Music, Creativity and the Cultural Economy

Music, Creativity and the Cultural Economy is an inclusive and interdisciplinary research group focused on examining the cultural and creative industries and creative practice, with a particular focus on music, but encompassing all forms of creative and cultural activity.

Music, creativity and the cultural economy are areas of rich contemporary scholarly concern, casting light on a range of social, cultural, political and business issues. Furthermore, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport reported in 2022 that creative and cultural work accounts for around 1 in 8 UK businesses, and almost 2.3 million jobs. Members of the group have published extensively on music history, culture and business, as well as on cultural heritage, journalism, fan cultures and media.

The group is open to all established and new researchers from across Solent University, as well as to the ‘research curious’, and supports Solent’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Enabling Plan regarding staff development and knowledge exchange/civic engagement.

Postgraduate opportunities

We encourage and support new MPhil/PhD students in our research specialisms (see below), and are currently accepting self-funded research students. If you would like more information about postgraduate research opportunities, please contact Chris Anderton. More information regarding Solent University's research programme can be found here.

If you are interested in joining the group or want to know more, please email Chris Anderton.

Areas of expertise/interest

The key themes of the group will develop over time, and in line with the membership of the group; however, we can initially identify the following:

Music history and heritage
Music business
Music practice
Music cultures
Live music concerts and festivals
Britpop
Progressive rock
City of culture and the future city

Culture and nationalism
Cultural heritage and nostalgia
Participatory cultures
Popular culture and identity
Music journalism
Arts funding
Fan cultures
Sport and culture

Aims of the group

The aims of the group are:

To celebrate and publicise the research, knowledge exchange, and public engagement activities of group members.
To offer peer support, mentoring and advice to individuals and teams regarding their research ideas.
To generate and foster collaborative research ideas, questions and opportunities.
To support the publication of outputs, and the development of impact case studies.
To give support in attracting external partners and funding opportunities.
To contribute to postgraduate growth, experience and community.
To develop a research culture around the culture and media industries.

Group members

Chris Anderton
Research Group Co-Lead

James Hannam

Johnny Hopkins

Brian McDonough

Marianne Damoiseau

Pilar Garrido Sanz

Jennifer Skellington

Kamran Qureshi

Publications

Members of the group have published many works in this area:

Recent book publications

Anderton, C., Hannam, J. and Hopkins, J. (2022) Music, Management and Marketing. Sage.
Anderton, C. and James, M. (eds.) (2022) Media Narratives in Popular Music. Bloomsbury.
Anderton, C. and Pisfil, S. (eds.) (2022) Researching Live Music. Gigs, Tours, Concerts and Festivals. Routledge.
James, M. (2020) State of Bass: The Origins of Jungle/Drum & Bass. Velocity Press.
McDonough, B. (2021) Flying Aeroplanes and Other Sociological Tales: An Introduction to Sociology and Research Methods. Routledge.

Recent book chapters and journal articles

Anderton, C. (2023) “From Woodstock to Glastonbury to the Isle of Wight: The Role of Festival Films in the Construction of the Countercultural Carnivalesque.” In O. Lovesey (ed.), Woodstock University. Routledge
Anderton, C. (2023) “Festivals and Youth.” In A. Bennett (ed.), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music and Youth Culture. Bloomsbury, pp. 531-550.
Anderton, C. (2022) “Festivals.” In G. Stahl and M. Percival (eds.), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music, Space and Place, pp. 357-367. Bloomsbury.
Anderton, C (2022) ‘Disruption and Continuity: Covid-19, Live Music, and Cyclic Sociality.’ In C. Anderton and S. Pisfil (eds.), Researching Live Music. Gigs, Concerts, Tours and Festivals, pp. 68-83. Routledge.
Anderton, C. (2022) ‘“Exiles in Madison Square Garden”: Critical Reception and Journalistic Narratives of Progressive Rock in Melody Maker Magazine, 1971–1976.’ In C. Anderton and M. James (eds), Media Narratives in Popular Music, pp. 91-108. Bloomsbury.
Anderton, C. (2021) ‘Music festivals and capitalism.’ In S. Kruger Bridge (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Global Popular Music. Oxford University Press.
Hannam, J. and Gable, O. (2021) “Lifeblood: Funding popular music education in Wales”, Journal of Popular Music Education. 5(1): 17-37.
Hatton, K., Galley, D., Tucker, G., Veale, F., and Bright, C., (2021). “Creativity and care in times of crisis: an analysis of the challenges of the COVID-19 virus experienced by social work students in practice placement”, Social Work Education, DOI:10.1080/02615479.2021.1960306
Hopkins, J. (2022) ““There’s A Crack In The Union Jack” - Questioning National Identity in the 1990s: The Britpop Counter-Narrative.” In C. Anderton and M. James (eds), Media Narratives in Popular Music, pp. 141-160. Bloomsbury.
James, M. (2022) ““Who Controls the Present Controls the Past. Who Controls the Past Controls the Future”: Washing Islam from the Media Narratives of Hip-Hop.” In C. Anderton and M. James (eds), Media Narratives in Popular Music, pp. 71-87. Bloomsbury.
James, M. and Hopkins, J. (2022) “‘I’ll be Your Mirror’: Velvet Underground as the legacy of Ziggy Stardust.” In S. Albiez and D. Pattie (eds.) The Velvet Underground: What Goes On? Bloomsbury.
James, M. and Hopkins, J. (2022) “The Velvet Underground and the Networks of Sound, Vision and Words of the Fertile Transatlantic Crescent 1965 – 1967.” In S. Albiez and D. Pattie (eds.) The Velvet Underground: What Goes On? Bloomsbury.
McDonough, B. (2021) “Precarious work, the new 'gig economy' and unemployment.” In Stuart Isaacs (ed.), Social Problems in the UK. Routledge.
Turner, M. (2021) “The Safe Standing movement: vectors in the post-Hillsborough timescape of English football”, Sociological Review 69(2): 348-364.
Turner, M. (2021) “The Safe Standing movement in English football: Mobilizing across the political and discursive fields of contention”, Current Sociology. DOI: 10.1177/00113921211017624.
Turner, M. (2021) “'We are the vocal minority': The Safe Standing movement and breaking down the state in English football”, International Review for the Sociology of Sport 56(7): 962-980.
Webber, D. (2021) “Towards an ‘everyday’ cultural political economy of English football: Conceptualising the futures of Wembley Stadium and the grassroots game”, New Political Economy 27(1): 47-61.