Some Thoughts on the Work in Popular Music
Some Thoughts on the Work in Popular Music
This chapter considers the empirical observation that the term ‘work’ is rarely encountered in the discourse around popular music, except where legally required for copyright protection. The inappropriateness of the word and the concept it embodies can be attributed to the fact that the popular music event is influenced by the interaction among performer, performance and performed. This interaction will weaken if a musical text (the ‘performed’) is given a prescribed form, undermining the two other components of the triad. Many ‘work-like’ elements can be discerned in popular music, especially in the Broadway musical, but these are seldom clearcut or uncontroversial enough to justify using the word.
Keywords: work, popular music, performer, performance, musical
Liverpool Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
