MU$IC

We explore the economy, sociology, and practice of popular music, blending research and practical insights to shed light on how music ‘works’.

The minor has a three-fold set-up:
In the first module (Popular Music: Industry and Society), students are introduced to the basics of the sociology and economy of popular music. We will study popular music’s role in societies from its beginnings in rag time and youth cultures to its contemporary position in 21st Century digital landscape, all the while keeping an eye on the developing business-side of the music industry – both at the level of musicians and global media companies. Overall, the goal of this module is to familiarize students with key insights from the economic and sociological study of popular music.

In the second module (Tracks of the Trade: Doing Popular Music Research), students will take a deep dive into research on popular music production, distribution, and reception. Each week, students will cooperatively conduct research on a central theme within popular music. In practical, interactive sessions, students will dissect the methodologies used to conduct this research and evaluate research insights. The overarching goal of this module is to prepare students to become popular music researchers themselves, either from an academic perspective or for practical professional purposes.

In the third module (The Shape of Popular Music to Come), students move their focus to the practical side of the popular music ecosystem. In a series of small-scale, interactive seminars, several invited sector professionals will share their knowledge and practical experience on identified key challenges for the future of the music ecosystem. By gaining a peek behind the curtain into the functioning of the popular music sector in the Netherlands and beyond, this module prepares students for a potential career in the popular music ecosystem.

After following this minor, students have an in-depth understanding of the role that popular music plays in society.

• After following this minor, students are able to reproduce the key concepts in the sociology and economy of popular music and apply these in their own work and research.
• After following this minor, students have an in-depth understanding of the history and contemporary workings of the international popular music industries from a business, legal, organizational, technological and societal perspective.
• After following this minor, students can evaluate challenges in the popular music ecosystem and can creatively produce analyses and potential solutions to these challenges in their own work and research.
• After following this minor, students can evaluate and develop research methods to sociologically study the production, distribution, and reception of popular music.
• After following this minor, students are equipped to identify and research challenges in the popular music ecosystem, from an academic and a professional perspective, and share these insights in an accessible way.

• Affinity with popular music is essential to successfully follow this minor programme, but it is not necessary to possess musical knowledge or skills (e.g. playing an instrument).
• Attendance is mandatory for modules 2 and 3.

Teaching methods

1. Popular Music: Industry and Society (5 EC): One lecture per week; three hours each
2. Tracks of the Trade: Doing Popular Music Research (5EC): One interactive seminar per week; three hours each. Attendance mandatory.
3. The Shape of Popular Music to Come (5 EC): One interactive seminar per week; three hours each. Attendance mandatory.

Teaching materials
Research articles, book chapters, music sector articles, policy reports, opinion pieces, podcasts or (non-academic) research reports.

Examination
Module 1 – Popular Music: Industry and Society
Written exam (70%)
Group assignment (30%)

Module 2 – Tracks of the Trade: Doing Popular Music Research
Poster presentation (30%)
Individual paper (70%)

Module 3 – The Popular Music Hit Song Project
Session introduction (30%)
Individual paper (70%)