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An analysis of the interrelationship between media forms, format, and meaning.

Media Materialities brings together a team of scholars to analyze the increasingly complex relationships between media forms and formats, materiality, and meaning. Deploying a number of different qualitative methodologies, the contributors address three overarching concepts: form, format, and ephemeral meaning. They investigate a range of media artifacts, such as 8mm film, board game maps, videogames, cassette tapes, transistor radios, and Twitter. Their goal is to create spaces for conversation and debate about the implications that this plurality of material meanings might have for the study of media, culture, and society.
 

An ethnographic approach to global pop music studies.

This edited collection offers evocative ways into an international selection of popular music, from the Ecuadorian indie scene to Chinese rock. In exploring the experiences of musicians, fans, industry professionals, and academics, the rich complexity of popular music is brought to life through ethnography as an immersive approach to both undertaking and communicating research.

Experimenting with ethnography through the joys and tribulations of musical production, fandom, and scholarship, the contributors critically consider what it means to be a popular music ethnographer and what it means to take an ethnographic approach to studying popular music.

In addition to the critical essays, shorter vignettes are provided by musicians, venue owners, music writers, live music photographers, and fans. Altogether, the book explores the practices, places, and identities behind the music.