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MUSIC AND VIRTUALITY Edited by

SHEILA WHITELEY WHIT ELEY and

SHARA SH ARA RAMBARRAN



















































































































































3 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press �� Madison Avenue, New York, NY ��, United States of America.

© Oxford University Press �� All rights reserved. No part of this publicatio publicationn may be reproduce reproduced, d, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitt transmitted, ed, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction reproduction outside the scope s cope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Oxford handbook of music and virtuality / edited by Sheila Whiteley and Shara Rambarran. R ambarran. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN ��–�–��–��–� (hardcov (hardcover er : alk. paper) �. Music and the Internet. �. Music—Com Music—Computer puter network resources. I. Whiteley, Whitele y, Sheila, �� –– editor. II. Rambarran, R ambarran, Shara, editor. ML��.�.O�� .��—dc�� Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Printed by Sheridan



















































































































































Sheila Whiteley (��–��)

During a late stage of the preparation of this book, Sheila Whiteley, my co-editor, passed away on Saturday, June �, ��, in Hove, East Sussex, UK. Sheila leaves a special specia l legacy. She graduated from the Open University (UK) in music with First Class Honours, and later earned a PGCE and Ph.D. at the same institution. She then became a music advisory teacher in Birmingham, before returning to the Open University as a music lecturer. Sheila is famously known for being associated with the University of Salford in Greater Manchester, UK. She joined the university in ��, and helped to develop the degree in popular music and recording, the first program of its kind in the UK. Sheila’s contribution and dedication to the degree and research was highly recognized and applauded by the university, and she was awarded the UK’s first-ever Chair in Popular Music in ��. This outstanding recognition generated global media interest. For example, she made appearances on broadcasting channels such as the BBC and Channel � (UK), and Arte (France/Germa (France/Germany), ny), as well as participating in interviews for the press. Sheila’s expertise expert ise and talents as an extraordinary extr aordinary lecturer, le cturer, musicologist, writer, w riter, editor, editor, and researcher specializing in feminism, gender, sexuality, ��s counterculture, and popular music gained her an international reputation in the academia. She published on women, gender, and sexuality in popular music; rock music and counterculture; age and identity in popular music; and critically and musically analyzed the works of Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Queen, and Björk. She also wrote articles and chapters on Britpop, copyright, the music industry, and popular culture. Before she died, she was working on a chapter on one of her much-loved music groups, the Rolling Stones. Along with her various academic roles, Sheila was the general secretary of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (��–��), and served on the organizing committee for the Biennial International Conferences in Finland (��) and Canada (��). After retiring from the University of Salford in ��, she went to live in her hometown, Brighton. She became professor emerita (University of Salford) as well as a visiting professor at the University of Åarhus (Denmark), the University of Brighton (UK), University of Southampton Solent (UK), and Bader International Study Centre, Queen’s University (Canada). As well as attaining many exceptional achievements, Sheila had a passion for music that exerted a lasting influence on undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Salford and international institutions. She happily shared her love, knowl-





















































































































































devotion in music drew in many friends from the international academia. She was a well-loved and respected colleague, lecturer, writer, and friend, and her unique personality, intellect, energy, and determination will forever be praised and treasured. Sheila leaves behind her devoted husband, Graham, a beautiful family, and many friends, among them the contributors to this book. I will always cherish Sheila’s mentorship, support, joyfulness, kindness, and great friendship. I am very grateful to have known her. This book is dedicated to Sheila Whiteley. Sweet dreams, my academic mother Shara Rambarran, June ��





















































































































































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Figures and Tables Preface Foreword—Andy Forewor d—Andy Bennett Be nnett Acknowled Ack nowledgments gments Contributors About Abo ut the the Companion Companion Websi Website te

Introduction S�� W��

xi xv xvii xxi xxiii xxxiii �

PART ONE THE PRE�DIGI T AL VIRTUAL VIRTUAL

�. “Seventeenth Heaven Heaven”: ”: Virtual Listening and Its Discontents C�� L��

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�. “Nothing Is Real”: The Beatl Beatles es as Virtual Performers Performers P�� A�� I�� I��

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�. Tom, Jerry, and the Virtual Virtual Virtuos Virtuosoo S�� W��

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�. Bring That That Beat Back: Samplin Samplingg as Virtual Virtual Collaboration Collaboration R�� O��

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viiii vii

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�. Hatsune Miku and Japanese Virtual Idols R�� Z��

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�. Hatsune Hatsune Miku, Miku, �.�Pac, �.�Pac, and and Beyond: Rewinding and and Fast-Forwarding the Virtual Pop Star T�� C��

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�. “Feel Good” with Gorillaz and “Reject False Icons”: Icons”: The Fantasy Fantasy Worlds of the Virtual Group and Their Creators S�� R��

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PART THREE SECOND LIFE

��. Avatar Rockstars: Construct Const ructing ing Musical Personae in Virtual Worlds Worlds �� T�� S. H�� . Performing Performing Live in Second Life J�� G�� N�� C�� . Live Opera Performance Performance in Second Life: Challenging Producers, Producers, Performers, and the Audience M�� A�� C��-A��

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PART FOUR AUTHORSHIP, CREATIVITY, AND MUSICIANSHIP

��. “We “We Are, The Colors”: Collab Collaborative orative Narration Narration and Experimental Construction of a None Nonexistent xistent Band A�� I�� C�� F�� . Music in Perpetual Perpetual Beta: Composition, Remediation, Remediation, and “Closure “Closure””

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��.. Virtual Bands: Recording Music under the Big Top �� Top D�� T��

ix

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PART FIVE COMM UNIT IES AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB

��. “Uploading” to Carnegie Hall: The First Fi rst YouT YouTube ube Symphony Orchestra S�� E� T��

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��. The Listener as Remixer: Mix Stems in Online Fan Community Community and Competition Contexts S�� B��

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��. Sample Sharing: Virtual Virtual Laptop Ensemble Communities B�� O’B��

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��. Stone Tapes: Tapes: Ghost Box, Nostalgia, Nostalg ia, and Postwar Postwar Britain D�� P��

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��. From Hypnagogia Hypnagogia to Distroid: Dist roid: Postironic Musical Renderings of Personal Memory A�� T�� . Bands in Virtual Spaces, Social Networking, and Masculinity Masculinity D�� B�� PART SIX SONIC ENVI RONME NTS AND MUSICAL EXPERIENCE

��. From Environmental Sound to Virtual Environment Enhancing: Consuming Ambiance as Listening Practice

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x

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��.. Everybody �� Everyb ody Knows There Is Here: Here: Surveying the Indexi-local Indexi-l ocal in CBC Radio � M�� A��-L��

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��. Mind Usurps Usurps Program: Virtua Virtuality lity and the “New Machine Aesthetic” of Electronic Dance Music B�� H��

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PART SEVE N PARTIC IP IPA A TORY CULTU CUL TU RE AND FUNDRAISING

��. Virtual Music, Music, Virtua Virtuall Money: The Impact of Crowdfunding Models on Creativity, Authorship, and Identity M�� T��

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��. With a Little Help from My My Friends, Family, and Fans: DIY, DIY, Participatory Participato ry Cultur Culture, e, and Social Capital in Music Crowdfunding Crowdfunding F�� D’A��

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��. Music and Crowdfunded Crowdfunded Websites: Websites: Digital Digita l Patronage Patronage and Artist-Fan Inter Interactivity activity J�� A. W�� R�� W��

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Authors’ Blog: Final Thoughts on Music and Virtuality E�� P� P�� C�� C �� Glossary

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E�� S�� R�� R �� Index

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F�� T��

Figures �.�

��.� ��.� ��.� ��.�

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Author’s own transcr transcription iption of the descendi descending ng bass line that concludes the first verse in “Feel Good Inc.,” composed and produced by Gorillaz, David Jolicoeur, and Danger Mouse (��); excerpt. Entrance to Moonshine’s Rockin’ Blues Club in the swamps of the Owtagetcha Bayou (image). Bluemonk Rau perform performing ing on the stage at Moonshine’s in September �� (image). Don Houd Houdyshell yshell performing for a Second Life audience audience from his his home home studio in Austin, Texas (image). Pillowfish Pillowfi sh’’s Thom Martinsyde (Tom (Tom Drinkwater Drinkwater)) and Rowanna Sideways (Helen Bell) performing on their own stage in September �� (image). The author (Collyier Heberle) interviewing Ictus Belford and Carrie

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xii

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��.� The rhythmic variation at �’��” �’��”.. The word stronger is is omitted in the second measure, and the words better and and us are clipped off at the end (excerpt). ��.� An example of glitch taken from �’��” (excerpt). ��.� The pattern of outer Voice � and Voice � from “Technologic” (excerpt) (excerpt).. ��.� The invasion of the “Technologic” motives into “Emotion “Emotion”” (excerpt (excerpt). ). ��.�� The unchanging groove from “Make Love” (excerpt (excerpt). ). ��.� �� .� Ryan States, producer, songwr songwriter, iter, mixer ��.� �� .� Ryan States, Strange Town, album cover ��.� �� .� States recording keyboards for Strange Town in his train room ��.� �� .� States’s wall cable organizer in his train room ��.� ��.� States recording bass guitar for Strange Town in his train room ��.� ��.� States’s vocal setup for Strange Town in his train room ��.� �� .� States in the hallway of his train car ��.� �� .� States at mix console ��.� �� .� Ryan States cover for the Mike Ator Ator Club Remix of “How “How Do You You Know (You’re (Y ou’re in Love? Love?)” )” ��.� Eight individua individuall tracks of a multitrack recording bounced into a master. ��.� Eight individual tracks of of a multitrack recordin recordingg bounced bounced into into four four mix stems, then processe processedd again into a master. ��.� The organization of mix stems in William Orbit’ Orbit’ss “Orbitmixer.”

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�� .�–��.� ��.�–� �.� DJ as technici technician: an: K-Klass DJ at the Venus Venus Club (Manchester, UK), Sept. ��, �� (images). ��.� The loop in action: shout shout outs outs and and shout shout backs, across across the mixing desk. desk. (“Revolution,”” Venus Club, Manchester, UK, Aug. ��, ��) (image). (“Revolution, ��.� Distributi Distribution on of the total amount collec collected ted by Honeybird & the Birdies among types of backers (graph). ��.� Strong ties (graph). ��.� Weak ties (graph). ��.� Strangers (graph). ��.� Distributi Distribution on of the total amount amount collecte collectedd by Cobol Pongide Pongide among types of backers (graph).

xiii

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Tables ��.� ��.� ��.� ��.� ��.�

Known and Exclusive Ties of Honeybird & the Birdies Crowdfunding Websites Maria Schneid Schneider’ er’ss �� Newport Jazz Festival Commissi Commission on (“Home (“Home”) ”) Amanda Palmer Kickstarter Campaign Sellaband Public Enemy Campaign

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T�� Oxford Handbook of Music and Virtuality is designed to offer scholars and researchers a comprehensive review of this evolving and challenging area of research. The editors have brought together experienced researchers and leading scholars in the t he field, recent doctoral research, and established academics with a track record of writing about music. They have also prioritized an international perspective, thus offering a rich and varied insight into music and its relationship to virtuality.

















































































































































































































































































































F��

I� recent years, the focus on popular music as a virtual vir tual medium has become somewhat intense. Undoubtedly, there is some level of justification for this. In an incredibly short space of time, various technologies and microtechnologies microtechnologies have emerged that offer new ways of engaging with popular music at many levels, spanning creation, production, dissemination, and consumption. Indeed, the extent of this technological development is such that it has presented numerous questions concerning the authorship and, perhaps equally significantly, ownership of music. Similarly, the dawn of the digital age brought with it some difficult questions regarding the nature and impact of digital technology on the relationship between popular music and consumer capitalism. In

























































































































































xviii

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of mediation allow audiences—and audiences—and in this case fellow artists and former bandmates as well—to remember particular artists at the pinnacle of their career. career. But this is perhaps going too far, too quickly quick ly.. To To be sure, the t he dawn of the th e “virtual “virtu al age,” age,” as it is often called, has ushered in some large-scale changes in how we connect with popular music. However, as Frith (��) has observed, from the very point at which popular music became an industrial product, it simultaneously became a cultural form whose success relied heavily on mediation, thus giving popular music some s ome distinctive “virtual” qualities. Indeed, to cite one classic manifestation of this, highly influential artists such as Elvis Presley and the Beatles B eatles did became commercially successful global icons not merely because of their live performances p erformances (indeed, in the conventional conventional sense of the term, Elvis never performed “live” outside the United States aside from several impromptu performances during his time in the military during which he was stationed in Germany) but because their music and their images were subject to global circulation. Vinyl records, film, and television appearances by those and other artists during the postwar era were what assured them global success. Moreover, as popular music diversified and the industry supporting it became more sophisticated and complex, the blurring of the flesh-and-blood and mediated aspects of popular music pro-

























































































































































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xix

is inextricably tied to the latter’s development as a technologically mediated form from the ��s onward. Indeed, recent research suggests that the everyday e veryday practices of music audiences also tend to reflect a deeper engagement with and understanding of popular music as a mediated form. Thus, as Nowak and Bennett (��) have discovered, although aware of and familiar with digital retrieval and playback formats, audiences tend to position the latter within a range of other technologies, including radio and older analog sound carriers, such as vinyl records and cassette tapes. What has critically changed with the digital era, and again this is reflected significantly in some of the chapters in this Handbook, is the level of interplay that is now possible between the “real” and the “virtual,” to the extent that such a binary, if always problematic, would now appear to have lost critical currency as a means of measuring value and “authenticity” in music. Or, perhaps a better way of expressing this is to say that just as the myth of acousticity, as Narváez (��) terms it, has evaporated due to the broad acceptance of acoustic music as a mediated form, reliant on the use of pick-ups, microphones, and amplification,, so accepting popular music performance overall as a blurring of real and amplification virtual qualities is now taken taken as a given. Frith (��) has noted that the logic of studio production has for a long time been

























































































































































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assembled here a series of highly incisive essays, with each featured essay contributing contributing important insights for those interested in the relationship between popular music and virtuality.. As such, the Handbook marks a very important point of departure in a field virtuality of popular music studies where there is still much to consider, to explore, and to learn. Andy Bennett

R�� Back, Les. ��. New Ethnicities and Urban Culture: Racisms and Multiculture in Young Young Lives . London: UCL Press. Beadle, Jeremy J. ��. Will Pop Eat Itself? Pop Music in the Sound Bite Era . London: Faber and Faber. Bennett, Andy, and Ian Rogers. ��. “Street Music, Technology and the Urban Soundscape.” Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies ��(�):��–��. Cohen, Sara. ��. Rock Culture in Liverpool: Popular Music in the Making . Oxford: Clarendon Press. Denisoff, R. Serge, and William D. Romanowski. ��. Risky Business: Rock in Film . New



























































































































































A��

O�� Handbook owes a great deal to many people, not least our authors, whose contri-





















































































































































































































































































































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Michael Audette-Longo is an instructor in communication studies at Carleton



























































































































































xxiv

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Danijela Bogdanovic has completed a fellowship within the University of Salford team

of VOME (Visual and Other Methods of Expression) project, examining online pri vacy,, and funded by EPSRC, vacy EPSRC, ESRC, and the Technology Technology Strategy Board. Coming Coming from an interdisciplinary background (B.A. in English studies; M.A. in gender, society, and culture; Ph.D. in sociology), soci ology), Bogdanovic’s research interests include social media, popular music, gender, ethnography, and visual and mobile research methods. In �� she Doing Bands: Making, Making, Shaping Shaping and and Performing Performing was awarded a Ph.D. for her thesis Men Doing Masculinitie Masculi nitiess Thro Through ugh Popula Popularr Music. In addition to pursuing research, she has been employed as an associate lecturer at the Open University since ��, teaching on a



























































































































































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Online ��), tribute artists ( Contemporary Theatre Review ��), and sex (Beitraege ��). His most recent publication is an edited collection, zur Popularmusikforschung ��). (��). He also occasionally o ccasionally works as a forensic musicologist Frank Zappa and the And (��).

for major record companies and is currently working on a monograph on Sting (��). Marco Antonio Chávez-Aguayo (Ph.D., University of Barcelona, Spain) is an aca-

demic with a multidisciplinary profile in social sciences and an artistic background in music. He is currently undertaking a two-year postdoctorate at the University of Guadalajara (Mexico), funded by the Mexican government. He has been a lecturer and researcher at several universities in Mexico, Spain, and the UK. He has taught courses,





























































































































































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Francesco D’Amato is a sociologist and research professor in cultural and communi-

cative processes at the University of Rome’s La Sapienza. He is the conceiver and co-





























































































































































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Charles Fairchild is an associate professor of popular popul ar music at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. He is the author of DJ Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album (��); Music, Radio





























































































































































xxviii

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She is researching neoliberal politics, the fetishization of HE, and the impact of this agenda on arts education. In �� she was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by





























































































































































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foster interdisciplinary engagement using, adapting, and developing technologies for interactive performance. His work seeks to define the complex nature of interactive





























































































































































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score for “Mouth to Mouth” won Best Film Music prize at the Festival International du Premier Film d’Annonay.

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Oxf_hb_virt_music

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