Module: MCO6105-20 Popular Music Journalism

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Dr Andy Brown

Module Tutor Contact Details: A.Brown@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

Popular Music Journalism invites students to explore how their reading about music, whether on-line or via branded music magazines, can be developed into a project that allows you to research the history of particular titles, in terms of the writers identified with them and the music genres, artists and styles they have championed. The module will then go onto to situate these titles and their respective histories within a wider account of the music magazine sector and its relationship to the music industry, music production, multi-media promotion and fan consumption. It will identify the key role that the album and live review, interviews and news play in the formatting of the branded music magazine, as well as its changing relationship to net platforms and social media sites. This contemporary survey will be complimented by a focus on a number of influential music critics or ‘personality’ writers, New Journalism and Gonzo styles, the question of the ‘rock canon’ and the consecration of ‘classic’ albums and artists, the politics of gender and genre in the music journalism field and the extent to which the decline in print sales is indicative of a decline in the importance of music criticism or its democratization via on-line bloggers and fan-sites.

2. Outline syllabus

• The Branded Music Magazine

• 1st Assignment Guide

• The Album Review

• The Live Review

• The Interview Feature

• 1st Assignment Submission

• New Journalism and Rock Writing

• Gonzo: How Far Can You Go?

• 1st Assignment Feedback

• 2nd Assignment Guide

• Personality Writers: Case Studies

• Rock She Wrote

• Rock Canon Theory

• Bourdieu & the Cultural Field

• Explaining the Naming

• 2nd Assignment Submission

• 2nd Assignment Feedback

3. Teaching and learning activities

The first part of the module will allow you to investigate the history and ‘house style’ of a title of your choice and to write and produce an album review, live review and/or interview in that style. In order to facilitate this you will be encourage to investigate local music venues and musicians were you can review and interview, as well as make contact with local music magazine publishers and journalists. You will also be encouraged to explore on-line journalism and opportunities to self-publish their writing and reviews.

The second part of the module will identify a number of well-known music writers, exploring their style through lectures and workshop ‘readings’ and discussion. This will be followed by lectures and seminars that explore: the ‘hidden history’ of female music writers, the emergence of a ‘rock canon’ of consecrated albums and artists, the role that music writers have played in the legitimation of certain artists and genres, at the expense of others, and whether changes in the way that writing about music is consumed signal a decline in the authority of the music critic or a wider democratization of music criticism.

The Minerva site for the module will act as a research hub by providing a schedule of weekly support materials (lecture slides, essential and further reading) as well as links to music journalism on-line, music journalism archives and academic research.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Feature review(s)/Interview/Magazine investigation (2500 words)

• % Weighting: 50

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Essay or “think piece” (2500 words)

• % Weighting: 50