Popular Music Studies
The Popular Music Studies research group focuses on contemporary issues of significance to musicians, audiences, and the industries involved directly and indirectly in the production of popular music.
Our research examines popular music from different social and cultural perspectives and uses a variety of theories and methods to understand how it is produced and consumed. We focus on a range of topics, music genres, historical periods and geographical locations, including Bulgarian popular music, British punk, contemporary songwriting practices, Northern Soul, experimental writing about music, issues of streaming and big data, live music production, and popular music鈥檚 materiality. Our research aims to develop new ways of understanding popular music that is relevant to a wide audience and to engage with the current challenges in the field. We have ongoing partnerships with the Ivors Academy, Static Caravan, the 探花直播 Music Coalition, and many other key organisations, and we regularly contribute to public forums and industry events. The work of the Popular Music Studies Research Group covers areas such as:聽
Areas of activity
- Popular music scenes
- Songwriting
- Heritage and cultural memory
- Media and technology
- Music industries
- Material culture
Cluster members
- Dr Asya Draganova
- Dr Simon Barber
- Dr Sam Coley
- Professor Nicholas Gebhardt
- Neil Hollins
- Dr Matt Grimes
- Professor Tim Wall聽
Postgraduate researchers
- Benjamin Torrens
- Peter Newton
- Sarah Thirtle
- Rosemary Williams
External members and partners
Dr Juan Pablo Viteri (Universidad San Francisco de Quito)