Call for Papers

Special Issue on Popular Music as Cultural Heritage

Papers are invited for a special issue of Popular Music and Society on popular music as cultural heritage. Topics may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• cultural memory and the place of popular music within it
• musical performance as enactment of cultural heritage
• invention of musical tradition
• music as "intangible" heritage
• UNESCO cultural initiatives
• popular music and cultural policy
• "traditional" music as popular music
• custodians of cultural heritage--who are they, how well are they treated, and how well do they do their job?
• popular music and cultural tourism
• music-themed museums
• sound recordings as cultural heritage
• impact of recordings on oral tradition
• National Recording Preservation Board
• equity and diversity issues
• activism and cultural heritage (copyright activism, library activism, culture jamming, etc.)
• digitization, the Internet, and the "celestial jukebox" as vehicles for cultural heritage
• digital rights management, rights exploitation, music publishing, fair use
• mash-ups, mixes, musical détournement, and radical cover versions
• copyright as an aid or impediment to transmission of cultural heritage
• "orphan" works in popular music
• impact of cultural industries
• the art and business of reissuing sound recordings
• for-profit and nonprofit approaches to reissuing and distribution
• availability (or unavailability) of old music via radio, satellite, TV, DVD, etc.
• unavailable music
• canon formation, revisionism, academicization, liner notes, "contexting," issues of authenticity
• oral history and biography in popular music research
• allmusic.com and similar resources
• musical revivals and their political implications
• connoisseurship and collecting
• artifact vs. information
• owning vs. renting recorded sound
• overvaluing or undervaluing the old

We are especially interested in studies that focus on issues of cultural preservation, restoration, access, curatorship, and collecting. We encourage polemical articles as long as they are supported by evidence. Papers may focus on popular music from any time period(s), geographic location(s), or genre(s) but should situate the topic within the context of cultural heritage (broadly defined).

The issue is tentatively scheduled for publication in October 2008.

Deadline for receipt of submissions is September 30, 2007.

Submit four hard copies in MLA format to

Gary Burns
Communication
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb IL 60115
USA
Inquiries are welcome at gburns@niu.edu.