Jazz, genre distinction and political economy in the post-digital popular music landscape

This project will explore how digital technologies have altered the delineation of music in genre terms at the points of production, circulation, and consumption, and how do these changes manifest in the contemporary jazz field. Which cultural mediators and stakeholders shape generic discourse within contemporary jazz? Who benefits, and at whose expense, from the changing power dynamics in the post-digital landscape? What does the current popularity of certain elements of the London jazz scene tell us about these shifts? What capacity do musicians have to control the ways in which their music is defined, discussed and distributed in the post-digital industry environment? What impact does the growing role of corporate cultural sponsorship have upon musicians' attachment to generic identities? Why has an economic model of digital music predicated on data analysis and categorisation emerged alongside a growing embrace of post-generic discourse and indexical fluidity amongst jazz musicians and audiences?

The research will focus upon the contemporary London jazz scene as a case study. This will draw in part from qualitative data drawn from semi-structured interviews with figures who occupy a range of positions in the field of London jazz. In addition to musicians, interviews with radio hosts, journalists, DJs, venue owners, and audience members will be conducted. Crucially, the research will address a broad constellation of stakeholders in London jazz, drawing on those who are seen as occupying the margins of the field alongside those who currently command wider attention. Given the central role played by new digital music technologies, interviews with employees in these industries will also be carried out. The candidates intends to perform this research via the Internet, drawing on extant methodologies of internet mediated research.