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Aus amerikanischer Sicht

The recording industry has been a major focus of interest for cultural commentators throughout the twenty-first century. As the first major content industry to have its production and distribution patterns radically disturbed by the internet, the recording industry's content, attitudes and practices have regularly been under the microscope. Much of this discussion, however, is dominated by US and UK perspectives and assumes the 'the recording industry' to be a relatively static, homogeneous, entity.This book attempts to offer a broader, less Anglocentric and more dynamic understanding of the r

How much do the majority of people value music, and can or should that level of value be reflected in music's economic value? The dramatic decline in the economic value of recorded popular music in the 21st century has prompted much debate about music being 'devalued' and the perceived 'value gap' between music's socio-cultural and economic values. Using the economic decline of recorded music as a springboard, this article takes a different approach, however. It offers a theoretical analysis of popular music consumption practices organised thematically in terms of 'music as object' (focusing on the social values generated and perceived by recorded music artefacts) and 'music as sound' (focusing on the way that most contemporary musical experiences are characterised by music being background sound or accompaniment). Overall, the argument is that 'music' may not be as culturally valued by people as is commonly assumed. The way that music operates as a low-value entity to many people is perhaps reflected in the cultural and economic contours of the digital music industry, though they are not caused by digitisation per se.

The central argument of this article is that it is impossible to interpret how the consumption of pirated music affects the music industry without an understanding of the meanings people give to their uses of such recordings. Recording industry statistics on this topic employ an erratic and simplistic methodology which is more concerned with rhetorical impact than with accuracy. There are different types of musical piracy and each has idiosyncratic effects upon the industry, which must be researched in order to gain a more complete understanding of piracy. This article offers an analysis of one area of illegal musical production and consumption – that of bootleg records – as a case study, and argues that, while industry representatives complain of the economic and social harm caused by bootlegging, its effects are more difficult to ascertain and may even have a positive impact upon legitimate sales.

AbstractChanging labour conditions in the creative industries – with celebrations of autonomy and entrepreneurialism intertwined with increasing job insecurity, portfolio careers and short‐term, project‐based contracts – are often interpreted as heralding changes to employment relations more broadly. The position of musicians' labour in relation to these changes is unclear, however, given that these kinds of conditions have defined musicians' working practices over much longer periods of time (though they may have intensified due to well‐documented changes to the music industry brought about by digitization and disintermediation). Musicians may thus be something of a barometer of current trends, as implied in the way that the musically derived label 'gig economy' is being used to describe the spread of precarious working conditions to broader sections of the population. This article, drawing on original qualitative research that investigated the working practices of musicians, explores one specific aspect of these conditions: whether musicians are self‐consciously entrepreneurial towards their work and audience. We found that, while the musicians in our study are routinely involved in activities that could be construed as entrepreneurial, generally they were reluctant to label themselves as entrepreneurs. In part this reflected understandings of entrepreneurialism as driven by profit‐seeking but it also reflected awareness that being a popular musician has always involved business and commercial dimensions. Drawing on theoretical conceptions of entrepreneurship developed by Joseph Schumpeter we highlight how the figure of the entrepreneur and the artist/musician share much in common and reflect various aspects of romantic individualism. Despite this, there are also some notable differences and we conclude that framing musicians' labour as entrepreneurial misrepresents their activities through an overemphasis on the economic dimensions of their work at the expense of the cultural.

While mainstream accounts of the impact of internet technologies on the music industry have emphasised the crisis of the major-dominated mainstream recording industry, a more optimistic discourse has also been promoted, emphasising the opportunities that the Internet creates for independent musicians. These same new technologies, it is argued, enable artists to reach new global audiences and engage with them in ways that can facilitate more stable, financially self-sustaining independent careers. Little research has been conducted, however, on the effect of new Internet technologies on the careers and practices of independent musicians. This article, part of a pilot project on the working experiences of independent musicians, examines how musicians signed to small labels in the South-west of England use social media in their careers and discusses their understanding of its benefits and disadvantages. It concludes that social media use is an essential tool in the arsenal of an independent musician, and does provide advantages for them, but significant disadvantages have also emerged and thus the benefits of social media for independent musicians have likely been overstated.

Abstract
The impacts of neoliberal managerialism mean that practitioners working in child protection programmes are often challenged to balance social work values, with formal compliance activities to reduce risk. Within this context, what are the possibilities for practitioners to creatively navigate complex practice environments to achieve better outcomes for children and families? And how might transformative research empower practitioners to improve practice by reconnecting their work with the emancipatory values of the profession? This article seeks to address these questions by showcasing key findings of a state-wide study focused on empowering children's voices, through the presentation and analysis of a case study. The research used a pre-test/post-test design with critical reflection as a methodology to transform the practice of front line workers and managers who work with children and families in an Australian-based non-government organisation. The case study illustrates the conceptual and practical processes involved in achieving change in a way that can be replicated by others and transferred to other contexts. The findings of the research suggest that critical reflection can be effective to enable practitioners to improve practice with children and families. The article concludes by highlighting implications for organisations in supporting critically reflective practitioners.