February 14th, 2021 
Your answer should be in the form of a 1,000 word essay submitted online by 11.59 pm on 18 February
Essay topics:
1. What has the impact of COVID been on the Music Business? What can be
done about it?
2. The music industry serves the interests of corporations not musicians or
audiences. Explore both sides of the argument and say if you agree
3. In popular music what is good is what sells. Discuss the pros
and cons of ‘Populism’ (Frith 1991)
4. Genres are machines for reproducing ideology Robert Walser.
Discuss in relation to a genre(s) of your choice
5. Discuss the relationship between music and place, using specific
examples.
6. How has the music business responded to piracy? Have they been
successful?
7. Discuss the politics of streaming (ie who does it benefit, who does it
harm?). Does it need to be fixed? How?
8. The history of popular music is partly a history of technologies of storage (Frith, 1996: 226). What does Simon Frith mean by this, and is it a useful way of thinking about the music business?
9. How has digitalisation changed the economics of the music business (give specific examples)?
Guidance
Define your terms (and not just the dictionary definition, but using what
the course reading says)
Identify the week relevant to the question and REFER TO THE COURSE
READING. You should read more widely than just the pdfs on Moodle,
but start with them (and follow their bibliographies)
Focus your answer- you cannot answer EVERYTHING, so summarise the
general problem (with examples) and be specific.
Use your reading list
Use concrete examples (its fine to use some from the reading but
also try and find your own)
Choose a referencing style (I dont care which but BE CONSISTENT)
As a rough guide you should include a reference in each paragraph, and
include at least 2 direct quotes from reading. Always say where you
have got your information from
Despite what the question might say it is not asking for your
OPINION. You need to make an argument (giving due weight to all sides) and provide EVIDENCE to support your assertions.
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