Response to Andre Sirois and Janet Wakso: The Political Economy of the Recorded Music Industry

This piece raises several strong points, and is meticulous in its approach to researching the historical relationship between technology and music. It has a strong introduction, by explaining the definition of political economy, whilst also briefly summarising what the rest of the chapter is about. It contains information on various developments in music over time, whilst closely linking it persistently to the economic aspects of its success and flaws. However the point I am going to discuss during this response is the exploration of this text.

Although it has a strong introduction, the writing appears to lose its flow. The authors issue the reader with point after point, quote after quote, with very little explanation for its relevance. For example, during the 'Legal studies of the music industry' section, Sirois and Wakso state that 'Many scholars argue that, in order to properly understand the recording industry as a capitalist enterprise that exploits commodifies labor, a political economic analysis of this industry should emphasize copyright...'1, they then proceed to list various scholars such as Fabbri, Cvetkovski and Hesmonhalgh as evidence, without actually explaining what the initial statement means. It appears to be a common oversight through out the chapter, also occurring in the 'Critical theory and Marxist approaches' section, with an unexplained quote by Benjamin Theberge. The authors state that Theberge (1997, 185) 'contends that, with the advent of the mechanical production/reproduction of sound, a "new relationship between technology, musical practice, and the capitalist organization of production began to evolve". Then quickly moves on to another point, without explaining the relevance of this previous argument.

In conclusion, although this chapter appears to initially be a strong scholarly piece of text, it does not evaluate the purpose of the quotes used. Its references are strong but appear to lack substance with the surrounding comments.