Do-it-yourself institutions of popular music heritage: the preservation of music’s material past in community archives, museums and halls of fame

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Baker
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Community Archives ◽  
Do It Yourself

Popular music heritage, community archives and the challenge of sustainability

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 476-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Baker ◽  
Jez Collins
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Country Music ◽  
Sustainable Practices ◽  
Community Archives

This article identifies the challenges community archives of popular music face in achieving medium- to long-term sustainability. The artefacts and vernacular knowledge to be found in community archives, both physical and online, are at risk of being lost ‘to the tip’ and, consequently, to ‘cultural memory’, due to a lack of resources and technological change. The authors offer case studies of the British Archive of Country Music, a physical archive, and an online Facebook group Upstairs at the Mermaid, to exemplify how and why such groups must strategize their practices in order to remain sustainable. By including both online and physical community archiving in the scope of this research, the authors find that despite key differences in practice, both archival communities face similar threats of closure. The article concludes with an overview of the general outlook for community archives, and possible solutions to this ongoing issue of sustainable practices and processes for this sector.

“Search and Destroy”

2021 ◽  
pp. 451-473
Author(s):  
Jay Beck
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
The Self ◽  
Punk Rock ◽  
Original Music ◽  
Musical Form ◽  
Advertising Industry ◽  
Demographic Group ◽  
Do It Yourself ◽  
Search And Destroy ◽  
Means Of Production

Punk rock, as a movement within popular music, sought to differentiate itself from prior forms of commercial rock in both sound and attitude. Anti-corporate and anti-consumerist in orientation, punk’s guiding maxim of “do it yourself” was about taking control of the means of production and shifting the musical form outside of the nexus of capitalism. This chapter examines the resultant effects and contradictions surrounding the use of punk music in television advertisements from the 1990s to the 2010s. The advertising industry initially kept their distance from punk until after the self-appointed architect of punk style, Malcolm McLaren, began writing original music for ads in 1990. From Iggy Pop seducing Royal Caribbean customers to The Clash hawking Jaguars, punk has proven to be a lucrative way for advertisers to connect to a demographic group who define themselves as anti-consumerist.

The Death Rattle of a Laughing Hyena

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albin J. Zak
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
The State ◽  
Rock And Roll ◽  
Pop Music ◽  
Music Production ◽  
Death Rattle ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
Do It Yourself ◽  
Top 40 ◽  
Radio Stars

In 1958, record producer Mitch Miller vehemently criticized the state of Top 40 radio. He argued that DJs were pandering excessively to the tastes of teenagers and playing low-quality popular music. This criticism was aimed largely at rock and roll records produced by the low-budget, independent recording firms with whom he now found himself in competition. This chapter traces the development of the major-labels’ novel pop music production practices in the 1950s, specifically the use of overdubbing, unconventional arrangements, added reverb, and Foley effects. These techniques are compared with indie-label recording, which captured more populist genres with less expensive postproduction capabilities. Finally, the chapter traces the aesthetics of DIY (do-it-yourself) records made by amateur musicians-turned-radio-stars, and concludes with a discussion of the lasting effects of these 1950s pop music crosscurrents.

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