Image problem? What image problem?

The idea for starting this blog came out of a discussion that developed on my Screaming Headlines blog. The item referred to folk music's image problem and while it was relevant to the blog's overall theme of PR and journalism, the responses encouraged me to establish Folk Forum as a place to build up links and open up discussion on the practices of folk and amateur music.

Of course, some folk enthusiasts would argue that the image problem is only there if you want folk music to be mainstream and that part of the charm (and power) of folk is that it doesn't conform to the demands of the major labels. This point was made by Tom Paxton when I interviewed him several years ago - he talked about the problem of commodified 'ersatz' folk music (he gave the Kingston Trio as an example) and how he and his friends would sit outside in the evening, drinking wine and thanking God that they hadn't been 'discovered' by the major labels.


Filed under:
folk image   commodified music   Tom Paxton

Starting point

Here is an edited outline of a paper I recently gave at the IASPM Conference at the University of Birmingham. Basically, it's my first stab at a research proposal for what will hopefully become my PhD...

The Futures of Music 2006
IASPM, University of Birmingham
1-3 September 2006

Regulating the amateur: traditional music and cultural control

This paper examines the discourses of folk and traditional music within the ‘amateur’ network of folk clubs, music sessions and song sessions across the UK. It presents a case for research into the tensions between the largely unregulated practices of amateur performance and consumption and three distinctive external forces which appear to impinge upon them:

1. The music industry as a commercial enterprise which sets 'professional' standards in performance, organisational practices and technical resources and infrastructure. This force may be manifested through approaches to amateur event organisers by agents to set up tours, or approaches by would-be professional artists seeking to build up recognition from performances on the ‘amateur circuit’.

2. Administrative and bureaucratic practices of regulation ranging from the PRS, local authority licensing, etc. to cultural agencies seeking to promote, fund or otherwise encourage folk as a form of creative or community artistic expression.

3. 'Mainstream' popular culture and its transformation of 'folk' culture into commodity forms, e.g. for Irish theme pubs, medieval banquets, etc. Thus popular music as defined by the media provides a context that establishes very specific criteria on tastes and forms.

The paper argues that these forces constitute an ideological framework, experienced as a form of cultural control regulating not only the practices of amateur music but also the ways in which performers and audiences experience these practices.

The paper considers how discourses of commodification and political management are present in interactions between participants and asks whether these undermine the perceived integrity of amateur music as a genuine form of cultural expression.


Filed under:
IASPM   research proposal