David Hesmondhalgh

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and those offered by Chinese web giant Tencent are now central to everyday musical activity across much of the world, with enormous ramifications for musical culture in...

Why Music Matters investigates and assesses debates about the social and political significance of music: not only the social and political significance of particular genres, styles, and exponents of music, but also of music in general, as a medium of communication in modern societies. Using various kinds of theory (social, political, cultural, musical) to understand and analyse the politics of...