You Can Call Me Chapter 21

That titular participle happens to be the title of a book, to be published by the good folks at Sage, which is due in September of this year, and in which yours truly has contributed a chapter titled “Same as the Old Boss? Changes, Continuities, and Careers in the Digital Music Era.”  I promise that there aren’t any sentences in that chapter as long as the one you just read.

I was asked by the editor, Mark Deuze, to offer my take on the shape of the current music industries, with a slant toward how careers are taking shape.  Naturally for me I skewed indie, but I also get to lay into 360 deals, chat for a bit about what Radiohead and Trent Reznor were really doing, note briefly how up-and-coming rappers are getting screwed by major labels, go over what “mp3 blogs” are/were/will be, and so forth.

Hopefully it’ll be of use for some folks.  The book, as I understood it while writing my chapter, is a broad survey intended for undergrads to get a grip on the state of things, which you can definitely tell by perusing the TOC.  I’ve read a few of the chapters included, and I can also strongly claim that its contents don’t necessarily hew to the dry practicality of the title.  It’s not, in other words, a book full of dry management advice for budding entrepreneurs.  It’s more a guide for those seeking to understand and critique the current state of things.  More to come on this, I’m sure.

Filed under: academia  ego-trip  Mark Deuze  Sage