Popular Music Studies
Our research examines popular music from different social and cultural perspectives and uses a variety of theories and methods to understand how it is produced and consumed. We focus on a range of topics, music genres, historical periods and geographical locations, including Bulgarian popular music, British punk, contemporary song writing practices, Northern Soul, experimental writing about music, issues of streaming and big data, live music production, and popular music’s materiality. Our research aims to develop new ways of understanding popular music that is relevant to a wide audience and to engage with the current challenges in the field. We have ongoing partnerships with the Ivors Academy, UK Music, 1UP Digital, Static Caravan, the Birmingham Music Coalition, and many other key organisations, and we regularly contribute to public forums and industry events. The work of the Popular Music Studies Research Group covers areas such as:
- Popular music scenes
- Songwriting
- Heritage and cultural memory
- Media and technology
- Music industries
- Material culture
Cluster leads: Professor Nick Gebhardt and Dr Asya Draganova
Research projects
