Articles

Darrell Wright

Soc Pop Culture

Professor Kubal

Articles

            The first article that I read was "Solidarity and Drug Use in the Electronic Dance Music Scene," by Kavanagh Philip, and what I got from it was that there is basically two points of views to this article. On one side there is the view that the rave scene is only about drugs and young adolescents only going to these events to get high, and get away from their home lives. On the other side people believe that raves were created to for a sense of community and empathy for others. They believe that this scene is a way for them to meet new people, enjoy life as they wish to live it, and not worry about the stresses of life waiting for them after these events. The rave scene is closely related to the hippie scene back in the day; showing signs of contemporary countercultures. Philip states that in a contemporary society, there are tribes that resist social norms. So things like social class, occupation, and religion don't really matter. Instead the rave culture focuses on emotional renewal, sensual pleasure, and increased importance of appearance. The rave culture is focused on defining and shaping an alternative lifestyle.

            The next article I read was "The New Radio: Music Licensing as a Response to Industry Woe," by Bethany Klein.  It was basically about the shift from artist trying to just get their music on the radio, to trying to get their music in television commercials. Back in the day, radio was a good way to get your music out there to a lot of people but it wasn't as successful as television ads. If you as an artist could get your music in a commercial, that's when you know you've made it. So every artist wanted their songs to reach television. It also talked about how sometime in the near future; advertising agencies might just sign artist rather than having to deal with record companies. This way they could just eliminate the middle man and just work with the artist directly.