Music City Melbourne

Name: Music City Melbourne
Brand: Allen & Unwin
SKU: 9781501369643
Price: 65.99 NZD
Availability: InStock

Urban Culture, History and Policy

By Dr Catherine Strong and Prof Shane Homan and Professor or Dr. Seamus O’Hanlon and Professor or Dr. John Tebbutt

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Summary

Music City Melbourne examines how Melbourne established itself as a global hub for popular music from the 1950s onwards. The book traces the evolution of the city’s music scene alongside changes in population, urban planning, and media industries. Drawing on interviews with musicians, venue owners, and policy-makers, it highlights the gendered, multicultural, and Indigenous influences in Melbourne's pop and rock sectors. This pioneering work offers a rich historical and cultural analysis of the city’s music ecosystem and contemporary urban music challenges.
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Format: Paperback / softback

$65⁹⁹

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Music City Melbourne

$65⁹⁹

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book will appeal to readers interested in music history, urban studies, cultural policy, and Australian arts culture. It suits academics, students, musicians, policy-makers, and anyone fascinated by how a city’s social and urban fabric shapes its musical identity.

Description

How did Melbourne earn its place as one of the world’s music cities? Beginning with the arrival of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s, this book explores the development of different sectors of Melbourne’s popular music ecosystem, in parallel with broader population, urban planning, and media industry changes in the city.

The authors draw on interviews with Melbourne musicians, venue owners, and policy-makers, documenting their ambitions and experiences across different periods. There are accompanying spotlights on the gendered, multicultural, and indigenous contexts of playing and recording in Melbourne. Focusing on pop and rock, this is the first book to provide an extensive historical lens of popular music within an urban cultural economy. It investigates the contemporary nature and challenges of urban music activities and policy.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Music City Melbourne has been praised for its rigorous research and engaging writing. Will Straw, Professor of Urban Media Studies at McGill University, calls it "one of the best books in urban music studies," noting its detailed discussion of public policy, media, social divisions, entrepreneurship, and urban planning in Melbourne's music history. Chris Gibson, Professor of Human Geography, highlights how the authors' deep archival work and interviews uncover hidden stories behind Melbourne’s reputation as a creative music city. It is highly regarded as a significant contribution to debates on creative cities and musical heritage.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781501369643

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 29 June 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic

Audience: Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 224

Collections

Arts & Culture Dr Catherine Strong Non-Fiction Prof Shane Homan Professor or Dr. John Tebbutt Professor or Dr. Seamus O’Hanlon

About the Author

Shane Homan is Associate Professor of Media Studies at Monash University, Australia. He is the editor of the Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Policy (2022).

Seamus O’Hanlon is Associate Professor of History at Monash University, Australia. He has published five books, including City Life: The New Urban Australia (2018).

Catherine Strong is Associate Professor in the Music Industry program at RMIT in Melbourne, Australia. Among her publications are Towards Gender Equality in the Music Industry: Education, Practice and Strategies for Change (co-editor, Bloomsbury 2019) and Death and the Rock Star (co-editor, 2015).

John Tebbutt is Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Australia.

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