MICSCELLANEOUS
How important is the concept of synergy to studying the music business?
For a recent theory module at university, 'The Music Business', one of the assignments was a written exam - with half being short-answer questions, and half being a written essay question response. As the exam was timed, this essay answer should take roughly an hour to write. We were given the 9 questions that we could choose one from 2 weeks before the exam in order to prepare an answer, although, any plan had to be learnt, as notes could not be taken into the exam with us. As we did not have any readings or notes with us, it was explained that were would not be expected to be able to remember full references for quotes/ideas from readings, so I ensured I remembered and included who a reference was from, but have not included reading names or page numbers.
The essay below is written from my memorised plan and is roughly what I submitted for my answer in the exam. I have tried to recreate what I produced in the exam in timed conditions, so acknowledge some structural or quotation mistakes, for example, which, if this was coursework and not a timed exam I would have worked on further.
The exam in general (this essay question and the 20 short answer questions) was graded as 82/100, a 1st.
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Radio and Popular music theory reading diaries
For one of my 1st-year theory modules, Radio and Popular Music, one of our assignments was to create a weekly reading diary, with each week relating to the topic of study that week. Everyone was given one compulsory reading, the same for everyone, and then we had to find our own on a related topic, read both and then create a 400-500 word response to both, comparing their similarities and differences in the points they make, positive and negative points regarding their methodologies and structures, and any comments or reflections you have on your opinions on the topic since reading them as well as how they may have inspired you to conduct further study.
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Why is fan adoration, emersion and community so important for bands, in particular bands that have a hiatus, such as Fall Out Boy?
The following research report is from my first theory module in 1st-year, Studying the Media and Communication. As this was our first research report at University, the topic of our individual report was left completely down to us, as we were exploring new methodologies, theoretical frameworks and analytical styles. As an interest of mine, and possibly the sort of thing I may want to continue after University I researched fandoms and fan communities relating to the longevity of an artist's/record's success. As my report included virtual ethnography, to conduct this in an ethical way I have not included full names or usernames of the source poster, in case any views/opinions were posted in confidence - however, I included these in the appendix on the submitted assignment for marking purposes.
Introduction
In today’s contemporary media society, audiences can continue to reap the benefits from media texts long after the release and initial consumption of the text. I am investigating how fan activity allows them to do this, with this fan activity being how the media fuels their imagination within an imagined social community (Abercrombie & Longhurst, 1998, p. 121). I will then reflect upon how important this is for bands, and the influence it has on fan groups and bands’ success in the music industry.
This audience study is an important topic to probe into. Through undertaking virtual ethnography, it will assess how audiences ‘use’ a media text, especially through new media platforms, and the implication this has on the success of both the musical figure and the media text. I will focus my study more specifically on bands that have gone on a hiatus, precisely Fall Out Boy, scrutinising the activity of fans during that hiatus and how the following and success remained. This will tie in well with the theoretical frameworks of Henry Jenkins’ idea of Convergence Culture (Jenkins, 2006, p. 248), as well as Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications (Lyn, 1996, p. 574).