CFP: Special Issue of Journal of Popular Music Studies - Sonic Visions

From: "Matthew Delmont" <[email protected]>

Call for Papers: Special Issue of Journal of Popular Music Studies 

Sonic Visions: Popular Music on and after Television 

Matt Delmont & Murray Forman, Guest Editors 

The connection of music and television calls to mind iconic performances
like Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 and the debut of
Michael Jackson’s Thriller video on MTV in 1983.  More recently, music
videos have seen a resurgence in the “post-televison” era, with videos
like Justine Bieber’s “Baby” (ft. Ludacris) and Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”
(ft. Beyoncé) notching hundreds of millions of views online (671 million
and 432 million, respectively, as of December 2011).  At the same time,
and often in the shadows of these hugely popular performances, music has
been crucial to every era of television and to the development of video
websites like YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo, providing profitable
content, pioneering new screen technologies, and promoting debates
around the visual presentation of race, gender, sexuality, and youth. 

This special issue of the Journal of Popular Music Studies will explore
the histories of popular music on television in the broadcast and cable
(or “post-network”) eras, as well as the contemporary appearances of
popular music on multiple screens (e.g., computers, tablets, and smart
phones) in the “post-television” era.  How do we understand the
presentation of music on television and video websites?  In what ways is
the relationship among music, television, and the Internet mutually
constitutive?  With millions of music related videos available
instantaneously on a proliferation of screens, how do we study popular
music? We seek work from a variety of academic fields that examines the
manifestations and implications of popular music on and after
television. 

Subjects might include: 
--How television and the visual presentation of music has shaped artist
appearances, performance styles, and the recording industry 
--How music has shaped the technologies, program formats, and industry
structures of television 
--Music as a commercial attraction on television 
--Television personalities or “veejays” as cultural mediators for music 
--Music on television outside of the United States 
--Music on local television 
--“Liveness” in music television 
--Musical television audiences 
--Television and music genre 
--Relationship of television, music, space, and place 
--History, legacy, and/or contemporary relevance of MTV 
--Development of the music video genre 
--Television, music and historical memory 
--Resurgence of professionally made music videos on video websites like
YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo 
--Proliferation of fan videos or concert bootlegs on video websites like
YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo 
--Commenting culture on video websites like YouTube, DailyMotion, and
Vimeo 
--Using webvideo sites like YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo to teach
popular music history 
--Digital technologies and new directions in music on screens in the
“post-television” era 

Please send abstracts (400-500 words) to Matt Delmont
[email protected] & Murray Forman [email protected] by August
1, 2012. 

Link to CFP online: http://mattdelmont.com/2012/01/01/cfp-sonic-visions/