East Asia informal networks beyond the borders: sharing of ideas,skills, and experiences against capitalization of the commons

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the practices of networking by cultural collectives relating to art/activism in Asia. In recent years, independent, grassroots cultural and social spaces based on equal membership and multi-level networks have been created in this area. These spaces also function as experimental places to create models of alternative societies featuring sustainable lifestyles by connecting people beyond separate genres, such as art, music, agriculture, and craft. Thus, the practice of creating such places leads to an attempt to form new social relationships for common life, creation, and labor through the networking of individuals’ lives, which have become withdrawn, isolated, and forcefully separated by repressive social structures. Moreover, gathering at these places creates a collective subjectivity and shared emotions among their members. In many areas, collective political and artistic practices have been created, which transcend borders, cultures, and languages. The sharing processes of such practices have been steadily advancing.     

Cocco's musical intervention in the US base problems: traversing a realm of everyday cultural sensibilities in Okinawa

This essay intervenes in the political contradiction between the pro-base and anti-base positions in Okinawa while at the same time seeking to provide an alternative to the binary at the level of everyday cultural sensibilities. I will accomplish this task by exploring the activities of charismatic Okinawan musician-artist-activist Cocco. More specifically, locating Cocco's music within – and also outside – a long, complicated genealogy of Okinawan popular music, I will trace how she has grounded the formal political problems of the US military in Okinawa's everyday dilemmas concerning money, memory, and globalization. In my view, Cocco has done so in a way that prods us to move beyond the pro-base/anti-base binary and to navigate an uncharted realm of culture, power, and history. I will also pay attention to how the audience in Okinawa and beyond, as a co-producer of Cocco's music community, has participated in this process. In so doing, I will show how Cocco's music has brought to light possibilities of transforming the existing political inequalities from below, possibilities that may be destined to disappear as soon as they are materialized as an explicit political program. I will articulate these possibilities with reference to what French writer-critic-philosopher Maurice Blanchot (1908–2003) once called the ‘unavowable community’.     

A state of constant prodding: live music,precarity and regulation

Live music makes a vital contribution to the cultural and creative identities of cities. In turn, the spaces in which such activity takes place contribute strongly the functioning of local music and arts scenes. However, particularly in large Australian cities, there is a tension between economic development, fuelled by an extended property bubble, and the viability of small-to-medium live music venues. This tension is compounded by community attitudes toward arts and culture as well as a range of regulatory measures which govern the spaces in which this activity takes place. This paper examines the challenges inherent with developing and sustaining of live music venues in relation to the regulatory barriers associated with doing so. This paper draws on data from two qualitative examining producer accounts of live music operation in Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and Sydney, the capital of New South Wales. Both studies focused on the regulatory frameworks, and barriers associated with being able to support local, original contemporary music activity and were prompted following the closure of several highly supportive, high profile live music venues in each location. This research came in the wake of the so-called ‘lock out laws’, in the entertainment district of Kings Cross and surrounding suburbs, resulting in significant local and national debate around the impact and effectiveness of such laws. This paper is contextualised within debates relating to the importance of supportive live music venues, the challenges associated with developing, supporting and maintaining such spaces in light of gentrification and urban renewal strategies. As argued, these strategies, which work to enhance the vibrancy of cities – and often position arts and culture activity as being a vital component - often displace and/ or cause tensions for the spaces in which cultural and creative activity takes place during and after such regeneration.     

Chained to the grassroots: the music industries and DCMS

The paper analyses the implicit assumptions made by three key DCMS reports about how successful music products are made. I show how the reports divide the music sector into small and large producers, handing responsibility for innovation to small producers and expecting that large producers will exploit these innovations efficiently. I argue that this approach risks ignoring the realities of music production and contradicts the findings contained in the reports themselves. I conclude that a romantic idea of successful products developing from small producers may not only misrepresent and misunderstand small producers in the music industries but constrain them.     

Through the lens of history: The effects of beliefs about historical victimization on responses to refugees

In societies with collective memories of their group’s historical victimization, perceptions of this victimization are linked to attitudes and behaviors towards present-day victim groups such as refugees. We examine this idea in the Hungarian context, where collective memories of historical victimization include the fate of Hungarian refugees in 1956. In surveys among two Hungarian community samples, we find support for the hypothesis that exclusive regional victim consciousness predicts support for anti-refugee policies, while inclusive regional victim consciousness predicts support for pro-refugee policies. In Study 2, we replicate and extend these findings with a novel measure of event-specific victim consciousness (i.e., historical analogies between the two refugee situations). We show that event-specific victim consciousness mediates the effects of regional victim consciousness on attitudes towards refugees, and predicts prosocial behavior towards refugees.     

The value of music in London

London is one of the world's foremost music cities. Using a statistical approach developed in earlier studies of music in the United Kingdom (NMC, 1996; NMC, 1999), this chapter presents the results of a survey commissioned by London Arts from researchers at the University of Westminster. The chapter draws together available data oh the commercial and public sectors of the industry, on live performances and their audiences, on education and training and on exports. This data has been supplemented by new research, notably in the area of live performance and in identifying geographical ‘clusters’ of music business firms in certain areas of inner London.

Among the key findings of the research are that consumer spending represents some 90 per cent of the £1.1 billion total spending on music in London; consumers spent more on concert tickets and entrance charges for music of all types than on CDs and other soundcarriers; music provides the equivalent of 34,000 full‐time jobs in London and creates added value of over £1 billion and the London music business has net foreign earnings of over £400 million per annum.

The chapter concludes with some reflections on the implications of this research for music policy at both the national and city level. The statistical evidence demonstrates that classical music, a genre with only 10 per cent of the audience, continues to attract over 90 per cent of public subsidy. A similar imbalance in training of education of musicians means that the development of many young and talented non‐classical musicians is left to the vagaries of the market.     

The European music industry and European music policy

Although the European Union has had a policy for the audio‐visual industry for some years, it is only since the mid‐1990s that music and the music industry have figured directly in policy development in the cultural and employment sectors. This present status of music within the evolving strategies of the European Commission and European Union is described in this chapter, with particular reference to the EC Culture 2000 programme, as well as the ‘Action Plan’ for music proposed by the European Music Office (EMO), a consultative body representing various industry and voluntary organisations. The Action Plan has three aims: to facilitate the circulation of performers and music within Europe, to enable better collaboration and exchanges between members of the music professions and to improve the accessibility of music to the public.

A key element in the proposed higher status accorded to music is the collection and analysis of data on musical activity and musical employment at the European level, notably through reference to the 1996 study carried out by EMO and updated more recently as part of the EC and EMO funded European Music Observatory project. Statistics covering employment, sales of recorded music, composers’ royalty earnings, sales of instruments, public support for music and other features are included.

The chapter also considers the difficulties posed by such a pan‐European project, notably in the comparability of data between nations with different national systems of data collection and the difficulties of attempting to combine data from the ‘subsided’ and ‘commercial’ sectors.     

Indigenous patterns of music discovery: Khwe Bushmen and hip-hop in Platfontein,South Africa

ABSTRACT

Hip-hop has become a platform for young Khwe Bushmen to negotiate restrictive urban spaces following the tribe’s resettlement near the city of Kimberley in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Previous studies on music discovery tend to ignore the plight of indigenous and rural youth who struggle to keep up with the pace of global trends. Using qualitative data obtained through participatory observation, interviews, and focus group discussions, I argue that class remains a significant factor in the discovery of music. In many African indigenous communities, a few persons with higher socioeconomic status play a significant role in the acculturation and distribution of digital music and music cultures.     

Networks of value in electronic music: SoundCloud,London, and the importance of place

While recent debate has often focused on a reified “cultural value” (whether opposed to or aligned with monetary value), this article treats “value” as a verb and investigates the acts of valuing in which people engage. Through ethnographic research in London's electronic music scene and social network analysis of the SoundCloud audio sharing website (which is dominated by electronic dance music and, to a lesser extent, hip hop), it uncovers substantial patterns of geographical inequality. London is found at the very centre of a network of valuing relationships, in which New York and Los Angeles occupy the next most privileged locations, followed by Berlin, Paris, and Chicago. Cities outside Western Europe and the Anglophone world tend to occupy peripheral positions in the network. This finding suggests that location plays a major role in the circulation of value, even when we might expect that role to have been curtailed by an ostensibly “placeless” medium for the distribution and valuing of music. While there are reasons for the metropolitan emplacedness of dance music – given the importance of the relationship between production, consumption, and live DJing – the privileging of particular cities also mirrors patterns of inequality in the wider cultural economy. That London should appear so supremely privileged reflects both the exporting strength of British creative industries and the imbalanced nature of the UK's cultural economy.     

Black self-concept: An individual/collective analysis

The study of the self-concept of African-Americans has been approached in two major ways: studies have sought either to measure personal self-concept, excluding attitudes and feelings towards race, or they have sought to measure racial self-concept excluding attitudes toward the personal self. Failure to integrate the two approaches has proven to be a critical hindrance to the development of a theoretical framework for systematic analysis of the self-concept of African-Americans, which can account for attitudes towards the personal self and the racial self. Offered is a framework for the analysis individual/collective self-concept of African-Americans. The individual/collective self concept is comprised of two inseparable but distinguishable components: the experience of the unique individual (the I) and the accumulated experiences of the racial group (the We). It is characterized by the personal affirmation of, and the identification with one's own personal experiences and the collective experiences of one's racial group. Any imposed disassociation of the components by individuals or theoretical approaches is viewed as problematic.     

Perceived Personal Discrimination,Panethnic and National Identification,and Collective Action to Support Immigrants’ Rights among U.S. Latinas/os

Many Latinas/os in the United States participated in the protests and rallies (i.e., collective action) to support immigrants’ rights that followed Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. President in 2017. Following the rejection-identification and rejection-disidentification models, we examined whether perceived personal discrimination, panethnic (i.e., Hispanic or Latina/o) identification, and national (i.e., American) identification were associated with greater likelihood of having engaged in collective action to support immigrants’ rights among a national sample of Latinas/os in the United States (N = 1,501). We found support for the rejection-disidentification model. Perceived personal discrimination was associated with lower national identification. Latinas/os who reported lower national identification, in turn, were more likely to have reported participating in collective action to support immigrants’ rights. We found less support for the rejection-identification model. Perceived personal discrimination was not associated with higher (pan)ethnic identification, although (pan)ethnic identification was positively associated with collective action. We consider the implications of these results for the rejection-identification and rejection-disidentification models and emphasize the importance of attending to U.S. Latinas/os’ multiple identities.     

Military base culture and Okinawan rock ‘n’ roll

The presence of US military bases has had a strong influence on US popular music in postwar Japan and Okinawa. In 1951, mainland Japan gained independence from the US occupation while Okinawa was occupied until the early 1970s and therefore was outside of the Constitution of Japan. Okinawa has been forced to coexist with many US bases, soldiers and civilian personnel. Postwar western popular music entered Japan via the bases and became a part of Okinawan culture. In this essay, tracing the history of Okinawan rock ‘n’ roll since the 1960s, I will discuss how to get into Okinawan society, the cultural function played by the US military bases in Okinawa, and the significance of the role played by the US bases for the globalization of ‘American Culture’. The golden age of the entertainment sector geared toward US soldiers was the 1960s and early 1970s, before the reversion of Okinawa to Japan. After this, a reduction in the number of troops and the increasing exchange rate of the yen dealt a serious blow to the economy of the entertainment sector. As a result, Okinawan rock ‘n’ roll increasingly entered another social cultural context; first commercialization by the record industry in Tokyo, and then as a tourist resource for local community development.     

Making American Friends: The Effects of Musical Tastes and English Proficiency on Chinese International Students’ Social Networks in the United States

This study investigated the relationship between Chinese international students’ social networks in the United States and their musical tastes. Based on concept of homophily, this study used a self-reported Social Network Analysis (SNA) survey to examine whether sharing similar musical tastes affected Chinese international students’ relationship, their musical tastes, and music consumption. The results showed that having high musical taste similarity predicted closer relationship between respondents and their alters, and higher likelihood of new music consumption. This study also found that frequent American English-language songs listeners were more likely to have Americans in their social network than less-frequent American English-language songs listeners.     

From perceived polarization of immigration attitudes to collective action

In the context where immigration divides the political space of Western societies, perceived social polarization as an explanation of collective action is surprisingly understudied in contemporary social psychology. We hypothesize that the more people perceive polarization, the more they will engage in collective action in line with their attitudes. Moreover, this effect should be explained by two interrelated factors: identification and perceived efficacy. Perceived polarization should shape how important immigration attitudes are for individuals’ self-definition and thereby believing oneself capable of making a change, which in turn triggers collective action. To test our predictions, we conducted three studies (Studies 1 and 2 were correlational and Study 3 experimental) among mobilized and non-mobilized samples in two countries (i.e., Belgium and Switzerland). Results partially support our predictions that perceived social polarization on immigration issues relates to engaging in collective action. Indirect effect analyses revealed the predominant role of identity dynamics in the social psychological processes linked to perceiving polarization. These results provide potential explanations to the strong mobilization that emerged since 2015 following the so-called migrant crisis. Implications of our findings for collective action literature are discussed.     

Frequency and attendance at popular music concerts in the USA: Does facility age matter?

Popular music is a valuable community amenity in the USA. State and local governments often encourage concert development by subsidizing construction and operation of concert venues. The facilities most likely to receive public support also host professional sports franchises. Public policy arguments supporting subsidization often maintain that concert frequency declines as facilities age, thus necessitating their replacement. Anecdotal evidence is inconsistent on the matter. Using a two-year pooled cross-section of 1234 concerts in 80 professional sports facilities from July 2012 to June 2014, the present study tests if facility age predicts changes in concert frequency and attendance. The results lend support to subsidy proponents' arguments, but the magnitude of the age effects is unlikely to warrant significant subsidy levels.     

The lyrics of laborious life: popular music and the reassertion of migrant manhood in Northeastern Thailand

Abstract

The focal subject under investigation in this paper is the gendered identities of overseas male migrant workers as presented in the contemporary popular song lyrics from Northeastern Thailand. My reading of such lyrics is informed by my ethnographic fieldwork of Thai migrant workers in Singapore. I intend to uncover some complex, cultural junctures of transnational labor migration, in which men, mobility, and music have come across and formed a social force to reshape cultural imagination of migrant manhood. I argue that popular music celebrates male heroism of overseas migrant workers. Instead of challenging existing structures of hegemonic masculinity in the region, popular song texts poetically reaffirm and reassert the traditional dominant gender ideology and cultural practice. Overseas workmen are usually depicted as hard‐working, self‐sacrificial heroes in their attempts to rescue their families as well as romantic, caring lovers and morally responsible fathers.     

Elmo Is Black! Black Popular Communication and the Marking and Marketing of Black Identity

In this essay, I seek to thematize and examine the problems that emerge when Black popular communication, such as hip-hop, television programming, blues and jazz, graffiti art, toys, and film, meet national and global market forces. Specifically, I address how Black identity is marked within Black popular communication and how "authenticity" identity politics movements work to maintain Black identity. I also consider what problems emerge, such as cultural appropriations, when forms of Black popular communication are commodified and designed for mass consumption. Finally, I suggest how we can protect Black popular communication from appropriation and consumer culture threats through individual and collective action. I conclude that Black popular communication cannot witness a more democratic treatment of Black identity until we confront market forces that have as its primary goal the exploitation of Black identity for profit.     

Communicating love: Comparisons between American and East Asian university students

This study examined cultural differences in communicating love among 143 young adults from the US and East Asian countries of China, Japan, and South Korea. Through inductive analyses we examined similarities and differences in the activities and beliefs Americans and East Asians have about love in friendship and marriage, as well as the activities and ways in which love is expressed. Americans and East Asians reported that caring, trust, respect, and honesty were all important beliefs about love in friendship, and trust was an important belief about love in marriage. Love in marriage was seen as important and unconditional for Americans, while East Asians were more likely to report caring as an important belief. Sports, preparing food, and shopping were activities associated with expressing love for Americans, while talking and preparing food constituted activities for expressing love for East Asians. Finally, both US and East Asian students expressed love to a friend through acts of support, open discussion, and the sharing of common experiences, while they expressed love to a spouse through physical intimacy, acts of support, and expressions of love such as “I love you” and “I miss you.”     

Translation of ‘America’ during the early Cold War period: a comparative study on the history of popular music in South Korea and Taiwan

Abstract

The evaluation of the cold war influences played by the US on the rest of the world should not only be accounted economically and politically, but also culturally. In this paper we see the US influences on South Korea and Taiwan from the value‐laden concept of Americanization and through which we examine comparatively specific practices of domestic popular music development in these two countries. Setting this paper as a historical comparative study, we see the working of Americanization in relation to popular music as a value regime in which American is constructed as an ideal model imaginatively and discursively, which was made possible by economic, social and cultural forces in South Korea and Taiwan. Focusing on the Cold War period, circa 1950s to 1960s, levels and aspects of Americanization were therefore ways of translation, to use Said’s concept of traveling theory analogically; Anglo‐American music genres traveled to these countries to be incorporated contextually as new or trendy conventions of music‐making, which in turn helped form local music genres. The socio‐historical contexts of South Korea and Taiwan, with respect to the presence of American army forces, and similar postwar anti‐communist political forces, in nation‐building (north–south Korea, red China–free China antagonism respectively) are central to our understanding of the visibility of Americanization in different music cultures in these two countries. This paper will go into each country’s historical trajectory of music practices that took Japanese colonial influences up to the postwar time and then blending with Anglo‐American genres in indigenizing that eventually marked their different paths, as we comparatively reveal their institutional, political and national cultural conditions, which were necessary in shaping each country’s music‐making conventions, entertainment business, and consumption cultures of popular music – and that might implicitly inform tentatively the present rivalry between ‘offensive’ Korean Wave and ‘defensive’ Taiwanese ‘rockers’ in the globalization era.     

Anti-Market Research: Piracy,New Media Metrics,and Commodity Communities

Over a decade after Napster’s introduction, file sharing programs still shoulder much of the blame for music and other media’s declining sales. Although labels and industry associations point their fingers at the harm digital piracy and file-sharing cause, they are less likely to admit the extent to which these anti-markets inform everyday decisions. File-sharing technologies create networks of users that serve as profitable data for ratings and metrics agencies. Using a case study of BigChampagne and its relationship to Napster, this article considers how the look, structure, and function of file-sharing software helped turn an economically threatening community into a commodity and how piracy’s disruptive potential is always in tension with processes of commodification.