicians in South Korea, drawing attention to the poverty they often experience. Furthermore, she continues to champion the feminist movement and advocate for LGBTQ rights within the country's highly debated gender issues. One of Lang Lee's notable events occurred in 2017 when she auctioned off her "Korean Pop Music Award" trophy on the spot, sparking controversy. In 2021, she received another award for her third album, "Wolf is Coming," and continued to convey a powerful message through her music, stating, "Patriarchy still exists! We are still poor!" For the readers in Taiwan, Lang Lee's artistic and critical practices act as a mirror, addressing societal inequalities and amplifying marginalized voices.
Live Houses in COVID-19: The Survival Structures and Challenges of Small and Medium Live Music Venues in Taiwan (online first by the author)
The COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020 has directly affected the business of ‘Live Houses’, namely the grassroots small and medium live venues, and their related music workers. Even in Taiwan where the pandemic is not so severe, the epidemic prevention measures appeared in 2020 and 2021 still resulted a crisis for live music sectors. Live house operators, music promoters, indie musicians and many project workers face survival challenges accordingly. This article examines the ways music workers in the live music sectors impacted by the pandemic and how they struggle in 2020 and 2021. We further argue the special survival structures of the small and medium live venues in Taiwan have been exposed by the pandemic. The small and medium live venues across Taiwan face a highly competitive but underdeveloped market. While the gradual ‘gentrification of Live Houses’ happened in the last decade was paradoxically guidance of the government policy. The musical workers in the live venues network live in a highly flexible and precarious pattern with different ambiguous flexible exploitations. This article argues that small and medium live houses embedded in urban space are the basis for a vibrant and sustainable live music ecology. However, it has undergone subtle changes after the pandemic.
Keywords: live house, live venues, COVID-19, live music ecology, indie music, Taiwan
現代美術學報 (Journal of Taipei Fine Arts Museum), 42:154-196, 2021
本文重現台灣曾在2000年初出現的龐克小誌風潮,並連結國際龐克小誌到小誌(zine)文化運動的歷史脈絡,檢視小誌的文化政治意涵。本文一方面回顧國際文獻,說明小誌文化所具有的反抗性特質,包括挑戰主... more 本文重現台灣曾在2000年初出現的龐克小誌風潮,並連結國際龐克小誌到小誌(zine)文化運動的歷史脈絡,檢視小誌的文化政治意涵。本文一方面回顧國際文獻,說明小誌文化所具有的反抗性特質,包括挑戰主流文化、建立另類社群,以及全球反抗政治。另一方面,本文重建2000年前後本地龐克小誌的崛起歷程,檢視龐克DIY文化如何被引介,如何在獨立音樂場域中萌芽、擴散並彼此串連的過程。本文認為,晚近小誌文化運動,已逐漸多元、平易化,但由龐克小誌、音樂迷小誌作為認識入口,或可提供另一視角,重拾小誌、熱愛者文化的反抗性政治潛能。小誌的反抗性,正在於將小誌人由政治客體轉為政治性主體,在小誌大爆發的當下,值得重新喚醒。
This article explores the first wave of punk fanzine in Taiwan that appeared in the early 2000s. The author intends to link the origins of the international punk fanzine to the evolution of the zine movement in the Western countries, and to especially focus on the cultural and political implications of the resistance politics of the global punk zine. On the one hand, it reviews the rebellious nature of the zine culture which includes the challenging mainstream culture, establishing alternative communities, and the global resistance politics. On the other hand, it reconstructs the rise of the local punk fanzines around 2000, and examines how the punk DIY culture was introduced and how they sprouted, spread, and connected with each other within the independent music scene. The author argues that the emerging zine cultural movement since 2010 has gradually become diversified and the content has become easier to understand. However, using the developing history of the local punk zines and indie music fanzines as the entrance to better understand the current zine culture may provide another perspective. This article tries to bring back the resistance politics of the nature of zine culture and the political empowerment potential of the fans. The resistance nature of zine culture is turning zinesters from a passive political object to an active political subject. At a moment when zine culture has exploded in Taiwan, it is worth reawakening the resistant ethos of the punk fanzine and zines.
Ch14 in Eva Tsai, Tung-Hung Ho and Miaoju Jian (eds.),pp. 213-228, "Made in Taiwan Studies in Popular Music". NY & London: Routledge., 2019
Taiwanese indie bands are getting noticed for their actively crossing international borders and p... more Taiwanese indie bands are getting noticed for their actively crossing international borders and performing in various Asian and western countries.Using materials from a decade of research on Taiwan’s indie music development, the author outlines three paths through which Taiwanese indie music has taken to establishing a foothold in the overseas markets: (1) rising from indie music scene, crossing over to the mainstream market, and then embracing the global Mandopop market; (2) rising from the indie music scene and connecting with comparable indie musicians and audiences through the East Asian DIY network; (3) performing actively and translocally through the brokerage of entrepreneurial indie promoters. Taking these three coexisting models into account, this chapter will illuminate the transnational development of Taiwanese indie music. Most crucially, indie music acts have apparently engaged in grassroots, bottom-up, transnational practices emerging outside of the mainstream music industry and the top-down governmental support.
Indie music in East Asia has experienced tremendous growth in popularity since the mid-2000s, esp... more Indie music in East Asia has experienced tremendous growth in popularity since the mid-2000s, especially in China and Taiwan. This trend has encouraged a number of indie bands to pursue more radical and alternative 'do-it-yourself' (DIY) careers within their local underground music scenes. Taking two bands from Beijing and Taipei as case studies, this article argues that their DIY music careers help them both to survive through their aesthetic freedom and to confront the paradoxical government involvement in the local music market. P.K. 14, a band from China, practice a pragmatic DIY music career with an oblique resistance to political authorities. Touming Magazine, a band from Taiwan, pursue a DIY career through punk ethics to fight against an overwhelming neoliberal discourse and a promotional state policy of developing a cultural and creative industry. While DIY career practitioners have opened up alternative possibilities to preserve the autonomy of making music, such a career path is still challenged by an unsustainable market, a shortage of financing, and the continued dominance of major music companies' own platforms. The situations these musicians face illustrate a more ambivalent type of politics, beyond mere emancipation, in their pursuit of a DIY career.
Introduction
In Asia, small live venues have been given a trendy name, called “Live Houses”. The... more Introduction
In Asia, small live venues have been given a trendy name, called “Live Houses”. These spaces are vital in providing information about a city’s current live music industry and music scene subculture. They demonstrate a distinctive relationship with urban musical activities in regards to its historical and geographical context. The intimate feeling of being a member of a subculture within local live venues also shows that the music scenes are united with the global rock trend, presenting a more universal and fluid metropolitan music style. The creativity, innovation, and critical power that have evolved from this subcultural commitment, also expresses the venues’ values and style. ***** This chapter focuses on two representative cities in the Chinese music scene— Taipei and Beijing—and two legendary music venues established within the past ten years: Underworld (Taipei, 1996-2013) and D22 (Beijing, 2006-2012). They were similar in a number of ways, including having a capacity of 50-200 people and housing low grade, modest equipment. Although not appreciated by everyone, they paradoxically gained a legendary reputation and respect in the local indie music scenes. The venues did not flourish financially, but their unique atmosphere, music taste, and member’s characteristics made them stand out from all the others.
This examination will explore the emergence, changes, and current state of affairs of the rock music scenes in Taiwan and China over the past 20 years by discussing the important legacy of the two live venues . What made them so special in their local rock scene? What did they contribute? How and why did they disappear? Our inquiry will take note of the changing traces of the local music scenes in Taiwan and China within a more globalized pop/indie music environment.
歌唱選秀節目,是近十年來電視台為業餘者打開大門的節目型態之一,在電視及音樂產業面臨挑戰的產業危機背景下,以明星夢調和了觀眾參與電視的慾望,並創造跨媒體整合的獲利模式。當電視台變成「明星夢工廠」,... more 歌唱選秀節目,是近十年來電視台為業餘者打開大門的節目型態之一,在電視及音樂產業面臨挑戰的產業危機背景下,以明星夢調和了觀眾參與電視的慾望,並創造跨媒體整合的獲利模式。當電視台變成「明星夢工廠」,選秀過程就被組織成一場具挑戰性的競賽遊戲,讓自願參賽者在遊戲中發揮生產力及創意,也在比賽過程中再生產了志願性順從,掩飾了被剝削的生產關係,以及衍生大量用過即可丟棄的15分鐘名人現象。本文指出,選秀節目招募業餘者的免費勞動,是在某種同意、志願性順服之下的甘願勞動:以投資自己為名,自願付出金錢、汗水及淚水,以能換取成為明星/歌手的交換價值。這種業餘者自願被剝削其創意及勞動力的現象,可說是媒體文化產業所特有、具剝削性的工作條件,也是傳統媒體娛樂產業中具高度階層化權力關係的縮影。
關鍵詞:歌唱選秀節目、免費勞動、明星夢、業餘者、可拋式名人
Abstract Talent search shows have been quite a hit over the past decade in Taiwan. Against a background of industry crisis with both music and television industries facing severe challenges, TV stations set up a new profit model via cross media integration, and function as “star factories” for aspiring amateurs. Like all reality TV shows with audience participation appeals, these programs attract the willing contribution of amateur contestants, who, with pop star dream to realize, patiently and obediently endure the whole process of “talent search” game while assiduously investing their time, energy, money, talents and creativity. This paper explains how these amateur aspirants are actually being exploited as acquiescent labors, and then further degraded into the status of dispensable celebrities with a mere 15 minutes of media spotlight. The author argues that, behind the flamboyant stardom suggested by talent search shows, there is the disguised recruitment of free labor for calculative profiteering. Amateur aspirants are actually coaxed into willing cooperation and obedient dedication in the name of self-investment. To conclude, the author points out that, while it is very characteristic of the media industry to engage amateur contestants in such an exploitative relationship, the phenomenon is but a miniature of the highly hierarchical power structure typical of the media entertainment industry.
Keywords: Taiwan talent search shows, free labors, pop star dream, amateurs,dispensable celebrities
Talent shows have rocketed to popularity in Taiwan in recent years, as demonstrated in the high r... more Talent shows have rocketed to popularity in Taiwan in recent years, as demonstrated in the high rating programs, One Million Star (超級星光大道) and Super Idol (超級偶像). This article focuses on the Taiwan talent show phenomenon as an exemplar of today’s contradictory and exploitable reality TV ‘celebrity
economy’. Through the oft-repeated assertion of ‘yes, teacher’ (謝謝老師), Taiwan’s talent shows manage to combine a globalising self-enterprising ethos of neo-liberal labour conditions with a Confucian-patriarchal culture. Within this context, powerful judges become mentors, with obedient contestants positioned as their apprentices. This article scrutinises the interdependence between this power-laden relationship in the talent shows and the self-enterprising practices of Taiwan’s entertainment industry. It argues that, rather than democratising the TV empire, these shows have, paradoxically, contributed to the revival and consolidation of
the previously presumed to be outmoded figure of the ‘star authority’.
如果說,上世紀末我們對網路世界的想像是《駭客任務》(Matrix)所描述的場景:生活周遭的五光十色都是虛擬的、不真實的符號操控,真實反而是黑黯冰冷的電腦主機,與無止盡的0/1程式語言。那麼澳洲... more 如果說,上世紀末我們對網路世界的想像是《駭客任務》(Matrix)所描述的場景:生活周遭的五光十色都是虛擬的、不真實的符號操控,真實反而是黑黯冰冷的電腦主機,與無止盡的0/1程式語言。那麼澳洲學者約翰.哈特利這本書想帶我們看待的,就是很多人天天玩得不亦樂乎的臉書(facebook)時代。如果我們對網路可能性的種種想像,是寄託於那些少數的、技術非凡的電腦「技客」(geek)或矽谷裡的天才發明家,那麼哈特利要展示的,無非是也已捲入網路生活好一陣子的平凡大眾(common people),他們在參與網路時代的日常生活,建構出來的社會關係、人際網絡、集體書寫、知識分享與文化創新,各式各樣的可能性。
..... [引用書目]
簡妙如(2012)。〈導論:數位時代的文化素養〉,收錄於鄭百雅(譯)《全民書寫運動》(原書:Hartley,J.[2010] The Uses of Digital Literacy. Tansaction Pub)。台北:漫遊者文化。
簡妙如(2022)。〈以南韓女性獨立音樂人為鏡:李瀧(Lang Lee)的藝術與批判實踐〉,《婦研縱橫》,117:70-81。
Miaoju Jian (2022). Mirroring So... more 簡妙如(2022)。〈以南韓女性獨立音樂人為鏡:李瀧(Lang Lee)的藝術與批判實踐〉,《婦研縱橫》,117:70-81。
Miaoju Jian (2022). Mirroring South Korea's Female Independent Musician: Lang Lee's Artistic and Critical Practices. Forum in Women’s and Gender Studies, 117:70-81.(in Chinese)
This article introduces Lang Lee, a female independent musician in South Korea, focusing on her music, art, and cultural activism. By examining her work and cultural contributions, this article sheds light on Lang Lee’s significance and impact on important issues. Firstly, she highlights the struggles faced by independent musicians in South Korea, drawing attention to the poverty they often experience. Furthermore, she continues to champion the feminist movement and advocate for LGBTQ rights within the country's highly debated gender issues. One of Lang Lee's notable events occurred in 2017 when she auctioned off her "Korean Pop Music Award" trophy on the spot, sparking controversy. In 2021, she received another award for her third album, "Wolf is Coming," and continued to convey a powerful message through her music, stating, "Patriarchy still exists! We are still poor!" For the readers in Taiwan, Lang Lee's artistic and critical practices act as a mirror, addressing societal inequalities and amplifying marginalized voices.
Live Houses in COVID-19: The Survival Structures and Challenges of Small and Medium Live Music Venues in Taiwan (online first by the author)
The COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020 has directly affected the business of ‘Live Houses’, namely the grassroots small and medium live venues, and their related music workers. Even in Taiwan where the pandemic is not so severe, the epidemic prevention measures appeared in 2020 and 2021 still resulted a crisis for live music sectors. Live house operators, music promoters, indie musicians and many project workers face survival challenges accordingly. This article examines the ways music workers in the live music sectors impacted by the pandemic and how they struggle in 2020 and 2021. We further argue the special survival structures of the small and medium live venues in Taiwan have been exposed by the pandemic. The small and medium live venues across Taiwan face a highly competitive but underdeveloped market. While the gradual ‘gentrification of Live Houses’ happened in the last decade was paradoxically guidance of the government policy. The musical workers in the live venues network live in a highly flexible and precarious pattern with different ambiguous flexible exploitations. This article argues that small and medium live houses embedded in urban space are the basis for a vibrant and sustainable live music ecology. However, it has undergone subtle changes after the pandemic.
Keywords: live house, live venues, COVID-19, live music ecology, indie music, Taiwan
現代美術學報 (Journal of Taipei Fine Arts Museum), 42:154-196, 2021
本文重現台灣曾在2000年初出現的龐克小誌風潮,並連結國際龐克小誌到小誌(zine)文化運動的歷史脈絡,檢視小誌的文化政治意涵。本文一方面回顧國際文獻,說明小誌文化所具有的反抗性特質,包括挑戰主... more 本文重現台灣曾在2000年初出現的龐克小誌風潮,並連結國際龐克小誌到小誌(zine)文化運動的歷史脈絡,檢視小誌的文化政治意涵。本文一方面回顧國際文獻,說明小誌文化所具有的反抗性特質,包括挑戰主流文化、建立另類社群,以及全球反抗政治。另一方面,本文重建2000年前後本地龐克小誌的崛起歷程,檢視龐克DIY文化如何被引介,如何在獨立音樂場域中萌芽、擴散並彼此串連的過程。本文認為,晚近小誌文化運動,已逐漸多元、平易化,但由龐克小誌、音樂迷小誌作為認識入口,或可提供另一視角,重拾小誌、熱愛者文化的反抗性政治潛能。小誌的反抗性,正在於將小誌人由政治客體轉為政治性主體,在小誌大爆發的當下,值得重新喚醒。
This article explores the first wave of punk fanzine in Taiwan that appeared in the early 2000s. The author intends to link the origins of the international punk fanzine to the evolution of the zine movement in the Western countries, and to especially focus on the cultural and political implications of the resistance politics of the global punk zine. On the one hand, it reviews the rebellious nature of the zine culture which includes the challenging mainstream culture, establishing alternative communities, and the global resistance politics. On the other hand, it reconstructs the rise of the local punk fanzines around 2000, and examines how the punk DIY culture was introduced and how they sprouted, spread, and connected with each other within the independent music scene. The author argues that the emerging zine cultural movement since 2010 has gradually become diversified and the content has become easier to understand. However, using the developing history of the local punk zines and indie music fanzines as the entrance to better understand the current zine culture may provide another perspective. This article tries to bring back the resistance politics of the nature of zine culture and the political empowerment potential of the fans. The resistance nature of zine culture is turning zinesters from a passive political object to an active political subject. At a moment when zine culture has exploded in Taiwan, it is worth reawakening the resistant ethos of the punk fanzine and zines.
Ch14 in Eva Tsai, Tung-Hung Ho and Miaoju Jian (eds.),pp. 213-228, "Made in Taiwan Studies in Popular Music". NY & London: Routledge., 2019
Taiwanese indie bands are getting noticed for their actively crossing international borders and p... more Taiwanese indie bands are getting noticed for their actively crossing international borders and performing in various Asian and western countries.Using materials from a decade of research on Taiwan’s indie music development, the author outlines three paths through which Taiwanese indie music has taken to establishing a foothold in the overseas markets: (1) rising from indie music scene, crossing over to the mainstream market, and then embracing the global Mandopop market; (2) rising from the indie music scene and connecting with comparable indie musicians and audiences through the East Asian DIY network; (3) performing actively and translocally through the brokerage of entrepreneurial indie promoters. Taking these three coexisting models into account, this chapter will illuminate the transnational development of Taiwanese indie music. Most crucially, indie music acts have apparently engaged in grassroots, bottom-up, transnational practices emerging outside of the mainstream music industry and the top-down governmental support.
Indie music in East Asia has experienced tremendous growth in popularity since the mid-2000s, esp... more Indie music in East Asia has experienced tremendous growth in popularity since the mid-2000s, especially in China and Taiwan. This trend has encouraged a number of indie bands to pursue more radical and alternative 'do-it-yourself' (DIY) careers within their local underground music scenes. Taking two bands from Beijing and Taipei as case studies, this article argues that their DIY music careers help them both to survive through their aesthetic freedom and to confront the paradoxical government involvement in the local music market. P.K. 14, a band from China, practice a pragmatic DIY music career with an oblique resistance to political authorities. Touming Magazine, a band from Taiwan, pursue a DIY career through punk ethics to fight against an overwhelming neoliberal discourse and a promotional state policy of developing a cultural and creative industry. While DIY career practitioners have opened up alternative possibilities to preserve the autonomy of making music, such a career path is still challenged by an unsustainable market, a shortage of financing, and the continued dominance of major music companies' own platforms. The situations these musicians face illustrate a more ambivalent type of politics, beyond mere emancipation, in their pursuit of a DIY career.
Introduction
In Asia, small live venues have been given a trendy name, called “Live Houses”. The... more Introduction
In Asia, small live venues have been given a trendy name, called “Live Houses”. These spaces are vital in providing information about a city’s current live music industry and music scene subculture. They demonstrate a distinctive relationship with urban musical activities in regards to its historical and geographical context. The intimate feeling of being a member of a subculture within local live venues also shows that the music scenes are united with the global rock trend, presenting a more universal and fluid metropolitan music style. The creativity, innovation, and critical power that have evolved from this subcultural commitment, also expresses the venues’ values and style. ***** This chapter focuses on two representative cities in the Chinese music scene— Taipei and Beijing—and two legendary music venues established within the past ten years: Underworld (Taipei, 1996-2013) and D22 (Beijing, 2006-2012). They were similar in a number of ways, including having a capacity of 50-200 people and housing low grade, modest equipment. Although not appreciated by everyone, they paradoxically gained a legendary reputation and respect in the local indie music scenes. The venues did not flourish financially, but their unique atmosphere, music taste, and member’s characteristics made them stand out from all the others.
This examination will explore the emergence, changes, and current state of affairs of the rock music scenes in Taiwan and China over the past 20 years by discussing the important legacy of the two live venues . What made them so special in their local rock scene? What did they contribute? How and why did they disappear? Our inquiry will take note of the changing traces of the local music scenes in Taiwan and China within a more globalized pop/indie music environment.
歌唱選秀節目,是近十年來電視台為業餘者打開大門的節目型態之一,在電視及音樂產業面臨挑戰的產業危機背景下,以明星夢調和了觀眾參與電視的慾望,並創造跨媒體整合的獲利模式。當電視台變成「明星夢工廠」,... more 歌唱選秀節目,是近十年來電視台為業餘者打開大門的節目型態之一,在電視及音樂產業面臨挑戰的產業危機背景下,以明星夢調和了觀眾參與電視的慾望,並創造跨媒體整合的獲利模式。當電視台變成「明星夢工廠」,選秀過程就被組織成一場具挑戰性的競賽遊戲,讓自願參賽者在遊戲中發揮生產力及創意,也在比賽過程中再生產了志願性順從,掩飾了被剝削的生產關係,以及衍生大量用過即可丟棄的15分鐘名人現象。本文指出,選秀節目招募業餘者的免費勞動,是在某種同意、志願性順服之下的甘願勞動:以投資自己為名,自願付出金錢、汗水及淚水,以能換取成為明星/歌手的交換價值。這種業餘者自願被剝削其創意及勞動力的現象,可說是媒體文化產業所特有、具剝削性的工作條件,也是傳統媒體娛樂產業中具高度階層化權力關係的縮影。
關鍵詞:歌唱選秀節目、免費勞動、明星夢、業餘者、可拋式名人
Abstract Talent search shows have been quite a hit over the past decade in Taiwan. Against a background of industry crisis with both music and television industries facing severe challenges, TV stations set up a new profit model via cross media integration, and function as “star factories” for aspiring amateurs. Like all reality TV shows with audience participation appeals, these programs attract the willing contribution of amateur contestants, who, with pop star dream to realize, patiently and obediently endure the whole process of “talent search” game while assiduously investing their time, energy, money, talents and creativity. This paper explains how these amateur aspirants are actually being exploited as acquiescent labors, and then further degraded into the status of dispensable celebrities with a mere 15 minutes of media spotlight. The author argues that, behind the flamboyant stardom suggested by talent search shows, there is the disguised recruitment of free labor for calculative profiteering. Amateur aspirants are actually coaxed into willing cooperation and obedient dedication in the name of self-investment. To conclude, the author points out that, while it is very characteristic of the media industry to engage amateur contestants in such an exploitative relationship, the phenomenon is but a miniature of the highly hierarchical power structure typical of the media entertainment industry.
Keywords: Taiwan talent search shows, free labors, pop star dream, amateurs,dispensable celebrities
Talent shows have rocketed to popularity in Taiwan in recent years, as demonstrated in the high r... more Talent shows have rocketed to popularity in Taiwan in recent years, as demonstrated in the high rating programs, One Million Star (超級星光大道) and Super Idol (超級偶像). This article focuses on the Taiwan talent show phenomenon as an exemplar of today’s contradictory and exploitable reality TV ‘celebrity
economy’. Through the oft-repeated assertion of ‘yes, teacher’ (謝謝老師), Taiwan’s talent shows manage to combine a globalising self-enterprising ethos of neo-liberal labour conditions with a Confucian-patriarchal culture. Within this context, powerful judges become mentors, with obedient contestants positioned as their apprentices. This article scrutinises the interdependence between this power-laden relationship in the talent shows and the self-enterprising practices of Taiwan’s entertainment industry. It argues that, rather than democratising the TV empire, these shows have, paradoxically, contributed to the revival and consolidation of
the previously presumed to be outmoded figure of the ‘star authority’.
如果說,上世紀末我們對網路世界的想像是《駭客任務》(Matrix)所描述的場景:生活周遭的五光十色都是虛擬的、不真實的符號操控,真實反而是黑黯冰冷的電腦主機,與無止盡的0/1程式語言。那麼澳洲... more 如果說,上世紀末我們對網路世界的想像是《駭客任務》(Matrix)所描述的場景:生活周遭的五光十色都是虛擬的、不真實的符號操控,真實反而是黑黯冰冷的電腦主機,與無止盡的0/1程式語言。那麼澳洲學者約翰.哈特利這本書想帶我們看待的,就是很多人天天玩得不亦樂乎的臉書(facebook)時代。如果我們對網路可能性的種種想像,是寄託於那些少數的、技術非凡的電腦「技客」(geek)或矽谷裡的天才發明家,那麼哈特利要展示的,無非是也已捲入網路生活好一陣子的平凡大眾(common people),他們在參與網路時代的日常生活,建構出來的社會關係、人際網絡、集體書寫、知識分享與文化創新,各式各樣的可能性。
..... [引用書目]
簡妙如(2012)。〈導論:數位時代的文化素養〉,收錄於鄭百雅(譯)《全民書寫運動》(原書:Hartley,J.[2010] The Uses of Digital Literacy. Tansaction Pub)。台北:漫遊者文化。
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Miaoju Jian (2022). Mirroring South Korea's Female Independent Musician: Lang Lee's Artistic and Critical Practices. Forum in Women’s and Gender Studies, 117:70-81.(in Chinese)
本文介紹南韓女性獨立音樂人李瀧,她的音樂創作、藝術思想與文化行動。本文指出李瀧以文化行動揭露南韓獨立音樂人的貧困處境,也在南韓具高度爭議的性別議題中,持續推動女性主義及LGBTQ族群的平權運動。她最著名的事件發生於2017 年,將所獲得的「韓國大眾音樂獎」獎座當場拍賣,因而引來爭議。2021年,李瀧再度以第三張專輯《狼來了》獲獎,而她仍以音樂作出沈重呼籲:「父權依然存在!我們依然貧窮!」
This article introduces Lang Lee, a female independent musician in South Korea, focusing on her music, art, and cultural activism. By examining her work and cultural contributions, this article sheds light on Lang Lee’s significance and impact on important issues. Firstly, she highlights the struggles faced by independent musicians in South Korea, drawing attention to the poverty they often experience. Furthermore, she continues to champion the feminist movement and advocate for LGBTQ rights within the country's highly debated gender issues. One of Lang Lee's notable events occurred in 2017 when she auctioned off her "Korean Pop Music Award" trophy on the spot, sparking controversy. In 2021, she received another award for her third album, "Wolf is Coming," and continued to convey a powerful message through her music, stating, "Patriarchy still exists! We are still poor!" For the readers in Taiwan, Lang Lee's artistic and critical practices act as a mirror, addressing societal inequalities and amplifying marginalized voices.
關鍵字:Live House、音樂場館、新冠肺炎、現場音樂生態、獨立音樂、台灣
Live Houses in COVID-19: The Survival Structures and Challenges of Small and Medium Live Music Venues in Taiwan (online first by the author)
The COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020 has directly affected the business of ‘Live Houses’, namely the grassroots small and medium live venues, and their related music workers. Even in Taiwan where the pandemic is not so severe, the epidemic prevention measures appeared in 2020 and 2021 still resulted a crisis for live music sectors. Live house operators, music promoters, indie musicians and many project workers face survival challenges accordingly. This article examines the ways music workers in the live music sectors impacted by the pandemic and how they struggle in 2020 and 2021. We further argue the special survival structures of the small and medium live venues in Taiwan have been exposed by the pandemic. The small and medium live venues across Taiwan face a highly competitive but underdeveloped market. While the gradual ‘gentrification of Live Houses’ happened in the last decade was paradoxically guidance of the government policy. The musical workers in the live venues network live in a highly flexible and precarious pattern with different ambiguous flexible exploitations. This article argues that small and medium live houses embedded in urban space are the basis for a vibrant and sustainable live music ecology. However, it has undergone subtle changes after the pandemic.
Keywords: live house, live venues, COVID-19, live music ecology, indie music, Taiwan
This article explores the first wave of punk fanzine in Taiwan that appeared in the early 2000s. The author intends to link the origins of the international punk fanzine to the evolution of the zine movement in the Western countries, and to especially focus on the cultural and political implications of the resistance politics of the global punk zine. On the one hand, it reviews the rebellious nature of the zine culture which includes the challenging mainstream culture, establishing alternative communities, and the global resistance politics. On the other hand, it reconstructs the rise of the local punk fanzines around 2000, and examines how the punk DIY culture was introduced and how they sprouted, spread, and connected with each other within the independent music scene. The author argues that the emerging zine cultural movement since 2010 has gradually become diversified and the content has become easier to understand. However, using the developing history of the local punk zines and indie music fanzines as the entrance to better understand the current zine culture may provide another perspective. This article tries to bring back the resistance politics of the nature of zine culture and the political empowerment potential of the fans. The resistance nature of zine culture is turning zinesters from a passive political object to an active political subject. At a moment when zine culture has exploded in Taiwan, it is worth reawakening the resistant ethos of the punk fanzine and zines.
(1) rising from indie music scene, crossing over to the mainstream market, and then embracing the global Mandopop market;
(2) rising from the indie music scene and connecting with comparable indie musicians and audiences through the East Asian DIY network;
(3) performing actively and translocally through the brokerage of entrepreneurial indie promoters.
Taking these three coexisting models into account, this chapter will illuminate the transnational development of Taiwanese indie music. Most crucially, indie music acts have apparently engaged in grassroots, bottom-up, transnational practices emerging outside of the mainstream music industry and the top-down governmental support.
In Asia, small live venues have been given a trendy name, called “Live Houses”. These spaces are vital in providing information about a city’s current live music industry and music scene subculture. They demonstrate a distinctive relationship with urban musical activities in regards to its historical and geographical context. The intimate feeling of being a member of a subculture within local live venues also shows that the music scenes are united with the global rock trend, presenting a more universal and fluid metropolitan music style. The creativity, innovation, and critical power that have evolved from this subcultural commitment, also expresses the venues’ values and style.
*****
This chapter focuses on two representative cities in the Chinese music scene— Taipei and Beijing—and two legendary music venues established within the past ten years: Underworld (Taipei, 1996-2013) and D22 (Beijing, 2006-2012). They were similar in a number of ways, including having a capacity of 50-200 people and housing low grade, modest equipment. Although not appreciated by everyone, they paradoxically gained a legendary reputation and respect in the local indie music scenes. The venues did not flourish financially, but their unique atmosphere, music taste, and member’s characteristics made them stand out from all the others.
This examination will explore the emergence, changes, and current state of affairs of the rock music scenes in Taiwan and China over the past 20 years by discussing the important legacy of the two live venues . What made them so special in their local rock scene? What did they contribute? How and why did they disappear? Our inquiry will take note of the changing traces of the local music scenes in Taiwan and China within a more globalized pop/indie music environment.
關鍵詞:歌唱選秀節目、免費勞動、明星夢、業餘者、可拋式名人
Abstract
Talent search shows have been quite a hit over the past decade in Taiwan. Against a background of industry crisis with both music and television industries facing
severe challenges, TV stations set up a new profit model via cross media integration,
and function as “star factories” for aspiring amateurs. Like all reality TV shows with
audience participation appeals, these programs attract the willing contribution of
amateur contestants, who, with pop star dream to realize, patiently and obediently
endure the whole process of “talent search” game while assiduously investing their time, energy, money, talents and creativity. This paper explains how these amateur aspirants are actually being exploited as acquiescent labors, and then further degraded into the status of dispensable celebrities with a mere 15 minutes of media spotlight. The author argues that, behind the flamboyant stardom suggested by talent search
shows, there is the disguised recruitment of free labor for calculative profiteering. Amateur aspirants are actually coaxed into willing cooperation and obedient dedication in the name of self-investment. To conclude, the author points out that, while it is very characteristic of the media industry to engage amateur contestants in such an exploitative relationship, the phenomenon is but a miniature of the highly hierarchical
power structure typical of the media entertainment industry.
Keywords: Taiwan talent search shows, free labors, pop star dream, amateurs,dispensable celebrities
economy’. Through the oft-repeated assertion of ‘yes, teacher’ (謝謝老師), Taiwan’s talent shows manage to combine a globalising self-enterprising ethos of neo-liberal labour conditions with a Confucian-patriarchal culture. Within this context, powerful judges become mentors, with obedient contestants positioned as their apprentices. This article scrutinises the interdependence between this power-laden relationship in the talent shows and the self-enterprising practices of Taiwan’s entertainment industry. It argues that, rather than democratising the TV empire, these shows have, paradoxically, contributed to the revival and consolidation of
the previously presumed to be outmoded figure of the ‘star authority’.
.....
[引用書目]
簡妙如(2012)。〈導論:數位時代的文化素養〉,收錄於鄭百雅(譯)《全民書寫運動》(原書:Hartley,J.[2010] The Uses of Digital Literacy. Tansaction Pub)。台北:漫遊者文化。
Miaoju Jian (2022). Mirroring South Korea's Female Independent Musician: Lang Lee's Artistic and Critical Practices. Forum in Women’s and Gender Studies, 117:70-81.(in Chinese)
本文介紹南韓女性獨立音樂人李瀧,她的音樂創作、藝術思想與文化行動。本文指出李瀧以文化行動揭露南韓獨立音樂人的貧困處境,也在南韓具高度爭議的性別議題中,持續推動女性主義及LGBTQ族群的平權運動。她最著名的事件發生於2017 年,將所獲得的「韓國大眾音樂獎」獎座當場拍賣,因而引來爭議。2021年,李瀧再度以第三張專輯《狼來了》獲獎,而她仍以音樂作出沈重呼籲:「父權依然存在!我們依然貧窮!」
This article introduces Lang Lee, a female independent musician in South Korea, focusing on her music, art, and cultural activism. By examining her work and cultural contributions, this article sheds light on Lang Lee’s significance and impact on important issues. Firstly, she highlights the struggles faced by independent musicians in South Korea, drawing attention to the poverty they often experience. Furthermore, she continues to champion the feminist movement and advocate for LGBTQ rights within the country's highly debated gender issues. One of Lang Lee's notable events occurred in 2017 when she auctioned off her "Korean Pop Music Award" trophy on the spot, sparking controversy. In 2021, she received another award for her third album, "Wolf is Coming," and continued to convey a powerful message through her music, stating, "Patriarchy still exists! We are still poor!" For the readers in Taiwan, Lang Lee's artistic and critical practices act as a mirror, addressing societal inequalities and amplifying marginalized voices.
關鍵字:Live House、音樂場館、新冠肺炎、現場音樂生態、獨立音樂、台灣
Live Houses in COVID-19: The Survival Structures and Challenges of Small and Medium Live Music Venues in Taiwan (online first by the author)
The COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020 has directly affected the business of ‘Live Houses’, namely the grassroots small and medium live venues, and their related music workers. Even in Taiwan where the pandemic is not so severe, the epidemic prevention measures appeared in 2020 and 2021 still resulted a crisis for live music sectors. Live house operators, music promoters, indie musicians and many project workers face survival challenges accordingly. This article examines the ways music workers in the live music sectors impacted by the pandemic and how they struggle in 2020 and 2021. We further argue the special survival structures of the small and medium live venues in Taiwan have been exposed by the pandemic. The small and medium live venues across Taiwan face a highly competitive but underdeveloped market. While the gradual ‘gentrification of Live Houses’ happened in the last decade was paradoxically guidance of the government policy. The musical workers in the live venues network live in a highly flexible and precarious pattern with different ambiguous flexible exploitations. This article argues that small and medium live houses embedded in urban space are the basis for a vibrant and sustainable live music ecology. However, it has undergone subtle changes after the pandemic.
Keywords: live house, live venues, COVID-19, live music ecology, indie music, Taiwan
This article explores the first wave of punk fanzine in Taiwan that appeared in the early 2000s. The author intends to link the origins of the international punk fanzine to the evolution of the zine movement in the Western countries, and to especially focus on the cultural and political implications of the resistance politics of the global punk zine. On the one hand, it reviews the rebellious nature of the zine culture which includes the challenging mainstream culture, establishing alternative communities, and the global resistance politics. On the other hand, it reconstructs the rise of the local punk fanzines around 2000, and examines how the punk DIY culture was introduced and how they sprouted, spread, and connected with each other within the independent music scene. The author argues that the emerging zine cultural movement since 2010 has gradually become diversified and the content has become easier to understand. However, using the developing history of the local punk zines and indie music fanzines as the entrance to better understand the current zine culture may provide another perspective. This article tries to bring back the resistance politics of the nature of zine culture and the political empowerment potential of the fans. The resistance nature of zine culture is turning zinesters from a passive political object to an active political subject. At a moment when zine culture has exploded in Taiwan, it is worth reawakening the resistant ethos of the punk fanzine and zines.
(1) rising from indie music scene, crossing over to the mainstream market, and then embracing the global Mandopop market;
(2) rising from the indie music scene and connecting with comparable indie musicians and audiences through the East Asian DIY network;
(3) performing actively and translocally through the brokerage of entrepreneurial indie promoters.
Taking these three coexisting models into account, this chapter will illuminate the transnational development of Taiwanese indie music. Most crucially, indie music acts have apparently engaged in grassroots, bottom-up, transnational practices emerging outside of the mainstream music industry and the top-down governmental support.
In Asia, small live venues have been given a trendy name, called “Live Houses”. These spaces are vital in providing information about a city’s current live music industry and music scene subculture. They demonstrate a distinctive relationship with urban musical activities in regards to its historical and geographical context. The intimate feeling of being a member of a subculture within local live venues also shows that the music scenes are united with the global rock trend, presenting a more universal and fluid metropolitan music style. The creativity, innovation, and critical power that have evolved from this subcultural commitment, also expresses the venues’ values and style.
*****
This chapter focuses on two representative cities in the Chinese music scene— Taipei and Beijing—and two legendary music venues established within the past ten years: Underworld (Taipei, 1996-2013) and D22 (Beijing, 2006-2012). They were similar in a number of ways, including having a capacity of 50-200 people and housing low grade, modest equipment. Although not appreciated by everyone, they paradoxically gained a legendary reputation and respect in the local indie music scenes. The venues did not flourish financially, but their unique atmosphere, music taste, and member’s characteristics made them stand out from all the others.
This examination will explore the emergence, changes, and current state of affairs of the rock music scenes in Taiwan and China over the past 20 years by discussing the important legacy of the two live venues . What made them so special in their local rock scene? What did they contribute? How and why did they disappear? Our inquiry will take note of the changing traces of the local music scenes in Taiwan and China within a more globalized pop/indie music environment.
關鍵詞:歌唱選秀節目、免費勞動、明星夢、業餘者、可拋式名人
Abstract
Talent search shows have been quite a hit over the past decade in Taiwan. Against a background of industry crisis with both music and television industries facing
severe challenges, TV stations set up a new profit model via cross media integration,
and function as “star factories” for aspiring amateurs. Like all reality TV shows with
audience participation appeals, these programs attract the willing contribution of
amateur contestants, who, with pop star dream to realize, patiently and obediently
endure the whole process of “talent search” game while assiduously investing their time, energy, money, talents and creativity. This paper explains how these amateur aspirants are actually being exploited as acquiescent labors, and then further degraded into the status of dispensable celebrities with a mere 15 minutes of media spotlight. The author argues that, behind the flamboyant stardom suggested by talent search
shows, there is the disguised recruitment of free labor for calculative profiteering. Amateur aspirants are actually coaxed into willing cooperation and obedient dedication in the name of self-investment. To conclude, the author points out that, while it is very characteristic of the media industry to engage amateur contestants in such an exploitative relationship, the phenomenon is but a miniature of the highly hierarchical
power structure typical of the media entertainment industry.
Keywords: Taiwan talent search shows, free labors, pop star dream, amateurs,dispensable celebrities
economy’. Through the oft-repeated assertion of ‘yes, teacher’ (謝謝老師), Taiwan’s talent shows manage to combine a globalising self-enterprising ethos of neo-liberal labour conditions with a Confucian-patriarchal culture. Within this context, powerful judges become mentors, with obedient contestants positioned as their apprentices. This article scrutinises the interdependence between this power-laden relationship in the talent shows and the self-enterprising practices of Taiwan’s entertainment industry. It argues that, rather than democratising the TV empire, these shows have, paradoxically, contributed to the revival and consolidation of
the previously presumed to be outmoded figure of the ‘star authority’.
.....
[引用書目]
簡妙如(2012)。〈導論:數位時代的文化素養〉,收錄於鄭百雅(譯)《全民書寫運動》(原書:Hartley,J.[2010] The Uses of Digital Literacy. Tansaction Pub)。台北:漫遊者文化。