Independent Music Scene

El propósito de nuestra investigación fue identificar los principales medios de circulación de las producciones de música independiente en la ciudad de La Plata e indagar sobre el grado de utilidad de las redes sociales, y sitios virtuales de socialización y de descarga de música para la difusión de estas producciones. Para tal fin se entrevistó a dos organizadores de dos ciclos de música en vivo, «Ciclo Cuchá» y «Ciclo Móvil de Jazz», pertenecientes a las asociaciones de músicos independientes Cuchá! Músicos Platenses Produciendo y la Asociaciòn Jazz La Plata, respectivamente. En base a los resultados arrojados, concluimos que los métodos principales de promoción y difusión son las redes sociales, aunque los viejos métodos coexisten al mismo tiempo que los innovadores y brindan diferentes herramientas para la difusión de la producción musical. A su vez, el rol del músico independiente se ha visto ampliado en relación a la concepción tradicional donde su ocupación se basaba centralm...

This book examines the post-1960s era of popular music in the Anglo-Black Atlantic through the prism of historical theory and methods. By using a series of case studies, this book mobilizes historical theory and methods to underline different expressions of alternative music functioning within a mainstream musical industry. Each chapter highlights a particular theory or method while simultaneously weaving it through a genre of music expressing a notion of alternativity―an explicit positioning of one’s expression outside and counter to the mainstream. Historical Theory and Methods through Popular Music seeks to fill a gap in current scholarship by offering a collection written specifically for the pedagogical and theoretical needs of those interested in the topic.

“This study of ‘insurgent’ modes of popular music in the last third of the 20th century accomplishes quite a feat.  It yokes together a wide swath of sub-genres and styles--including reggae, punk, hip hop, alternative rock and country—through the lens of what the authors are calling “historical theory,” in order to chart a different, more comprehensive pathway through the annals of pop music history.  Shonk and McClure achieve an enviable balance of accessibility and scholarly depth, making this volume ideal for introductory college courses as well as more experienced researchers seeking a quick guide to specialized topics.”

--Pamela Fox, author of Natural Acts: Gender, Race, and Rusticity in Country Music; co-author of Old Roots, New Routes: The Cultural Politics of Alt.Country Music

While much has been written on Joy Division and the cultural impact and
resonances of both the music and their visual legacy (particularly in terms of photography and design), little has been written of the sparse moving image record that exists of them. This chapter takes an overview of the various instances that Joy Division were recorded onto film and video while they performed and locates these recordings with regard to both the mainstream broadcast television sector at the time and emerging alternative ‘independent’ media practices.

With a return to authoritarian rule only a few years after the initially successful 2011 revolution, some Egyptian DIY musicians have made it a point to avoid the political. These musicians consider the ordinary politics of discursive critique and public protest to be ineffective and have opted to continue the revolution by appealing to the ineffable properties of listening as a less ideologically driven way to produce social change. This article explores how and why the sonic ineffable is believed to be a more utopian form of politics. It argues that mobilizing ‘magic’ is a particularly positioned solution to political failure that obscures the relations of power it perpetuates. Building from 30 months of ethnographic research conducted in Egypt among DIY musicians between 2010 and 2017, it avoids a romanticisation of the ineffable, showing instead how utilising the ambiguity between the conscious and subconscious aspects of sonic experience is a political tool not removed from power.

Many academics assume that extreme metal music cannot be identified to an understandable narrative, because of the difficulty to perceive the lyrics and the poor harmonic and melodic structure. The author of this paper demonstrates the opposite, using a methodology called narratology, derived from literary studies and musi-cology. She analyses the song 'Mad Architect' from symphonic death metal group Septicflesh (2011), which narrates the alienation felt by a protagonist who thinks that he is lost in a maze before he realizes that this maze is actually a construction of his mind. The specific narrative of the song, which evokes the madness and the alienation felt by the protagonist, will be better understood by analysing jointly the KEYWORDS extreme metal narrative musicology narratology analysis madness

Em Porto Alegre vem acontecendo um expressivo número
de shows de bandas e artistas independentes com trabalho
autoral, inclusive com projetos coletivos que misturam
diferentes gêneros musicais. Trazendo a conceituação de que
as cenas musicais têm suas diferenças fundadas “em uma
ética do consumo cultural (qual música consumir e onde?)”
(STRAW, 2006, p. 256), se poderia considerar que uma
cena musical está baseada em questões de afinidade cultural
relacionada a um espaço geográfico, e não necessariamente
estaria atrelada à noção de gênero musical, o que possibilita
a existência de uma cena musical independente autoral. Nesse
contexto, e sendo a música parte da indústria criativa, colocouse
o problema de pesquisa: como, possivelmente sendo parte
da indústria criativa, a cena musical independente autoral em
Porto Alegre acontece e se configura? O objetivo principal foi
produzir apontamentos iniciais que pudessem propiciar uma
compreensão de como a cena musical independente autoral em
Porto Alegre acontece e se configura. A metodologia utilizada
baseou-se em revisão bibliográfica sobre indústria criativa,
cenas musicais, mapeamento e etnografia, além de entrevistas
presenciais com pessoas envolvidas na cena, e a coleta de
informações sobre os locais e shows utilizando a Internet.
Cabe salientar que esse estudo esteve centrado na música ao
vivo e nos locais onde ela acontece. Porto Alegre, concluiuse,
poderia ser descrita como uma cidade criativa, com um
potencial de desenvolvimento, ainda que em ritmo próprio e
com dificuldades específicas, que levaria à constituição de um
espaço em que a música independente autoral pode acontecer.

Independent music is a complex concept. It has meant different things at different historical moments of popular music and within academic, music press and industry discourses. Even though what independent music refers to might not be substantive, it has tended to signify an oppositional ethos comprising practices related to maintaining distinction from commercialised popular music. This study is about exploring how contemporary independent musicians practice independence within the Central Sydney independent music scene. A socio-cultural formation of like-minded, largely middle-class musicians and enthusiasts involved with independent music currently exists within the geographical region of Central Sydney. Exploration of this local phenomenon necessitates inquiring about the contemporary state of this scene, including how and why it takes the form that it does, and how might independence take particular forms. To respond to such issues, semi-structured interviews with 15 individuals of the ages of 18 and above who are involved with the scene, supplemented with participant observation at live gigs and relevant textual research were conducted in between 2017 and 2019. Additionally, online social media profiles of influential artists and institutions integral to this scene were analysed. The study finds that accumulated economic resources, musical literacies, social networks, and experience associated with long-term and recurrent involvement with music-related work are crucial factors in the ways participants fashion cultural practices based around aesthetic independence. Members of this scene position themselves through particular configurations of resources, strategies and economic exchanges, which allow them to both construct their living and practice aesthetic independence through passion projects of creative experimentations within a sustainable milieu in ways that would be difficult while following imperatives of mainstream music markets.

Link to PhD thesis: https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/23381

This paper is a culmination of an 11-month study of the independent electronic music scenes in Singapore in 2018. I analyse how independent music artists, producers, organisers, and fans from different facets of society produce social, cultural and financial capital for diverse stakeholders. While tethered to an array of musical genres and subcultures, these communities are united by their ideological orientation towards authenticity and distance from the mainstream market. I have gathered data through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 32 scene participants, in order to analyse the values and opportunity structure within these different networks. Findings show how subcultural scenes fuel members' self-motivated learning, as well as generate networks with structural features shown to facilitate creativity and productivity. This study synthesises frameworks from several fields, namely educational psychology, subcultural theory, and social network studies. Analyses will be pertinent for social policy makers concerned about social stratification as it furthers the understanding of how spaces and social structures can support the diversifying of merit.

O presente capítulo aborda a temática da profissionalização na música, explorando as relações entre independência, carreiras DIY e sustentabilidade económica. A análise parte de um dos valores centrais da subcultura punk, o ethos DIY, que aqui surge como um novo padrão de promoção da empregabilidade, permitindo gerir o risco e a incerteza associados à construção de carreiras na música. Centrando-nos na cena musical independente das áreas metropolitanas de Lisboa e Porto, procuramos compreender o que é hoje ser músico em Portugal e que estratégias são mobilizadas pelos artistas na gestão das suas carreiras. Com base em entrevistas semiestruturadas a diferentes atores da cena musical independente, discutimos diferentes formas de manifestação do DIY nas suas trajetórias profissionais, concluindo que este assume
hoje, essencialmente, um caráter pragmático, estando presente enquanto estratégia de sobrevivência na música.

El propósito de nuestra investigación fue identificar los principales medios de circulación de las producciones de música independiente en la ciudad de La Plata e indagar sobre el grado de utilidad de las redes sociales y sitios virtuales de socialización y de descarga de música para la difusión de estas producciones. Para tal fin se entrevistó a dos organizadores de dos ciclos de música en vivo, «Ciclo Cuchá» y «Ciclo Móvil de Jazz», pertenecientes a las asociaciones de músicos independientes Cuchá! Músicos Platenses Produciendo y la Asociación Jazz La Plata, respectivamente. En base a los resultados arrojados, concluimos que los métodos principales de promoción y difusión son las redes sociales, aunque los viejos métodos coexisten al mismo tiempo que los innovadores y brindan diferentes herramientas para la difusión de la producción musical. A su vez, el rol del músico independiente se ha visto ampliado en relación a la concepción tradicional donde su ocupación se basaba centralmente en la ejecución y la composición.

At the beginning of May Zagreb Gallery Greta issued a newsletter carrying the following text: After more than two decades Aldo Ivančić and Dario Seraval are returning to the music scene. Before releasing the new album for the American record label, Metropolis Records, titled So Man Created God, Borghesia presented a series of photographs Dub Photo in cooperation with photographer Andraž Muljavec. The photographs focus on transferring music dubbing into the medium of photography, but are also inspired by the direct adaptation of paintings and icons of this place and time, such as the readymade Dada wheel
by Marcel Duchamp. Each topic was explored in four steps: it
tried to capture the event which disintegrates the initial image and, consequently, analogously records the repercussions of the movement with a long exposition. Along with Duchamp, the photographs also depict Clint Eastwood, Mao Tse-Tung and Virgin Mary. We interviewed Aldo Ivančić and Dario Seraval on the day the exhibition was opened.

‘Is there anyone out there?’ is the title of a single released in 1986 by Mighty Mighty, a band based in the city of Birmingham, UK, and which achieved some success as part of the then burgeoning independent sector (Hesmondhalgh, 1997; Ogg, 2009; King, 2012). The lovelorn lyric captures youthful romantic angst but was more recently coined as a rhetorical challenge in the title of an exhibition. This exhibition sought to document aspects of the city’s music scene by focussing on the ‘Click Club’, a venue brand and alternative ‘disco’ night founded in the same year as this release by entrepreneurs Dave Travis and Steve Coxon. ‘Is there anyone out there?’ was a means of asking who was out there who might know about and contribute to an understanding of the Click Club and indeed, was there anyone else who would be interested in this as the subject of an exhibition?

The exhibition ‘“Is There Anyone Out There?': Documenting Birmingham’s Alternative Music Scene 1986-1990’ took place at the Parkside Gallery, Birmingham City University, in May 2016. In a mould now familiar to popular music heritage practice then, it was a means of retrieving the intangible culture of the Click Club and celebrating its 30th anniversary. For the author, by no means incidentally an original attendee, involvement in the origination and curation of this exhibition presented a number of research opportunities regarding popular music heritage.  It allowed an exploration of the club’s wider place in the culture and economy of the city and assessment of its significance for original attendees. As an experience and exploration of curation as public history practice, developing the exhibition also prompted questions about the nature of visitor engagement and responses to music heritage as concept and event.

This chapter first outlines some salient historical detail about the Click Club and the origins of this exhibition, which lies in the formation of an online archive and community. The process is contextualized in relation to current scholarly perspectives on popular music heritage, archives, history and memory as a reflection on curation as research method. The chapter then explores empirical encounters with this music heritage activity. It seeks to understand the nature of the experiences this exhibition offered in terms of the memories and sensibilities engendered that are particular to this historical case, a wider music culture and its heritage practices in general. The primary question concerned with experience here asks: what is the affective nature of the sounds, artefacts and mediations of the past and how do these have meaning for consumers?

This essay examines the lives and music of Alexandrian independent musicians to demonstrate that looking at the city’s independent music scene offers an alternative vision of Alexandria as a future-oriented city. With so much scholarly and popular focus on Alexandria’s past, it argues that independent musicking is a type of performance that articulates and embodies a sense of future in the present, even if only in feeling. Drawing from approximately 24 months of ethnographic research conducted in Alexandria between 2010 and 2017, as well as the work of feminist scholars Jill Dolan and Kathleen Stewart, it analyzes the temporal arrangements surrounding independent music as Alexandrian musicians infuse it into ordinary city life in the present.

RESUMO: A análise que aqui desenvolvemos assenta numa perspetiva empreendedora dos músicos, protagonistas de uma lógica de mobilização de diferentes competências e de papéis complementares. Baseia-se num dos valores centrais da subcultura punk, o ethos DIY, que aqui surge como um novo padrão de promoção da empregabilidade, permitindo gerir a incerteza associada à construção de carreiras na música. Adotando uma abordagem DIY das carreiras musicais, procuramos compreender de que forma os músicos e os diferentes atores da cena musical independente portuguesa constroem as suas carreiras. É possível viver da música? O que significa ser músico em Portugal hoje em dia? Que estratégias são mobilizadas? Existem diferentes tipos de carreiras e diferentes maneiras de ser músico? Até que ponto o ethos e a praxis DIY estão presentes? Estas são algumas das questões que nos propomos responder com base nas entrevistas semiestruturadas que realizámos com diferentes atores da cena musical independente das áreas metropolitanas de Lisboa e Porto. Palavras-chave: carreiras na música, DIY, cena de música independente, gestão de carreiras. ABSTRACT: Our analysis is based on an entrepreneurial perspective of the musicians, seen as protagonists of a logic of assumption of different skills and complementary roles. This emphasis is based on one of the core values of the punk subculture, the DIY ethos, which emerges here as a new pattern of promoting employability, managing the uncertainty associated with building careers in music. Adopting a DIY approach of the music careers, we aim to understand how the musicians and the different actors of the Portuguese independent music scene build their careers. Is it possible to live through music? What does it mean to be a musician in Portugal nowadays? What strategies are mobilized by the musicians? Are there different types of careers and different ways of being a musician? To what extent are the DIY ethos and praxis present? These are some of the questions we propose to answer based on the semi-structured interviews we conducted with different actors of the independent music scene of the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto.

This article discusses how the Central Sydney independent musicians' 'online DIY' (do-it-yourself) practices not only provide additional opportunities for practising 'independence', but such practices, established pre-COVID-19, allow them to sustain their networking during the pandemic. Empirical findings that inform this article are based on qualitative strategies of inquiry conducted in the inner-city and inner-west areas of Sydney, Australia between 2017-2019-specifically, semi-structured interviews with 15 individuals involved with the scene, supplemented with participant observation at live gigs, and textual analysis of relevant texts, with follow-up online interviews with the same study participants in late 2020. 'Online DIY' is the integration of digital music and online communication technologies with the Central Sydney independent musicians' independent practices. Since their online DIY practices enabled them to somewhat control where they want to perform, and how they want to produce, distribute, and promote their music, while also maintaining networks with both members of the local scene as well as music industries connections via online platforms like Bandcamp, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram before the pandemic, the COVID-19-related live music shutdown did not have an immediate adverse impact on their activities.

In 2007, American online retailer Amazon.com launched both the Kindle ereader device and its associated independent publishing platform Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). In the years subsequent, the integration of KDP within the Amazon retail environment dramatically altered the digital self-publishing landscape, effectively paving the way for today’s vibrant — and, at times, crassly entrepreneurial — self-published fiction communities. These communities operate in a chaotic zone of production located beyond the ‘knowns’ of traditional publishing. In this paper, I aim to map out some of the dominant beliefs and values extolled by successful self-published fiction authors. Over time, the fiction community around these writers have enacted various tactical approaches that specifically strive to tame their chaotic marketplace, and they have occasionally succeeded. Taken as a whole, their approach is lofty, effectively aiming to further democratise publication via increasingly sophisticated virtual and translocal scenes. In the doing, these ad-hoc communities act to geographically re-centre publishing’s production hubs and foreground histories and business practices seldom discussed within the traditional book industry. Yet despite their brash commercialism, these authors desire operational autonomy, stable revenue-streams and fulfilling craft-based production within a field plagued by a disparity of capital and power.

El director nos cuenta cómo y cuándo surgió la iniciativa de fundar la Compañía Itinerante y nos brinda su punto de vista acerca de la situación actual de los espectáculos culturales en la ciudad de La Plata, su organización, financiamiento y difusión.

"Von einigen wenigen (1) im deutschsprachigen Raum Mitte und Ende der 1980er vorangetrieben, erlebten die Szenen elektronischer Tanzmusik (ETM) ab Anfang der 1990er einen Boom, der sie bis in die Studios der Musiksender und auf die Agenden der Major-Labels brachte. Der Höhepunkt vollzog sich ca. 1995, ab Ende der 1990er wurde ETM für die breite Masse wieder uninteressant und zog sich in die Nischen der Clubkulturen zurück, in denen sie bis heute verweilt und wieder ständig wächst – insbesondere in Berlin, dem „Mekka“ der Technoiden.

Im Rahmen dieser mittlerweile über dreißigjährigen (Erfolgs-)Geschichte waren Szenen elektronischer Tanzmusik, öffentlich meist Techno-Szene oder „Elektro“ genannt, oft Gegenstand sozialwissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen. Die Untersuchungsfokusse waren meist verbunden mit Fragen von Vergemeinschaftung, Politik oder der Musik selbst. Nur wenige Untersuchungen gibt es aber zu wirtschaftlichen Aspekten. Während es für Szenen auf verschiedenen Ebenen mittlerweile ausgearbeitete systematische Deutungen gibt (z.B. die massenkulturell orientierte Szenetheorie von Ronald Hitzler, die nischenkulturell orientierte Studie von Sarah Thornton, oder die "underground"-orientierte Theorie von Anja Schwanhäußer), so beschränken sich bestehende Untersuchungen von wirtschaftlichen Aspekten (bis auf wenige Ausnahmen) auf DJs und die Clubkultur – die sichtbare Oberfläche.

Auch die Musikindustrieforschung interessierte sich bisher wenig für die erwerblichen Strukturen von Musikszenen – geht sie doch davon aus, dass diese aufgrund ihrer komplexen organisatorischen Verzweigungen mit eher szenefernen Unternehmen Teil der Musikindustrie sind, ihr distinktives Gebaren vor der Realität ihres Handeln nicht standhalte – und ihre Produkte letztendlich auch nicht "besser" seien.

Seit Mitte der 1990er werden Szenen ebenfalls von ökonomisch-geografischen Diskursen rund um die eher undeutliche Abgrenzungen von Kreativ- und Kulturwirtschaft umworben – mit der impliziten Annahme, dass ETM-Wirtschaft grundsätzlich irgendwie im Netzwerk dieser politisch und gesellschaftlich popularisierten Formen zu verorten sei, da es in „Kreativszenen“ um die Produktion kultureller Güter mit dem Fokus auf "Kreativität" gehe.

Es lässt sich festhalten, dass die erwerbliche Tätigkeit in Musikszenen bisher noch nicht systematisch untersucht wurde, wie es ausführlich für die Praxis der Vergemeinschaftung geschehen ist. Daher ist es an der Zeit, bisherige vereinzelte Forschungen zu verbinden und in eine gemeinsame Systematik zu bringen. Denn spezifisch für die Sphäre des Erwerbs in Szenen ist, dass es sich dabei nicht lediglich um freiwillige und launische Vergemeinschaftung handelt (wie z.B. noch von Hitzler für AkteurInnen der "Organisationselite" unterstellt), sondern dass die erwerblich orientierten AkteurInnen von den Märkten und der Kultur elektronischer Tanzmusik in sukzessiv steigendem Maße an wirtschaftlicher und biografischer Abhängigkeit "gewinnen" – und dies mit ihrem Spaß, lebensweltlichen Vorstellungen und Leidenschaft an Musik und Szene verbinden. Die Szene stellt sich für sie zunehmend als Absatz- und Arbeitsmarkt dar (und nicht mehr als rein spaßorientierte Vergemeinschaftung), anhand dessen spezifischen kulturellen Institutionen und produktiven Verhältnissen sie ihre wirtschaftliche Aktivitäten organisieren.

Um diese Sphäre soziologisch einzugrenzen, plädiere ich für den Begriff der Szenewirtschaft. Zwar sind bisherige Einsichten in das Wirtschaften rund um Szenen durchaus aufschlussreich (z.B. der Befund der komplexen Verästelung mit Akteuren der kapitalintensiveren Kulturindustrien, die kaum haltbare Unterscheidung von "Underground" und "Mainstream" als sozialwissenschaftliche Kategorien, oder die wirtschaftliche Orientierung der erwerblichen SzeneakteurInnen); bisherigen Analysen fehlt aber eine systematische Perspektive, die die ästhetischen, distinktiven und erwerblichen Orientierungen der Professionellen im Rahmen der Bedingungen ihrer spezifischen kulturellen Voraussetzungen (Homeproducing, Clubkultur, DJing, Trackkultur) und Nischenmärkten (Bookingmarkt, Musiktrackmarkt, Partymarkt) analysiert. Meine These lautet, dass die Szenewirtschaft von Szenen elektronischer Tanzmusik eigene ausdifferenzierte wirtschaftliche Felder mit spezifischen Strukturen darstellen, welche eigene Strukturlogiken entwickelt haben. Folge und Grundlage dieser Logik sind spezifische Handlungsbedingungen und Produktionsverhältnisse in eigener Infrastruktur und Wertschöpfungskette, welche sich aus spezifischen Kulturen und Marktverhältnissen elektronischer Tanzmusik ergeben"

This article draws on three years of participation in the Taiwanese experimental music scene and argues that, in order to explain how different forms of sociality contribute to its construction and scaling, it is necessary to examine how musicians, organizers and audiences describe their own creative practices. After sketching a brief history of experimental music in Taiwan and contextualizing my positioning as an audience member, musician and critic, I discuss three central components of a music scene: genre, space, and circulation. By analysing the ideological, spatial and material shifts taking place around the Taiwanese experimental music scene in the late 2010s, I demonstrate how musical genres, performance spaces and material circuits are scaled up or down to specific domains of practice or to inclusive social contexts. In this article’s conclusion, I revisit scholarship on the concept of music scene and connect it to the role of scaling in the construction of Taiwan’s experimental music underground.

This article examines the “new amateur music economy” as an emerging academic discourse. This represents amateur musicians and producers—with access to new digital production and communication tools—as entrepreneurial, aspiring professionals. The article then connects the discourse with its political, economic, and social context—or the neoliberal conjuncture. From the critical standpoint of conjunctural analysis it takes note of the albeit uneven nature of this neoliberalisation when it comes to the case of “independent micro-labels” in Finland who are seen to be maintaining the artistic critique of capitalism, as outlined by Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello. While the latter suggest that this critique has been, for all intents and purposes, assimilated into capitalism; the case of Finnish micro-labels would seem to repudiate the prevailing neoliberal notions of utilitarian music-making in the new amateur music economy discourse. This being said, the article does consider that it mi...

This article examines how members of the Central Sydney independent music scene practice independence within its cultural economy. Based on qualitative strategies of inquiry including semistructured interviews with 15 individuals over the age of 18 who
are involved with the scene, and participant observation at live gigs
recording detailed field notes, I argue that members of the Central
Sydney independent music scene can afford to be their own aesthetic boss within the scene as long as they accept dependence on
other strategies and resources beyond independent music.
Accumulated economic resources, musical literacies, social networks, and experience associated with long-term and recurrent
involvement with music-related work were found to be crucial
factors in the ways scene members fashion cultural practices
based around aesthetic independence.

Resumen | Este artículo reconstruye un periodo poco explorado de la historia musical en México. El texto analiza la transformación de las relaciones de producción de la industria musical en la capital en el curso de descomposición de la contracultura, de fortalecimiento del Estado autoritario y retraimiento musical al subterráneo. Da cuenta del constreñimiento de la producción industrial, así como de los espacios en radio y televisión en relación con los músicos locales contraculturales. En ese sentido, sostiene que la reproducción viva de la música fue la principal determinación de la esfera musical, lo que incidió no sólo en el grado de autonomía creativa, sino la relación con el núcleo industrial y con la propia comunidad musicalmente imaginada. Palabras clave | contracultura; música popular; rock; escena local; industria cultural; repro-ducción viva musical. Countercultural Crisis and Rock in México City: Production Relationships, Live Reproduction and Sociability, 1972-1977 Abstract | This article reconstructs a scarcely explored period in Mexico's musical history. The text analyses the transformation of the relationships in industrial production in the capital in the course of countercultural disarticulation, of authoritarian State reinforcement and musical retreat to the underground. It gives an account of the contraction of industrial musical production, and mass media exposure in relationship with local countercultural musicians. Thus, it argues that live musical reproduction was the main determination in the Crisis contracultural y rock en la Ciudad de México 205-228

Neste artigo, realiza-se um estudo de caso exploratório das estratégias de negócio no entorno digital de artistas brasileiros: O Teatro Mágico, Móveis Coloniais de Acaju, Forfun e Calcinha Preta. O objetivo é observar regularidades que revelem a difusão de inovadoras práticas de distribuição e comercialização de produtos relacionados à música por uma nova categoria de produção fonográfica, os “artistas autônomos”. A hipótese é que ocorre uma “institucionalização” de determinadas estratégias de negócio aplicadas no entorno digital por esses agentes do mercado fonográfico. Através da análise de sites dos artistas e entrevistas individuais semiestruturadas, demonstra-se que práticas como a distribuição gratuita de fonogramas ou a venda de produtos de merchandising são adotadas de forma sistemática pelos artistas autônomos estudados. Conclui-se que tal institucionalização dessas estratégias de negócio aponta o início de uma nova fase da destruição criadora da indústria fonográfica no Brasil.

Nas próximas páginas, analisaremos relações entre práticas, produções musicais e territórios, tomando como estudo de caso quatro gravadoras indie e seus impactos em cidades em Portugal. Surgidas em diferentes épocas, Lux Records, em Coimbra; Lovers & Lollypops, no Porto; Revolve, em Guimarães; e Omnichord Records, em Leiria, operam sob éticas DIY e DIT, integrando indivíduos em suas comunidades a partir da música. Assumem o papel de transformadores do território no combate à precariedade e à falta de estrutura e de investimento em atividades culturais, além de serem, primordialmente, alternativas ao mainstream como forma de dar voz a movimentações no underground. São agentes ativos na revitalização e/ou adaptação de espaços para a produção e prática musical, com papel preponderante na descentralização/evolução de cenas musicais no país, sendo imprescindíveis na criação, produção e divulgação musical portuguesa. Teremos atenção ao panorama sociopolítico-cultural português ao analisarmos o contexto e as dinâmicas destes selos na criação/produção/divulgação musical e artística inovadoras, assumindo um papel chave na implantação e desenvolvimento do segmento musical indie. Verificaremos, também, como estes selos ‘cooptam’ influências estrangeiras misturando-as com práticas locais e reconfigurando-as como algo único e singular, ‘português’, mas com olhos para o mercado europeu.

Este trabalho se propoe a discutir a cultura musical da periferia da cidade de Sao Paulo (Brasil) atraves da analise das producoes desenvolvidas no Centro Cultural da Juventude (CCJ), um importante espaco cultural publico localizado na Zona Norte da cidade. A intencao do texto e concentrar-se na diversidade musical produzida no local ou oferecida em sua programacao, entendendo que ela expressa, em grande medida, a riqueza etnica e cultural da metropole. A escolha do CCJ como ponto de observacao privilegiado dessa producao deve-se, em primeiro lugar, ao fato de que o centro e um importante espaco de debate e valorizacao da musica independente do Brasil, organizando frequentemente shows e eventos com artistas e generos musicais geralmente distantes do mainstream.  Tambem por essa razao, o Centro possui, desde 2006, um estudio de gravacao onde sao produzidos gratuitamente CDs de artistas e bandas da regiao.

This article discusses how the Central Sydney independent musicians' 'online DIY' (do-it-yourself) practices not only provide additional opportunities for practising 'independence', but such practices, established pre-COVID-19, allow them to sustain their networking during the pandemic. Empirical findings that inform this article are based on qualitative strategies of inquiry conducted in the inner-city and inner-west areas of Sydney, Australia between 2017-2019-specifically, semi-structured interviews with 15 individuals involved with the scene, supplemented with participant observation at live gigs, and textual analysis of relevant texts, with follow-up online interviews with the same study participants in late 2020. 'Online DIY' is the integration of digital music and online communication technologies with the Central Sydney independent musicians' independent practices. Since their online DIY practices enabled them to somewhat control where they want to perform, and how they want to produce, distribute, and promote their music, while also maintaining networks with both members of the local scene as well as music industries connections via online platforms like Bandcamp, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram before the pandemic, the COVID-19-related live music shutdown did not have an immediate adverse impact on their activities.

Before even being a “no-audience underground,” Hong Kong experimental musicians orchestrate a “no-venue underground” out of precarious venues and nomadic event series. In the archetypal city without ground, experimental music reverberates through the post-industrial remnants of the city’s manufacturing heydays, and its aesthetics are inflected by the practices of spatial hijacking that make this underground scene possible.

This paper explores how independent musicians in Central Sydney, Australia organise the cultural production of their self and personality on online social media, as a part of larger strategies to promote their music and brand. It is based on my PhD research – a part of which focuses on how digital technologies provide different opportunities for Central Sydney independent musicians to practise independence, and the overall implications of such practices for contemporary independent music. This study is informed by data collected in between 2017 to 2019 from semi-structured interviews with 15 individuals of the ages of 18 and above who are involved with the Central Sydney independent music scene, supplemented with participant observation at live gigs, and textual research. This study finds that online social media provide Central Sydney independent musicians with more control over how their music is promoted – which contributes towards the establishment of their niche brand image that is not geared towards mass appeal but tailor-made for their target audience. The Central Sydney independent musicians’ niche brand is maintained through their artist persona-based marketing work via online social media networks. Audience members may be swayed by their promotional activities on online social media when their brand image strikes a chord with their own self-image.

„David Guetta? Nein danke, das ist mir zu kommerziell“! Solcherlei Abgrenzungen bezüglich Musik und Musikern findet man oft – besonders in der Berliner Techno-Szene, aber auch in anderen Musikszenen (vgl. Strachan 2007; Moore 2007; Andersson 2011). Sie lediglich als individuelles Geschmacksurteil zu deuten, wird jedoch ihrer Bedeutung für Musikszenen nicht gerecht. Sie sind, so die hier argumentierte These, zentrale Bestandteile ihrer Kulturökonomie. Thema dieses Artikels ist die Beantwortung der Frage, wie Veranstalter von Partys elektronischer Clubtanzmusik (kurz: „ETM“) in ausgewählten wirtschaftlichen Arbeitsabläufen subkulturell und sozialstrukturell verwurzelte Distinktionen vollziehen, um ihre präferierte Szene und Musikkultur abzugrenzen, aufzuwerten und zu konservieren.

Distinktionen fungieren hier als integrativer ästhetischer Widerstand. Anstatt der in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Literatur etablierten Antagonisierung von Subkultur- und Szenetheorie zu folgen, wird unter Verwendung der Bourdieuschen Konzeptualisierung kultureller Felder (2001) und Sarah Thorntons Theorie subkultureller Hierarchie (1995) ein neuer Ansatz vorgeschlagen: Eine Differenzierung in subkulturelle Szenen und massenkulturelle Szenen. Im Artikel werden die Distinktionen „Kommerz“, „Ausverkauf“ und „Masse“ beschrieben und als punktuelle subkulturelle Orientierungen konzeptualisiert. Diese erlangen ihre soziologische Relevanz nicht als Tatsachenbeschreibung, sondern über ihren Abgrenzungscharakter – und werden damit elementarer Bestandteil der kulturellen Wertschöpfung.

Mit dieser Unterscheidung lassen sich unterschiedliche Produktionssphären innerhalb von Musikkulturen, nämlich Szenewirtschaft und Kulturindustrie, systematisch voneinander trennen und darüber hinaus subkulturelle Szenen (bzw. ästhetisch basierte Subkulturen) als zeitgenössische Phänomene spätmoderner gesellschaftlicher Entwicklungen darstellen. Denn als (subkulturelle) Szenewirtschaft bilden sich musikkulturspezifische Infrastrukturen, Organisationsformen, Märkte – und eine eigene Wertschöpfungskette. Anstatt kulturindustrielle Produktionsweisen für jede Form von Musik als Normalfall anzunehmen und sozioökonomische Eigenheiten kleinwirtschaftlicher Musikszenen zu marginalisieren, eröffnen sich auf diesem Weg Möglichkeiten, den flüssigen Übergangscharakter zwischen beiden Produktionsspähren aus neuer Perspektive zu untersuchen. Zudem werden sozialstrukturelle Unterschiede als Grundlage von Distinktionen identifiziert und erläutert.

Folgend wird kurz in die wesentlichen kulturellen Eigenschaften des Feldes eingeführt, anschließend werden die Distinktionen erklärt und am Beispiel der Veranstaltungspraxis exemplifiziert. Empirisch beziehe ich mich auf House/Techno-Musik mit ihren zahlreichen Sub- stilen, welche in Berliner Clubdiscotheken (mehr zu diesem Begriff ab S. 161) wie „Berghain“, „Watergate“ oder „Weekend“ gespielt werden.

Is there something unique about the post-socialist experience when it comes to youth subcultures and politics? Do subcultures formed and developed in the Eastern bloc behave differently compared to the Western European ones? What influenced the process of politicization and depoliticization of subcultures like metal, punk, skinhead or hip-hop?
The interdisciplinary research team offers different perspectives on the role of politics in youth subcultures primarily in the post-socialist space of Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic. The book opens with two chapters discussing the theoretical framework and the relevance of terms such as subculture, scene, and social movement as well as their mutual relationship. The case studies explore forms of politics within youth subcultures. You can find out how the perception of punk used to differ between Eastern and Western Europe; how did the attitude toward politics in the metal subculture vary around and after the Velvet Revolution; how did the racist branch of skinhead subculture emerge and develop over time; or what is the difference between political rap and hip-hop activism and what does it have to do with the notion of authenticity. You can also learn about the founding myths related to the ‘golden age’ of techno, punk and Czech underground. Stepping out of the area of the Czech Republic, the book also includes a chapter on the politicization of Romanian Manele, subculture associated with the Balkan Roma.

This article proposes a macro and multifaceted study of indie music production in Portugal, spanning over 40 years, across music scenes throughout the country. With indie labels as a primary source, the aim is to understand the processes that disseminated and valorised Portuguese independent music as a product.

This article will analyse the impact suffered and imposed by this niche of musical production, and the way they have distanced themselves from the so-called majors, which will highlight unique characteristics in the Portuguese cultural and historical diachrony.

This observation starts by singling out how independent/indie labels are forged, and how they nurture the musical communities where they are born and to which they belong. To do so, they have created unique tools to communicate, publicise themselves and influence the environment beyond the realm of music per se.

Meanwhile, considering the centrality of independent/indie labels as vital in the tactics and processes of regeneration of communities/cities (and the country, to an extent) in their economic and aesthetical scenarios. Therefore, we must approach it from the perspective of heritage and memory, in the context of dematerialised musical objects, as well as to reinterpret them as levers of cultural and urban change.