Book contents
- Whose Country Music?
- Whose Country Music?
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- “She went to Nashville to sing country music”
- Part I Industry
- 1 Mailbox Money
- 2 “Dixie Chicked”
- 3 How 360° Deals Homogenized Country Music
- 4 A Double-Edged Sword
- Part II Codes of Conduct
- Part III Authenticity
- Part IV Boundary Work
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - How 360° Deals Homogenized Country Music
from Part I - Industry
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2023
- Whose Country Music?
- Whose Country Music?
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- “She went to Nashville to sing country music”
- Part I Industry
- 1 Mailbox Money
- 2 “Dixie Chicked”
- 3 How 360° Deals Homogenized Country Music
- 4 A Double-Edged Sword
- Part II Codes of Conduct
- Part III Authenticity
- Part IV Boundary Work
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Critics of commercial country music say that the music is homogenous, cliché, and that the so-called bro-country subgenre has taken over. This chapter uses interviews with hit songwriters in Nashville to examine the social and structural factors that influence the way songwriters practice their craft. One such factor, the “360 deal,” is a type of recording contract introduced as a way for record labels to recoup some of the revenue lost with the decline of recorded music sales. Though these contracts are legal agreements between artists and their labels, they have entirely restructured the careers of professional songwriters and the music that they create. This analysis of country music in the twenty-first century is based on a deep understanding of the occupational arrangements that underlie the creation of songs to argue for understanding the structures that shape the songwriting community as critical to the formation of country songs.
Keywords
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- Information
- Whose Country Music?Genre, Identity, and Belonging in Twenty-First-Century Country Music Culture, pp. 41 - 54Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022