Overview

Record contracts have been the goal of aspiring musicians, but are they still important in the era of SoundCloud? Musicians in the United States still seem to think so, flocking to auditions for The Voice and Idol brands or paying to perform at record label showcases in the hopes of landing a deal. The belief that signing a record contract will almost infallibly lead to some measure of success— the “ideology of getting signed,” as Arditi defines it—is alive and well. Though streaming, social media, and viral content have turned the recording industry upside down in one sense, the record contract and its mythos still persist. Getting Signed provides a critical analysis of musicians’ contract aspirations as a cultural phenomenon that reproduces modes of power and economic exploitation, no matter how radical the route to contract. Working at the intersection of Marxist sociology, cultural sociology, critical theory, and media studies, Arditi unfolds how the ideology of getting signed penetrated an industry, created a mythos of guaranteed success, and persists in an era when power is being redefined in the light of digital technologies.  

Full Product Details

Author:   David Arditi
Publisher:   Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Imprint:   Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Edition:   1st ed. 2020
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9783030445867

ISBN 10:   3030445860
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   28 September 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction The Ideology of Getting Signed My Approach Record Contracts Making It, Breaking In, Blowin' Up: The Ideology is Everywhere The Book Going Forward Part I Chapter 2 Record Contracts: Ideology in Action Alienation and Ideology Material Relations of Production Institutions Conclusion Chapter 3 Copyright Enclosure Musical Instruments and the Means of Production Labor Theory of Value Land Enclosures Creating Intellectual Property Contracts and Copyrights Conclusion Chapter 4 The Digital Turn: Music Business as Usual Positioning Musicians in the Music Industry From Bar Gigs to Social Media Alternatives Conclusion Chapter 5 On Competition in Music Competition in American Society Competition as unique to music and other entertainment fields Winning/Losing Battle of the Bands Competition between musicians, not labels Conclusion Part II Chapter 6 We're Getting the Band Back Together Division of Labor Solidarity Marx Strained Solidarity: a new model of the division of labor Solace: A Case Study of Strained Solidarity Conclusion Chapter 7 The Voice: Popular Culture and the Perpetuation of Ideology The Show Precarity Ideology Conclusion Chapter 8 Conning the Dream The Music Showcase The Performers Winning/Losing Conclusion Chapter 9 Conclusion Techno-Utopian Mantras Label Resources Thinking of an Alternative

Reviews

The book offers a much-needed perspective about the very foundations of such inequalities, critically examining the exploitation of creative workers for the maximization of corporate profit. ... By providing a toolkit of concepts, theories, and empirical evidence, Getting Signed is an important contribution to tackle fundamental questions about the unequal relationships of power that lie behind many of our daily cultural consumptions. (Luca Carbone, new media & society, June 7, 2022)

Author Information

David Arditi is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas at Arlington, USA, and author of iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era.

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