Getting Signed: Record Contracts, Musicians, and Power in Society

ISBN-13: 9783030445867 / Angielski / Miękka / 2020 / 256 str.

David Arditi

Opis

The belief that signing a record contract will almost infallibly lead to some measure of success- the "ideology of getting signed," as Arditi defines it-is alive and well. Though streaming, social media, and viral content have turned the recording industry upside down in one sense, the record contract and its mythos still persist.

Recenzje

"Getting Signed deserves to garner interest from researchers, music journalists, and artists alike. Furthermore, through its synthesis of theory and empirical evidence, Getting Signed is a useful text for scholars who are looking to tackle fundamental questions about the unequal relationships of power that lie behind cultural production." (Jabari Evans, Journal of Popular Music Studies, Vol. 35 (2), June, 2023)

"Getting Signed is a book that builds a powerful critique of one of the biggest and most influential music industries worldwide, unveiling how the ideological motive of getting signed brings individuals to sign their own exploitation in the promise of economic success. ... By providing a toolkit of concepts, theories, and empirical evidence, Getting Signed is an important contribution to tackle fundamental questions about the unequal relationships of power that lie behind many of our daily cultural consumptions." (Luca Carbone, New media & Society, June 7, 2022)

Spis treści

Chapter 1 Introduction

The Ideology of Getting Signed

My Approach

Record Contracts

Making It, Breaking In, Blowin’ Up: The Ideology is Everywhere

The Book Going Forward

Part I

Chapter 2 Record Contracts: Ideology in Action

Alienation and Ideology

Material Relations of Production

Institutions

Conclusion

Chapter 3 Copyright Enclosure

Musical Instruments and the Means of Production

Labor Theory of Value

Land Enclosures

Creating Intellectual Property

Contracts and Copyrights

Conclusion

Chapter 4 The Digital Turn: Music Business as Usual

Positioning Musicians in the Music Industry

From Bar Gigs to Social Media

Alternatives

Conclusion

Chapter 5 On Competition in Music

Competition in American Society

Competition as unique to music and other entertainment fields

Winning/Losing

Battle of the Bands

Competition between musicians, not labels

Conclusion

Part II

Chapter 6 We’re Getting the Band Back Together

Division of Labor

Solidarity

Marx

Strained Solidarity: a new model of the division of labor

Solace: A Case Study of Strained Solidarity

Conclusion

Chapter 7 The Voice: Popular Culture and the Perpetuation of Ideology

The Show

Precarity

Ideology

Conclusion

Chapter 8 Conning the Dream

The Music Showcase

The Performers

Winning/Losing

Conclusion

Chapter 9 Conclusion

Techno-Utopian Mantras

Label Resources

Thinking of an Alternative

O autorze

David Arditi is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas at Arlington, USA, and author of iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era.

Blurb

“There is a vast gulf between making music for pleasure and making music for money. David Arditi’s Getting Signed intelligently and compellingly captures the difficulty, frustration, and hope felt by musicians as they attempt to enter the realm of the music industry and make money at music.”

—Timothy D. Taylor, Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

“Even in our digitized era of streaming media and DIY culture, the seductions of landing a record deal with a cash advance have never been stronger for musicians, singers, rockers, and rappers. But in Getting Signed, sociologist David Arditi shines his well-honed critical gaze on the venality of the pop music industry, showing how even a record contract struck in good faith can be a dream-killing Faustian bargain for most musical artists.”

—David Grazian, Associate Professor of Sociology and Communication and Faculty Director of Urban Studies, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Record contracts have long been the goal of aspiring musicians, but are they still important in the era of SoundCloud? Musicians in the United States still seem to think so, flocking to auditions for The Voice and Idol brands or paying to perform at record label showcases. “The ideology of getting signed”—the belief that signing a record contract will almost infallibly lead to some measure of success—is alive and well, even as streaming, social media, and viral content have turned the recording industry upside down. Getting Signed provides a critical analysis of musicians’ contract aspirations as a cultural phenomenon that reproduces modes of power and economic exploitation, no matter how radical the route to contract. Working at the intersection of Marxist sociology, cultural sociology, critical theory, and media studies, Arditi unfolds how the ideology of getting signed penetrated an industry, created a mythos of guaranteed success, and persists in an era when power is being redefined in the light of digital technologies.