Constructing Authorship in Popular Music

Musical works are typically personified by their public performers; however, the image presented in public, which is often built around the artists star persona, usually provides a rather limited picture of musical authorship. Instead, authorial responsibility and artistic control are often divided among members of a larger creative collective. To these collective practices should be added the roles of the media and the marketing machinery. This book, therefore, sheds light on the changing authorial roles and areas of responsibility of the various agents operating within popular music culture. The author images of rock auteurs, pop stars and electronic dance music artists are examined alongside such varied topics as collective authorship, evaluative hierarchies, visual promotion and generic conventions. The question of authorship is connected with a number of themes ranging from issues of auteurism and stardom to the use of masked imagery and the blending of authorial voices. This book should be useful to professionals working in the fields of popular music/culture and media - or anyone else interested in the fascinating world of popular music and stardom.