From what you have read this term, what would you say are the key elements of music production and distribution, crucial changes in the music industry, alterations of fan behavior and so on that have contributed to this new power of the song.
PREFACE TO FINAL: Toward the end of his book “The Song Machine” by John Seabrook, writes that on Spotify “the song is once again king…Yes, you can listen to albums if you want to….but that’s not the way the system is organized. Instead you are pushed to listen to playlists of songs by different artists.” A bit later, after arguing that the playlist is “the album of the streaming world,” Seabrook asks this devastating question about algorithm-based music streaming: “Are you playing the music, or is the music playing you?”
QUESTION FOR THE ASSIGNMENT: From what you have read this term, what would you say are the key elements of music production and distribution, crucial changes in the music industry, alterations of fan behavior and so on that have contributed to this new power of the song (above the album)?
REQUIREMENTS FOR PAPER: I want you to present at least three authors we have read this term (it can be whole books, book chapters, or essays) and put them into this conversation. For each of the three, write a page that explains how you think this author would handle the question of whether the listener is playing the song or the song is playing the listener. In doing so, for each author, you should be giving a good sense of what they think matters most in the creation and reception of popular music. And in each case you should be as historically precise as you can be. Essentially, for each author you are trying to explain what they think is most important to take into account when studying popular music. BOOKS FROM COURSE: “If You Can’t Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday” by Farah Jasmine Griffin, “Ready for a Brand New Beat: How “Dancing in the Street” Became the Anthem for a Changing America” by Mark Kurlansky “Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78 rpm Records” by Amanda Petrusich “Next Big Thing” by Terry Kitchen “Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age” by Steve Knopper “Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip Hop in the United States” by Su’ad Abdul Khabeer