UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Music Circulation And
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Music Circulation and Transmission in Tbilisi, Georgia A dissertation filed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology by Brigita Sebald 2013 ©Copyright by Brigita Sebald 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Music Circulation and Transmission in Tbilisi, Georgia by Brigita Sebald Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Timothy Rice, Chair This dissertation, based upon two years of ethnographic research in Tbilisi, Georgia, questions how popular music travels from the performer to the audience and how it circulates among audience members. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the state- run music industry collapsed, taking the infrastructure for music distribution with it. In the years since, a music industry has not been rebuilt due to uncertain economic realities and a shaky political situation. Because of this, performers have difficulty spreading their music through the mass media or by selling it, and alternative distributory methods have developed. The concept of distribution, which is often associated with the activities of the music industry, is replaced with circulation, expressing music’s de-centralized movement and the role individuals play in making music move. This dissertation establishes two spheres through which music circulates: the first is characterized by a higher level of control by the government ii and by businesses, and musicians have limited access to it; the second involves a lower level of control, and therefore musicians and audience members can more easily utilize it. Certain musical styles, such as estrada and ethno-music (a combination of popular and traditional styles) are favored in the first, while other styles, such as heavy metal, circulate almost exclusively in the second.
[Show full text]