This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ The Social life of Music commodification, space and identity in world music production Van Klyton, Aaron Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 05. Oct. 2021 This electronic theses or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Title: The Social life of Music : commodification, space and identity in world music production Author: Aaron Van Klyton The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ You are free to: Share: to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. TThhee SSoocciiaall LLiiffee ooff MMuussiicc:: ccoommmmooddiiffiiccaattiioonn,, ssppaaccee,, aanndd iiddeennttiittyy iinn wwoorrlldd mmuussiicc pprroodduuccttiioonn PPhhDD TThheessiiiss ((fffiiinnaalll)),,, GGeeooggrraapphhyy,,, KKiiinngg’’’ss CCoolllllleeggee LLoonnddoonn Mr. Aaron Chaim van Klyton April 24, 2012 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgments and Dedication.......................................................................6 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………7 1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................................................8 1.2 Research themes .......................................................................................................................................... 10 1.2 Thesis research questions and aims .................................................................................................. 12 1.2.1 Production and commodification .....................................................................................................13 1.2.2 Spaces and Places of World Music...............................................................................................15 1.2.3 Identity and World Music......................................................................................................................18 1.4 Dissertation Structure.................................................................................................................................. 20 1.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................ 24 Chapter 2: Literature Review...............................................................................26 2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................................................... 26 2.2 Exploring World Music as a Contested Term ................................................................................. 28 2.2.1 World Music – What is it and who produces it?......................................................................28 2.2.2 Commodification from Above and Below ...................................................................................37 2.2.2.1 Fetishization ............................................................................................................................................47 2.2.2.2 Authenticity ..............................................................................................................................................50 2.4 The Role of Space and Place in World Music Production in the city ................................. 53 2.4.1 Space, Power, and Resistance in World Music......................................................................56 2.5 The Case for Identity in (World) Music Production ...................................................................... 60 2.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................ 65 Chapter 3 Methodology ........................................................................................68 3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................................................... 68 3.2 Research and methodological framework........................................................................................ 69 3.2.1 Ethnography ................................................................................................................................................69 3.2.1.1 Thick Description..................................................................................................................................71 3.2.1.2 Participant observation .....................................................................................................................73 3.2.1.3 Data from Participant Observation.............................................................................................77 3.2.2 Interviews......................................................................................................................................................77 3.2.3 Snapshots of Participants....................................................................................................................81 3.3 Data Collection Overview.......................................................................................................................... 83 3.2.1 Gaining Access to Musicians ............................................................................................................85 3.3.2 Music Promoters.......................................................................................................................................87 3.3.3 Disc Jockeys ...............................................................................................................................................89 3.3.4 Two members of the audience.........................................................................................................90 3.4 Data Analysis................................................................................................................................................... 92 3.6 Ethics ................................................................................................................................................................... 97 3.6 Reflections on positionality and power.............................................................................................100 3.8 Limitations and conclusion .....................................................................................................................102 Chapter 4 Commodification of world music....................................................105 4.1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................105 3 4.2 The ʻStartʼ of commodifying world music from above: From WOMAD to London .....107 4.2.1 Two tales of the same artist ............................................................................................................ 115 4.2.2 Landscape: Who are the ʻaboveʼ in the UK world music scene?.............................. 118 4.2.2.1 Charlie Gillettʼs Albums of the Month and the local world music scene............ 121 4.2.2.2 Large-scale organizations and world music .....................................................................