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Simon Fraser University
School of Communication
CMNS 321: The Cultural Production of Popular Music
Summer 2013
Lecture: Friday 2:30-5:20pm, HC 1700
Course Website: https://wiki.sfu.ca/summer13/cmns321/index.php/Main_Page
Instructor: Robert Prey
Contact: robp@sfu.ca
Office: Fridays, 1-2pm, HC 2134
TA: Nathan Clarkson: njc4@sfu.ca
Course Description
The study of popular music can be read as signifying two different areas of study. On the one
hand, popular music can be understood as a particular genre of music, distinguishable from other
genres such as jazz, rap or rock. On the other hand, popular music can be interpreted as
containing both a number of musical genres and non-musical practices that have arisen alongside
the music. For the purposes of this course we will be adhering to the second definition. In doing
so we will be examining a variety of genres of music including punk, dance, rap, pop and rock as
well as cultural, technological and political economic practices that have come to shape the
production and consumption of popular music. This course will draw upon a number of
theoretical positions to better contextualize these multifarious and oftentimes contradictory
dimensions of popular music by historicizing and explaining the competing discourses, subject
positions, cultural practices and ideologies which constitute them. From the 19 th century virtuoso
to the current era of transnational digital production and consumption we will trace how
industrial organization, aesthetics & imagery, social protest & resistance, gender & sexuality,
and technology & individual style have all come to be constituted through the production and
consumption of popular music. The overall goal of this course is to provide students with a
vocabulary and an interpretive framework to understand the variety of ways in which popular
music is socially and culturally constructed.
Readings
All required readings are available through the course website
Assignments & Grading
Midterm Exam – 25%
Paper Proposal – 5%
Term Paper – 30%
Tutorial Presentation – 10%
Tutorial Participation – 10%
Final Exam (Take Home) – 20%

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Overview of Assignments & Exams
Midterm Exam: in class, June 21—25%
This will be an in-class midterm exam that will be comprised mostly of multiple choice, short
answer and short essay questions.
Paper Proposal: due in tutorial, July 12– 5%
This will be a one page overview of the term paper you are proposing to write. You must
demonstrate how the paper will be organized and list 5 preliminary sources that will be consulted.
Term Paper: due at start of lecture, Aug 2—30%
3000-4000 Words
The term paper is the major component of the course. Thus, it is important to begin thinking
about potential topics, directions or debates that interest you and begin to formulate ideas quite
early on in the semester in order to properly locate relevant research material. A good place to
begin (other than course readings) is with articles in various journals that deal with popular
music (Journal of Popular Music Studies, Popular Music, Popular Music & Society) Please take
advantage of office hours to talk about the ideas you’ve been thinking about and to receive
feedback and suggestions for further research.
Tutorial Presentation – 10%
Each student will be expected to deliver one presentation in tutorial with a partner(s). Your TA
will provide details and arrange the presentation schedule during the first tutorial.
Tutorial Participation—10%
Tutorial participation is based upon both attendance and participation in tutorials. Your TA will
speak to this during the first tutorial.
Final Exam: take home, —20%
The final exam will be a take home exam. The exam will be handed out at the last lecture and
will be due within the following week.
Late Assignments
Late assignments are penalized 5% per day late (including weekends). Please speak to your TA
if an extension is required. Barring exceptional circumstances, absolutely no extensions will be
given 24 hours prior to the due date of any assignment. Late Paper Proposals will not be
accepted: they will receive an automatic zero.

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Schedule of Lectures and Readings
Week 1
May 10: Studying the Cultural Production of Popular Music
Simon Frith (1987) “Towards an Aesthetic of Popular Music” in Music & Society: The
Politics of Composition, Performance and Reception, eds. Leppert & McClary.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 133-151.
Week 2
May 17: The Pre-History of Popular Music - Music Becomes a Commodity
Tim Blanning (2008) The Triumph of Music: The Rise of Composers, Musicians, and
Their Art (Cambridge: Belknap Press), 7-17; 30-45; 51-57.
Jacques Attali (1985) Noise: The Political Economy of Music, trans. Brian Massumi
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press), 3-21; 46-55.
Suggested Readings
Michael Chanan (1994). Music Practica: The Social Practice of Western Music from Gregorian
Chant to Postmodernism. London: Verso, pp. 138-161.
W. Weber. (2004[1975]). Music & the Middle Class: The Social Structure of Concert Life in London,
Paris and Vienna Between 1830-1848. Burlington, VT.: Ashgate.
J. Johnson. (1995). Listening in Paris: A Cultural History. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Week 3
May 24: Popular Music & The Recording Industry
Special Guest: Ryan Guldemond, lead singer/guitarist for the band “Mother Mother”
Simon Frith (1987) “The Industrialization of Popular Music” in Popular Music and
Communication ed. J. Lull (Newbury Park, CA: Sage), 53-78.
Reebe Garofalo (1999) “From Music Publishing to mp3: Music and Industry in the 20 th
Century,” American Music, 17 no.3: 318-354.
Kembrew McLeod (2005) “mp3s are Killing Home Taping: The Rise of Internet
Distribution and Its Challenge to the Major Label Music Monopoly,” Popular Music &
Society, 28 no.4: 521-531.
Suggested Readings
Mike Hobart (1981). “The Political Economy of Bop.” Media, Culture and Society, 3, pp. 261-279.
Geoffrey P. Hull. (2004). The Recording Industry. New York: Routledge.
R.B. Qureshi. (2002). Music and Marx: Ideas, Practice, Politics. New York: Routledge.
S. Frith & L. Marshall. (2004). Music & Copyright. New York: Routledge.
Week 4
May 31: Theorizing Popular Music - The Frankfurt School & Mass Culture Critique
Theodor W. Adorno (2002 [1941]) “On Popular Music,” in Essays on Music. (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 437-469.
Theodor W. Adorno (1991 [1938]) “On the Fetish Character in Music and the Regression
of Listening” in The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture (New York:
Routledge, 29-61.
Suggested Readings
Tia DeNora (2003). After Adorno: Rethinking Music Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Theodor W. Adorno. (2002) Essays on Music ed. Richard Leppert. Berkeley: University of California
Press.
Richard Leppert (2005). “Music Pushed to the Edge of Existence (Adorno, Listening and the Question of
Hope).” Critical Inquiry 60, pp. 92-133.
Walter Benjamin (1968) “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in Illuminations, pp.
217-252.
Week 5
June 7: Theorizing Popular Music - Subcultures
Dick Hebdige (1979) Subculture: The Meaning of Style. New York: Routledge, 1-29;
73-127.
Suggested Readings
Sarah Thornton (1995). “Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital.” Cambridge: Polity Press.
Will Straw (1991). “Systems of Articulation, Logics of Change: Communities and Scenes in Popular
Music.” Cultural Studies, 5(3), pp.368-388.
K. Gelder (2005). The Subcultures Reader. New York: Routledge.
David Muggleton and Rupert Weinzierl. (2003) The post-subcultures reader. Berg.
Week 6
June 14: Theorizing Popular Music – The Specter of Authenticity & Selling Out
Charles Taylor (1991) “The Sources of Authenticity” in The Malaise of Modernity. House of
Anansi Press, pp. 25-29.
Michael Coyle and Jon Doyle (1999) “Modeling Authenticity, Authenticating Commercial
Models” in Reading Rock and Roll: Authenticity, Appropriation and Aesthetics, ed.
Dettmer & Richey (New York: Columbia University Press), 17-35.
Simon Frith (1986). “Art versus Technology: The Strange Case of Popular Music,” Media,
Culture, and Society, 8: 263-279.
Richard A. Peterson (2005). “In Search of Authenticity.” Journal of Management
Studies, 42(5), pp.1083-1098.
Suggested Readings
Allan Moore (2002). “Authenticity as Authentication.” Popular Music 21(2) pp. 209-223.
David Hesmondhalgh. (1999). “Indie: The Institutional Politics and Aesthetics of a Popular Music Genre.”
Cultural Studies 13 (1), pp. 34-61.
Elizabeth Eva Leach (2001) “Vicars of ‘Wannabe’: Authenticity and the Spice Girls.” Popular Music
20(2), pp.143-167.
C. Tichi. (1998). Reading Country Music: Steel Guitars, Opry Stars, and Honky-Tonk Bars. Durham:
Duke University Press.
Mark Mazullo (2000) “The Man Whom the World Sold: Kurt Cobain, Rock’s Progressive Aesthetic, and the
Challenges of Authenticity,” The Music Quarterly, 84 no.4: 713-1749.
Week 7
June 21:
*****Midterm Exam******
Week 8
June 28. Performing Gender: ‘Cock Rock’ and Riot Grrrl
Judith Butler, (1988). "Performative acts and gender constitution: An essay in phenomenology
and feminist theory." Theatre Journal 40.4: 519-531.

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Jack Burton. (2007). "Dude Looks Like A Lady: Straight Camp and the Homo-social World of
Hard Rock." Forum Journal
Mavis Bayton. (1997) “Women and the electric guitar”. In Whiteley, Sheila, ed. Sexing the
groove: Popular Music and Gender. New York: Routledge. pg37-49
K. Schilt. (2003). “A Little Too Ironic: The Appropriation and Packaging of Riot Grrrl
Politics by Mainstream Female Musicians.” Popular Music & Society 26(1), pp. 5-16.
Suggested Readings
Angela McRobbie (1990[1980]). “Settling Accounts with Subcultures: A Feminist
Critique” in Frith & Goodwin (eds.) On Record: Rock, Pop, and the Written
Word. New York: Pantheon Books, pp. 66-81.
Sam Cameron. "The political economy of gender disparity in musical markets."Cambridge journal of
economics 27.6 (2003): 905-917.
Jason Lee Oakes. (2009). “‘I’m a Man’: Masculinities in Popular Music”. In The Ashgate
Research Companion to Popular Music. pp. 221-239
Week 9
July 5: Dancing in Space: Disco and Electronic Dance Music Scenes
Kai Fikentscher (2000) You Better Work: Underground Dance Music in New York City.
Hanover NH: University Press of New England. pp. 27-43.
Matthew M. Chew (2009)."Decline of the Rave Inspired Clubculture in China: State
Suppression, Clubber Adaptations and Socio-Cultural Transformations"in Dancecult:
Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 1.1. pp.22-34.
Arun Saldanha (2005): Trance and visibility at dawn: racial dynamics in Goa’s rave scene,
Social & Cultural Geography, 6:5, 707-721
Suggested Readings
Andrew Kopkind (1979). “The Dialectic of Disco: Gay Music Goes Straight.” The
Village Voice.
Carlo Nardi. (2012). "Performing electronic dance music: mimesis, reflexivity and the commodification of
listening//“Performando” a música eletrônica dançante: mímese; reflexividade ea comodificação da
escuta." Contemporanea-Revista de Comunicação e Cultura 10.1: 80-98.
Week 10***PAPER PROPOSAL DUE***
July 12: Language and the Globalization of Hip hop and K-Pop
J. Fricke & C. Ahearn. (2002). “The Forefathers: B-Boy and DJ Culture in the Bronx”
in Yes Yes Y’All: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip Hop. De
Capo Press. pp. 25-65
Alastair Pennycook. (2007). Global Englishes and Transcultural Flows. Routledge (pp.86-95 &
pg1-12)
Dal Yong Jin & Woongjae Ryoo. "Critical Interpretation of Hybrid K-Pop: The Global-Local
Paradigm of English Mixing in Lyrics." Popular Music and Society (2012): 1-19.
Suggested Readings
Marcyliena Morgan and Dionne Bennett. (2011). "Hip-Hop & the Global Imprint of a Black Cultural
Form." Daedalus 140.2: 176-196.
Alastair Pennycook. (2007). "Language, localization, and the real: Hip-hop and the global spread of
authenticity." Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 6.2: 101-115.
Ian Condry (2000). "The Social Production of Difference." Transactions, Trangressions and Transformation (2000):
166-84.

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Hyunjoon Shin (2009) “Have you ever seen the Rain And who’ll stop the Rain: the
globalizing project of Korean pop (K‐pop)”, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 10:4, 507-523
Doobo Shim. (2006) “Hybridity and the rise of Korean popular culture in Asia” Media
Culture Society. vol. 28 no. 1
Yeran Kim. (2011) “Idol republic: the global emergence of girl industries and the commercialization of girl
bodies”. Journal of Gender Studies. Vol 20, Issue 4.
Week 11
July 19: Power Struggles: File Sharing and the Future of the Music Industry
Special Guest: Gary Fung, founder of isoHunt (one of the most popular BitTorrent search
engines in the world).
Review (from week 3): Kembrew McLeod (2005). “MP3s are killing home taping: The rise of
Internet distribution and its challenge to the major label music monopoly,” Popular
Music and Society, volume 28, number 4, pp. 521–531.
Brian R. Day, (2011). “In defense of copyright: Record labels, creativity, and the future of
music,” Seton Hall Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law, volume 21, number 1, pp.
61–103.
Yochai Benkler, (2011). “Voluntary payment models,” in Rethinking music: A briefing book.
Cambridge, Mass.: Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University, pp. 27–
31, at
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/sites/cyber.law.harvard.edu/files/Rethinking_Music_Volunta
ry_Payment_Models.pdf
Nancy K. Baym. (2011)"The Swedish model: balancing markets and gifts in the music
industry." Popular Communication 9.1: 22-38.
Suggested Readings
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, Digital Music Report 2013, Available at:
http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/DMR2013.pdf
Preston, Paschal, and Jim Rogers. "Social networks, legal innovations and the “new” music industry." info 13.6
(2011): 8-19.
Week 12
July 26: Technology & Musical Culture: Commodities & Clouds
Jonathan Sterne (2006) “The mp3 as Cultural Artifact” New Media & Society, 8 no.5:
825-842.
Tom McCourt (2005). “Collecting Music in the Digital Realm” Popular Music and Society, 28:2,
249-252.
Jeremy Wade Morris (2011) “Sounds in the Cloud: Cloud Computing and the Digital
Music Commodity” First Monday. 16(5). Available from:
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3391/2917
Suggested Readings
Evan Eisenberg (2005) “Music Becomes a Thing,” in The Recording Angel: Music, Records
and Culture from Aristotle to Zappa, 2nd Edition (New Haven: Yale University Press): 9-29.
James M. Curtis (1984) “Towards a Sociotechnological Interpretation of Popular
Music in the Electronic Age,” Technology and Culture, 25 no.1: 91-102.
Week 13
*******TERM PAPER DUE********
Aug 2: Semester Review

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VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT PLAGIARISM
Please read this document very carefully - - especially section 3.0. If you do not understand anything on these two
pages, ASK YOUR PROFESSOR FOR CLARIFICATION. If you do something prohibited by this policy and claim
that you did not know you were not supposed to do it or that you did not understand the policy, you will still be held
responsible. It is your responsibility to make sure you understand these regulations.
SUBJECT: CODE OF ACADEMIC HONESTY
1.0 STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLE
All members of the University community share the responsibility for the academic standards and reputation of the
University. Academic honest is a cornerstone of the development and acquisition of knowledge. Academic honesty
is a condition of continued membership in the university community.
2.0 ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
Academic dishonesty, like other forms of dishonesty, is misrepresentation with intent to deceive or without regard to
the source or the accuracy of statements or findings. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately
destructive of the values of the University; it is furthermore unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who
pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University.
3.0 FORMS OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
The illustrations presented below are considered to e representative but not definitive nor exhaustive of activities
which could be considered to constitute academic dishonesty.
(a) Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty in which an individual submits or presents the work of another person as his
or her own. Scholarship quite properly rests upon examining and referring to the thoughts and writings of
others. However, when excerpts are used in paragraphs or essays, the author must be acknowledged using an
accepted format for the underlying discipline. Footnotes, endnotes, references and bibliographies must be
complete.
Plagiarism exists when all or part of an essay is copied from an author, or composed by another person, and
presented as original work. Plagiarism also exists when there is inadequate recognition given to the author for
phrases, sentences, or ideas of the author incorporated into an essay.
(b) Submitting the same essay, presentation, or assignment more than once whether the earlier submission was at
this or another institution, unless prior approval has been obtained.
(c) Cheating on an examination or falsifying material subject to academic evaluation. This includes the
unauthorized sharing of material, e.g. two or more students using the same textbook during an “open book”
examination; or the use of course notes or any aids not approved by an instructor during a “closed book”
examination; unauthorized possession or use of an examination or assignment. This also includes the
submission of identical or virtually identical assignments by students who studied together.
(d) Submitting as one’s original work, essays, presentations or assignments which were purchased or otherwise
acquired from another source.
(e) Using or attempting to use other students’ answers; providing answers to other students; or failing to take
reasonable measures to protect your answers from use by students in assignments, projects or examinations.
(f) Impersonating a candidate in an examination or availing oneself of the results of such impersonation.
(g) Submitting false records or information, in writing or orally. This includes the falsification or submission of
false laboratory results, documents, transcripts or other academic credentials.
(h) Stealing or destroying the work of another student.
(i) Removing books or other library material without authorization, or mutilating or misplacing library materials,
or engaging in other actions which deprive other members of the University community of their opportunity to
have access to the academic resources of the library.
(j) Unauthorized or inappropriate use of computers, calculators, and other forms of technology in course work,
assignments or examinations.
4.0 NOTIFICATION OF STANDARDS OF ACADEMIC HONESTY
All members of the University community have a responsibility to ensure that they themselves, and others, be
familiar with generally accepted standards and requirements of academic honesty. These shall be published in the
University Calendar and in the Registration Handbook. Ignorance of these standards will not preclude the
imposition of penalties for academic dishonesty.

Course outlines and course instructors are expected to inform students at the beginning of the semester of any
special criteria of academic honesty pertinent to the class or course. Failure of a course instructor to provide such
special information does not in any way exempt a student from penalties imposed by or on behalf of the University
under the general guidelines noted in 3.0 above.
5.0 PROCEDURES AND PENALTIES
5.1 PROCEDURES
Procedures to be followed by the University in imposing a penalty for acts of academic dishonesty or an appeal
therefrom are detailed in the policy establishing the University Board on Student Discipline and in the policy
establishing the Senate Committee on Disciplinary Appeals respectively.
5.2 TYPES OF PENALTY
Penalties imposed by the University for academic dishonesty may include one or more of the following: a warning,
a verbal or written reprimand, reassessment of work, failure on a particular assignment, failure in a course, denial of
admission or readmission to the University, forfeiture of University awards or financial assistance, suspension or
expulsion from the University.
5.3 DETERMINATION OF PENALTIES
In deciding on the appropriate sanction to be imposed for an act of academic dishonesty, consideration may be given
to the following factors:
(a) the extent of the dishonesty;
(b) the inadvertent or the deliberate character of the dishonesty;
(c) the importance of the work in question as a component of the course or program;
(d) whether the act in question is an isolated incident or part of repeated acts of academic dishonesty; and
(e) any other mitigating or aggravating circumstances.
It is your responsibility to make sure you understand these regulations. Please read each section very carefully. If
you do not understand any part of the regulations, ASK YOUR PROFESSOR FOR CLARIFICATION.
In your term papers and written work, you must give proper references for your sources. If you copy something
word for word from a book or article, you must indicate that it is a quote by putting it in quotation marks “like this”,
and you must identify the source: author, date, page number. Even if you don’t copy something word for work - - if
you paraphrase it and change some the words - - you must still identify the source: author, date, page number.
You will be guilty of plagiarism:
- if you fail to provide proper references for your sources, including page numbers;
- if you do not put quotation marks around material copied from other sources (even if it is only a part of a
sentence!);
- if you do not identify the source of material that you paraphrased;
- if you copy work of another student;
- if you submit work that is identical to that submitted by a student you studied with.
If it is determined that you did any of these things, it is likely that you will suffer one or more of the following
- you may receive a failing grade in the course;
- you may receive a failing grade on the assignment you may be suspended from the university for one or more
semesters you may lose any financial assistance you were receiving.
This is VERY serious business. Make sure you understand the University’s policies!
T10.01 through T10.03 (available online at http://www.sfu.ca/policies/Students/index.html)
All incidents of Academic/Intellectual Dishonesty must be reported to the School’s Director
(Alison Beale), c/o her assistant, Brenda Baldwin (bebaldwi@sfu.ca 778-782-3470 room
K9683). Brenda has the relevant forms to complete. Copies of the form are then
forwarded to the VP’s office.
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