Mapping the musical universe: A blockmodel of UK music festivals, 2011–2013

Abstract

There has been a growing recognition of the potential utility of social network analysis for the analysis of culture and more especially ‘music worlds’ in recent years. To date, however, studies have focused upon individual music worlds, defined by reference to either style or geography. In this article, we further develop this methodological innovation by using blockmodelling techniques to explore the coexistence of different music worlds within a common ‘musical universe’ and the pattern of connection between them. Specifically, we blockmodel a network of 106 UK music festivals, representing a variety of different music worlds and surveyed between 2011 and 2013. In addition to substantive findings, the article demonstrates that blockmodelling can be an effective way of identifying distinct ‘worlds’ within a wider network and of exploring the ‘universe’ constituted by the connections between those worlds.

Translocality, Network Structure, and Music Worlds: Underground Metal in the United Kingdom

“…Use of SNA in music sociology is increasing, with fascinating results (Allington et al ; Crossley ; Crossley and Emms ; Crossley et al. ; McAndrew and Everett ; Millward et al ).…”

“…Artists belong together, in the same world, in part, because they attract many of the same audience members. There will be overlaps with other worlds, of course, and some audience members will have eclectic tastes, but we would expect the events belonging to any given world to form a distinct network cluster (see also Crossley and Emms ).…”

“…IN THIS PAPER, we use formal social network analysis (SNA) to explore the network structure of the U.K.'s translocal underground heavy metal music world (UMW). This is intended as a contribution both to current debates on “music worlds” and also to the emerging literature on musical networks and the potential of SNA for their analysis (Allington, Dueck, and Jordanous ; Becker , , ; Crossley , ; Crossley and Bottero ; Crossley and Emms ; Crossley, McAndrews, and Widdop ; Finnegan ; Gilmore , ; Lopes ; Martin , ; McAndrew and Everett ; Millward, Widdop, and Halpin ). The paper forms part of a larger project being conducted by the first‐named author, which employs a mixed‐method approach to investigate various aspects of the UMW, combining a questionnaire survey of participation patterns among 474 insiders with ethnographic observation and 29 qualitative interviews with occupants of a variety of roles within this music world (Emms ).…”

“…The musical mainstream can be conceptualized as a world (Crossley and Emms ). However, most work is focused upon more specialized and/or less prominent worlds.…”

The impact of festivalization on the Dutch live music action field: a thematic analysis

“…In recent years, many studies have been conducted on developments in the music industries overall, and the live music sector in particular. However, the vast majority of the research on the latter is focused on specific forms: pop concerts (e.g., Behr et al 2016;Brown and Knox 2017;Webster et al 2018) or pop music festivals (e.g., Bowen and Daniels 2005;Leenders et al 2005;Orosa Paleo and Wijnberg 2006;Crossley and Emms 2016). Despite the increasing importance of the live music industry and the rapid growth of the music festival sector, research with an integral approach to live music is rare.…”