Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:12:54.697Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The ambivalence of becoming a small business: Learning processes within an aspiring rock band

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2021

Tobias Malm Open the ORCID record for Tobias Malm [Opens in a new window]
Tobias Malm*
Affiliation:
University College of Music Education, and Royal College of Music, Stockholm, Sweden
*
E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The process of becoming a rock musician strongly relates to the organisational form of the band (Bennett 1980; Green 2002; Behr 2010). At all levels of ambition and success, membership of a band provides the musician with a natural entry point for performing to an audience and forging a potential career (Smith 2013a). The ‘micro-organisational’ (Bennett 2001) development of a band, therefore, is an important career prerequisite for rock musicians (Behr 2015). However, the social and practical challenges of musicianship seem to be continuously underemphasised within the field of popular music studies (Cohen 1993; Kirschner 1998; Lashua 2017; Weston 2017; Kielich 2018). Therefore, in this article I will focus on an aspiring rock band's informal learning processes in becoming a small business together. The study provides insights into the educational and organisational aspects of band practices and contributes to the fields of popular music, education and organisation studies – fields that are converging in the emerging interdisciplinary research area of ‘organising music-making’ (Beech and Gilmore 2015).

Type
Article
Information
Popular Music , Volume 39 , Issue 3-4 , December 2020 , pp. 585 - 599
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bayton, M. 1989. How women become rock musicians, dissertation (Warwick, University of Warwick)Google Scholar
Becker, H.S. 1982/2008. Art Worlds. 25th Anniversary Edition (Berkeley, CA, University of California Press)Google Scholar
Beech, N., and Gilmore, C. (ed.) 2015. Organising Music: Theory, Practice, Performance (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press)10.1017/CBO9781139644365CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behr, A. 2010. Group Identity: Bands, Rock and Popular Music, dissertation (Stirling, University of Stirling)Google Scholar
Behr, A. 2015. ‘Join together with the band: authenticating collective creativity in bands and the myth of rock authenticity reappraised’, Rock Music Studies, 2/1, pp. 1–2110.1080/19401159.2014.969976CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, A. 2001. Cultures of Popular Music (Buckingham, Open University Press)Google Scholar
Bennett, A. 2002. ‘Researching youth culture and popular music: a methodological critique’, British Journal of Sociology, 53/3, pp. 451–6610.1080/0007131022000000590CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bennett, H.S. 1980. On Becoming a Rock Musician (Amherst, MA, University of Massachusetts Press)Google Scholar
Berkaak, O.A. 1999. ‘Entangled dreams and twisted memories: order and disruption in local music making’, Young: Nordic Journal of Youth Research, 7/2, pp. 25–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkaak, O.A., and Ruud, E. 1994. Sunwheels: fortellinger om et rockeband [Sunwheels: Stories about a Rock Band] (Oslo, Universitetsforl.)Google Scholar
Clawson, M.A. 1999. ‘Masculinity and skill acquisition in the adolescent rock band’, Popular Music, 18/1, pp. 99–11410.1017/S0261143000008746CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cloonan, M. 2015. ‘Managing the Zoeys: some reminiscences’, in Organising Music: Theory, Practice, Performance, ed. Beech, N. and Gilmore, C. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) pp. 226–35Google Scholar
Cohen, L., Manion, L., and Morrison, K. 2011. Research Methods in Education (London, Routledge)Google Scholar
Cohen, S. 1991. Rock Culture in Liverpool: Popular Music in the Making (Oxford, Clarendon Press)Google Scholar
Cohen, S. 1993. ‘Ethnography and Popular Music Studies’, Popular Music, 12/2, pp. 123–3810.1017/S0261143000005511CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, S. 1997. ‘Men making a scene: rock music and the production of gender’, in Sexing the Groove: Popular Music and Gender, ed. Whiteley, S. (London, Routledge) pp. 17–36Google Scholar
Edenfield, A.C., and Andersson, F.O. 2017. ‘Growing pains: the transformative journey from nascent to a formal not-for-profit venture’, Voluntas, 24/3, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-017-9936-zGoogle Scholar
Faulkner, R.R., and Becker, H.S. 2008. ‘Studying something you are part of: the view from the bandstand’, Ethnologie française, 38/1, pp. 15–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, H. 2002. ‘In search of bandhood: consultation with original music groups’, Group: The Journal of the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society, 26/4, pp. 267–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finnegan, R. 1989/2007. The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town (Middletown, CT, Wesleyan University Press)Google Scholar
Flacks, M.A. 1995. ‘“All I want is to feel this way:” Rock music and the myth of democracy’, Journal of Popular Music Studies, 7/1, pp. 25–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fornäs, J., Lindberg, U., and Sernhede, O. 1988/1995. In Garageland: Rock, Youth and Modernity (London, Routledge)Google Scholar
Golden-Biddle, K., and Rao, H. 1997/2004. ‘Breaches in the boardroom: organizational identity and conflicts of commitment in a nonprofit organization’, in Organizational Identity – A Reader, ed. Hatch, M.J and Schultz, M. (New York, Oxford University Press) pp. 313–45Google Scholar
Green, L. 2002. How Popular Musicians Learn (Aldershot, Ashgate)Google Scholar
Groce, S.B. 1989. ‘Occupational rhetoric and ideology: a comparison of copy and original music performers’, Qualitative Sociology, 12/4, pp. 391–41010.1007/BF00989399CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groce, S.B. 1991. ’What's the buzz?: rethinking the meanings and uses of alcohol and other drugs among small-time rock ‘n’ roll musicians', Deviant Behavior, 12/4, pp. 361–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groce, S.B., and Cooper, M. 1990. ‘Just me and the boys? Women in local-level rock and roll’, Gender and Society, 4/2, pp. 220–910.1177/089124390004002006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groce, S.B., and Dowell, J. A. 1988. ’A comparison of group structures and processes in two local level rock n' roll bands', Popular Music and Society, 12/2, pp. 21–3510.1080/03007768808591311CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoedemaekers, C., and Ybema, S. 2015. ‘All of me: art, industry and identity struggles’, in Organising Music: Theory, Practice, Performance, ed. Beech, N. and Gilmore, C. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) pp. 172–8010.1017/CBO9781139644365.019CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karlsen, S. 2010. ‘BoomTown Music Education and the need for authenticity – informal learning put into practice in Swedish post-compulsory music education’, British Journal of Music Education, 27/1, pp. 35–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kielich, G. 2018. ‘What is Popular Music Studies today? A review of the 19th biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music’, Popular Music, 37/2, pp. 296–810.1017/S0261143018000089CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, N., and Brooks, J. 2018. ‘Thematic analysis in organisational research’, in The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Business and Management Research Methods: Methods and Challenges, ed. Cassell, C., Cunliffe, A.L. and Grandy, G. (London, SAGE) pp. 219–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirschner, T. 1998. ‘Studying rock: towards a materialist ethnography’, in Mapping the Beat: Popular Music and Contemporary Theory, ed. Swiss, T., Sloop, J. and Herman, A. (Oxford, Blackwell) pp. 247–68Google Scholar
Laaksonen, L., Ainamo, A., and Karjalainen, T.-M. 2011. ‘Entrepreneurial passion: an explorative case study of four metal music ventures’, Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 13/1, pp. 18–3610.1108/14715201111147923CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lashua, B. 2017. ‘The beat of a different drummer – music making as leisure research’, in The Oxford Handbook of Music Making and Leisure, ed. Mantie, R. and Smith, G.D. (New York, Oxford University Press) pp. 425–47Google Scholar
Lave, J. 1993. ‘The practice of learning’, in Understanding Practice – Perspectives on Activity and Context, ed. Chaiklin, S. and Lave, J. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) pp. 3–3210.1017/CBO9780511625510.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lave, J., and Wenger, E. 1991. Situated Learning – Legitimate Peripheral Participation (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press)10.1017/CBO9780511815355CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malm, T. 2017. ‘Becoming a rock band: the challenges of group identity’, Journal of Popular Music Education, 1/2, pp. 165–8210.1386/jpme.1.2.165_1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malm, T. 2018. ‘Recognizing the practitioner-self: lessons from studying rock bands at-home’, Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 7/2, pp. 135–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mantie, R., and Smith, G.D. (ed.) 2017. The Oxford Handbook of Music Making and Leisure (New York, Oxford University Press)10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190244705.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, D.L. 2018. ‘Sustainable and unsustainable semi-professionalism: grassroots music careers in folk and metal’, Popular Music and Society, 41/1, pp. 71–8810.1080/03007766.2016.1209901CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panagopoulos, M., and Chillas, S. 2015. ‘Managing a punk band’, in Organising Music: Theory, Practice, Performance, ed. Beech, N. and Gilmore, C. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) pp. 236–44Google Scholar
Phillips, R.J. 2013. Rock and Roll Fantasy? The Reality of Going from Garage Band to Superstardom (New York, Imprint: Springer)Google Scholar
Rainio, A.P., and Marjanovic-Shane, A. 2013. ’From ambivalence to agency: becoming an author, an actor and a hero in a drama workshop', Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 2/2, pp. 111–2510.1016/j.lcsi.2013.04.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shank, B. 1994. Dissonant Identities: The Rock'n’Roll Scene in Austin, Texas (Hanover, NH, Wesleyan University Press)Google Scholar
Smith, G.D. 2013a. ‘Seeking “Success” in popular music’, Music Education Research International, 6/1, pp. 26–37Google Scholar
Smith, G.D. 2013b. I Drum, Therefore I Am – Being and Becoming a Drummer (Farnham, Ashgate)Google Scholar
Smith, G.D., and Gillett, A. 2015. ‘Creativities, innovation, and networks in garage punk rock: a case study of the Eruptörs’, Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts, 4/1, pp. 9–2410.1353/artv.2015.0000CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spradley, J.P. 1980. Participant Observation (Orlando, FL, Harcourt Brace)Google Scholar
Stebbins, R.A. 1992. Amateurs, Professionals and Serious Leisure (Montreal, McGill–Queen's University Press)Google Scholar
Stebbins, R.A. 2014. Careers in Serious Leisure. From Dabbler to Devotee in Search of Fulfillment (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan)Google Scholar
Taylor, S. 2003. False Prophet: Fieldnotes from the Punk Underground (Middletown, CT, Wesleyan University Press)Google Scholar
Teague, A., and Smith, G.D. 2015. ‘Portfolio careers and work-life balance among musicians: an initial study into implications for higher music education’, British Journal of Music Education, 32/2, pp. 177–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, R. 2011. Precarious Collaborations: A Study of Interpersonal Conflict and Resolution Strategies in Local Rock Bands, dissertation (Lincoln, NB, University of Nebraska–Lincoln)Google Scholar
Thunborg, C. 2016. ‘Identitetsdilemman vid organisationsförändringar’ [Identity dilemmas in organizational change], in Kollektivt lärande i arbetslivet [Collective Learning in Working Life], ed. Granberg, O. and Ohlsson, J. (Lund, Studentlitteratur), pp. 77–100Google Scholar
Timmermans, S., and Tavory, I. 2012. ‘Theory construction in qualitative research: from grounded theory to abductive analysis’, Sociological Theory, 30/3, pp. 167–8610.1177/0735275112457914CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trobia, A., and Lo Verde, F.M. 2017. ‘Italian amateur pop-rock musicians on Facebook. Mixed methods and new findings in music making research’, in The Oxford Handbook of Music Making and Leisure, ed. Mantie, R. and Smith, G.D. (New York, Oxford University Press) pp. 490–516Google Scholar
Weinstein, D. 1991. Heavy Metal. A Cultural Sociology (New York, Lexington Books)Google Scholar
Weinstein, D. 1999. ‘Art versus commerce: deconstructing a (useful) romantic illusion’, in Stars Don't Stand Still in the Sky: Music and Myth, ed. Kelly, K. and McDonnell, E. (London, Routledge) pp. 57–69Google Scholar
Weinstein, D. 2004. ‘Creativity and band dynamics’, in This is Pop: in Search of the Elusive at Experience Music Project, ed. Weisbard, E. (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press) pp. 187–99Google Scholar
Weinstein, D. 2006. ‘Relations in The Kinks – familiar but not fully familial’, Popular Music and Society, 29/2, pp. 167–8710.1080/03007760600560003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenger, E. 1998. Communities of Practice – Learning, Meaning, and Identity (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press)10.1017/CBO9780511803932CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenger, E. 2000. ‘Communities of practice and social learning systems’, Organization, 7/2, pp. 225–4610.1177/135050840072002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weston, D. 2017. ‘The place of practice in tertiary Popular Music Studies: an epistemology’, Journal of Popular Music Education, 1/1, pp. 101–1610.1386/jpme.1.1.101_1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, A. 1983. Convention and Constraint in the Operation of Musical Groups: Two Case Studies, dissertation (Keele, University of Keele)Google Scholar