Reluctant entrepreneurs: musicians and entrepreneurship in the ‘new’ music industry

Changing labour conditions in the creative industries – with celebrations of autonomy and entrepreneurialism intertwined with increasing job insecurity, portfolio careers and short‐term, project‐based contracts – are often interpreted as heralding changes to employment relations more broadly. The position of musicians’ labour in relation to these changes is unclear, however, given that these kinds of conditions have defined musicians’ working practices over much longer periods of time (though they may have intensified due to well‐documented changes to the music industry brought about by digitization and disintermediation). Musicians may thus be something of a barometer of current trends, as implied in the way that the musically derived label ‘gig economy’ is being used to describe the spread of precarious working conditions to broader sections of the population. This article, drawing on original qualitative research that investigated the working practices of musicians, explores one specific aspect of these conditions: whether musicians are self‐consciously entrepreneurial towards their work and audience. We found that, while the musicians in our study are routinely involved in activities that could be construed as entrepreneurial, generally they were reluctant to label themselves as entrepreneurs. In part this reflected understandings of entrepreneurialism as driven by profit‐seeking but it also reflected awareness that being a popular musician has always involved business and commercial dimensions. Drawing on theoretical conceptions of entrepreneurship developed by Joseph Schumpeter we highlight how the figure of the entrepreneur and the artist/musician share much in common and reflect various aspects of romantic individualism. Despite this, there are also some notable differences and we conclude that framing musicians’ labour as entrepreneurial misrepresents their activities through an overemphasis on the economic dimensions of their work at the expense of the cultural.     

Case study: musicians' playing-related injuries

Professional and student musicians are at high risk of acquiring a playing-related injury at some point in their careers. Yet, specialized healthcare for musicians is scarce and expensive for most self-employed musicians. Diagnosing these injuries is challenging, and simply taking a break from an activity that has caused physical problems does not address the ergonomic and biomechanic causes of the problem. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that musicians are reluctant to seek care, and when they do, lack trust in the care that is provided to them. This article is a case presentation of the experiences of a graduate student musician studying performance at a North American university. A narrative style is used to reflect the quality and nature of experiences this musician encountered, followed by a discussion of how to advance a more participatory and holistic approach to enabling return to function.     

Keep the hope alive: young Indonesian musicians’ views of the future

Using ethnographic and interview data, this article explores hopes for the future of young Indonesian musicians. The young people are seen to consider their future trajectories in multiple, hierarchical music fields. The article also takes into account the ontological insecurity of jobs as a professional musician, arguing that there is continuous reproduction of a doxa, namely ‘survival of the fittest’ in Indonesia. Yet despite abundant risks to livelihoods, young Indonesian musicians expressed optimistic views about the future. The analysis of data below bridges the gap between the traditionally separate youth studies fields of youth transitions and youth cultures. Our interpretation critically contextualises the dialogue between these two fields based on the experiences of young Indonesian musicians as a part of the Global South.     

Church organists: Analysing their willingness to play

There currently exists a scarcity of church organ players even though they have traditionally been paid. This paper presents an empirical investigation into the factors that affect the church organ player's willingness to play. Results suggest pay does not attract the organ player to the position but being paid in situ increases their willingness to play, as do larger choir sizes and a better instrument quality. We also identify that organ players should be taught when they are young, as the younger the church organ player starts learning the instrument then the greater their willingness to play.     

Homeless families in St. Louis: A report from the field

In May, June, and September of 1998, 169 residents of the largest homeless shelter in Missouri were surveyed in response to the Institute for Children and Poverty's February 1998 request to continue research on homeless families in other areas of the country. Our findings corroborate the New York City data of the Institute for Children and Poverty (ICP), with these notable differences: ” For the women in our study, the experience of childhood violence and abuse was significantly higher than that reported in the ICP study. ” The number of children in homeless single-parent families in which the parent is beyond childbearing years was higher than the ICP-reported average (2.7 children). ” Older respondents were more likely to have graduated from high school than younger respondents. ” Compared to the ICP´ is respondents, fewer of our survey's respondents had previously lived on their own and more had stayed with family and friends. ” Significantly more residents in our study had no medical insurance. In addition, ” We gathered information on how many non-high school graduates had earned their GED and how many had attended or graduated from college. ” Our respondents were asked in what career fields they wanted to work. ” We gathered data on nicotine, alcohol, and drug abuse among our residents. ” We asked respondents if their children had the same father. Based on this survey, we concluded that programs for homeless children aimed at keeping them in school, improving their education, and helping them to form and realize career goals—as well as services such as counseling and mentoring—are necessary to keep homeless children from becoming homeless adults.     

Love and Alcohol: Performance in the Fiction and Life of Writer-Singer Nataliia Medvedeva

Abstract

The multifaceted Russian author, singer, and actress Nataliia Medvedeva’s (1958–2003) creative output was synonymous with performance. Her image became iconic in worldwide popular culture as the carefree, smiling young woman on the cover of the New Wave rock group “The Cars”’s eponymous 1978 album. Then Medvedeva was twenty years old and had been living in the United States for about three years; she returned to Russia in 1994 after nineteen years abroad, mainly in the US and France, and died at the age of forty-four, possibly of a fatal mixture of alcohol and tranquilizers. By the time of her death, Medvedeva—author, poet, journalist, singer, musician, model, and designer—was, and remains, an enigmatic yet colourful figure of the Russian émigré and post-Soviet literary, music, and cultural scenes.

From an early age in Leningrad, she showed an aptitude for constructing performance and (re)presenting herself. This article suggests that Medvedeva used her early autobiographical writing as a method of thinking through her ideas and beliefs about the nature of performance, especially as it related to perceptions of the sexual, sexuality, and shocking-ness, as well as to the relationship between the audience and herself, indeed, between society and the self. To support my thesis, I focus, in particular, on her autobiographical novel Liubov’ s alkogolem [Drunk Love, 1987?, 1995, 2001], as well as foundational ideas from the field of performance studies.     

Making It in a Cover Music Scene: Negotiating Artistic Identities in a “Kmart‐Level Market”

This research examines how musicians understand art and commerce in a music scene dominated by cover bands. Drawing on thirty semi‐structured interviews and one hundred hours of ethnographic observation, I find that most musicians self‐identify as artists yet perceive social status to be rooted in commercial success. This research details what it means to “make it” in an art world that offers little institutional support or remunerative reward for artistry. Musicians employ three approaches to negotiate the disconnect between artistic identities and commercially defined status: segregating their artistic and commercial pursuits, locating artistry in their commercial work, and justifying their commercially viable activities as a means to attaining a comfortable lifestyle. This on‐the‐ground account of commercial influences’ effects on musicians informs post‐Bourdieusian research on fields of cultural production. I suggest that future research on culture producers must distinguish between social status—a position in a social hierarchy—and interpersonal respect. When esthetics are marginalized as a basis for status, musicians’ status becomes bound to employment opportunities and expansible relative to the extent of the scene.     

Priming from the pulpit: Extending regulatory focus theory to church services

The purpose of this research note is to extend a powerful cognitive psychology theory—regulatory focus theory—to a specific nonprofit organization: churches. We apply this theory to the design of church services to model how church leaders can structure services to enhance congregant experience and generate positive behavioral outcomes. We present an experiment utilizing 126 adult Americans as initial evidence for our framework. The results indicate that using appropriate regulatory focus priming strategies can increase congregant donations.     

Sexual abuse victimization and psychological distress among adolescent offenders

This study focused on sexual abuse victimization and psychological distress among 272 adolescent offenders. The respondents were interviewed while they were being detained in a short-term holding facility. Female respondents reported more sexual abuse victimization and psychological distress than did their male counterparts. Furthermore, church attendance moderated the association between sexual abuse victimization and psychological distress among the male respondents. Implications of these findings for research and interventions with adolescent offenders are discussed.     

Sexual Abuse Victimization and Psychological Distress Among Adolescent Offenders

ABSTRACT

This study focused on sexual abuse victimization and psychological distress among 272 adolescent offenders. The respondents were interviewed while they were being detained in a short-term holding facility. Female respondents reported more sexual abuse victimization and psychological distress than did their male counterparts. Furthermore, church attendance moderated the association between sexual abuse victimization and psychological distress among the male respondents. Implications of these findings for research and interventions with adolescent offenders are discussed.     

Young,anchored and free? Examining the dynamics of early housing pathways in Australia

Young people are remaining in the parental home for longer, and returning there more often, before attaining residential independence. In Australia, these patterns have prompted concerns about a ‘boomerang generation’ whose housing aspirations and decisions have either been directly questioned, or viewed as symptomatic of broader affordability issues. Employing a longitudinal perspective, we argue that early residential pathways reflect a mix of stable and dynamic influences involving individuals, their families, and their broader relationships. Using data from a large cohort (n = 2082) of young Australians participating in the ‘Our Lives’ research project, we examine housing pathway formation between the ages of 12/13 and 21/22. Events such as parental union dissolution or partnership formation were found to encourage home leaving, whilst being employed at a younger age and having grown up rurally predicted both leaving and remaining out of home. Close, supportive relationships with family and friends served to ‘anchor’ respondents at home for longer, and parental socioeconomic resources enabled respondents to leave home and return if needed. The findings suggest that early residential independence reflects various factors, not all of which are in young people’s control, and some of which may hinder the longer term sustainability of their living arrangements.     

Religious Involvement and Political Behavior: a Log-linear Analysis of White Americans, 1952-1968*

The political distinctiveness of major American religious groupings is well-documented, but the role of church attendance in maintaining these cleavages has been unclear. Analysis of white respondents in five national surveys covering 16 years reveals that church attendance is significantly related to party identification and presidential vote in all but one instance. Application of Goodman's log-linear analysis of contingency tables shows that higher rates of church attendance are related to non-Democratic preferences among Protestants and Democratic preferences among Catholics. In several years, the relationship depends as well upon region of residence. The effects, particularly on the vote, seem to be changing systematically over time as the South becomes politically similar to the non-South.     

Living in Sin? Religion and Cohabitation in Britain 1985–2005

Frequency of cohabitation among 13,703 adults from the British Social Attitudes data set for 1985–2005 peaked at around 26–30 years of age and increased significantly over the period of study. Cohabitation frequency was compared between those of no religious affiliation and Christian affiliates who (a) attended church at least once a month, (b) attended church but less than once a month, and (c) never attended church. Active Christians were 3.2 times less likely to cohabit than nonaffiliates, and rates of cohabitation have remained stable over time in this group. Christian affiliates who never attended church were 1.2 times less likely to cohabit than nonaffiliates, suggesting that even affiliation without attendance may indicate greater affinity to Christian moral attitudes compared with nonaffiliates.     

The Dire Straits of Homelessness: Dramatic Echoes and Creative Propositions From the Field

This ethnographic study draws on the realities, survival strategies, and needs of a group of homeless people living in South Florida. Fifty-six individuals (mean age = 51 years; age range = 21–76 years) of various racial backgrounds responded to a semistructured narrative interview. Two thirds of respondents encountered substance abuse challenges and experienced chronic homelessness, one third worked, and three fifths were arrested at least once. Thematic narrative analyses revealed that substance abuse, unemployment, a low-paying job, and a relationship breakup were the most prevalent causes of homelessness. The greatest difficulties reported concerned sleeping patterns, police harassment and brutality, dehumanization, and hunger. Survival strategies incorporated hiding from police, attending local food drives, soliciting food from local fast food places, and begging. Support came predominantly from the church, family members, and friends. Relief desired embodied broader employment opportunities, close-by food drives and shelters, a designated area to sleep precluding police harassment, better wages, and less discrimination by society. Implications of the findings and future research needs are inspected.     

An Interpersonal Influence Model of Traditional Religious Commitment*

Typically, explanations of traditional religious commitment have relied on economic deprivation or sociodemographic variables. An alternative explanation was developed based on social control and participation in the activities of the congregation. It was predicted that the most important determinant of individual religious commitment would be denominational affiliation; the denomination establishes the expectations with regard to religious belief. It was also predicted that social participation variables, which determine the extent to which the individual is integrated into the congregation, would also be important. Testing the model with data broadly representative of the Protestant churchgoing population, it was found that denominational affiliation, church attendance and intra-congregational friendships were generally the three most important predictors of three traditional religious commitment measures. Other variables—education, occupation, gender, age and region of birth—made insignificant or small contributions to explained variance.     

A comparison of early retirement pensions in the United States and Russia: the pensions of musicians

Early retirement pensions for particular occupations free national policy to establish the social security early retirement age at a later age that is more appropriate for the population as a whole. This paper focuses on early retirement pensions in the United States and the Russian Federation. While comparing early retirement pensions generally, the paper provides a more detailed discussion of the pensions for musicians. While this is an unconventional group to choose for the study of pensions, study of their pensions yields insights into the principles underlying retirement age policy in the two countries.     

Production,convention and power: Constructing the sound of an Early Music orchestra

By explaining how an Early Music orchestra produces its sound, we can review Howard Becker's concept of a convention. An orchestra's sound depends on principles incorporated in things (musical instruments, scores) and bodies (musicians' techniques). A common set of principles about interpreting a piece of music — principles acquired well before any rehearsal — do not suffice for coordinating a group of musicians. As observations have shown, face-to-face interactions are decisive in this coordination. The conductor is not omniscient and does not impose his interpretation on musicians. Relations based on authority, being unstable, are redistributed among the conductor, soloist and first violin during rehearsals. Recognizing the importance of face-to-face interactions draws attention to the cogency of power relations, which, though omnipresent, are constantly reworked in the situation for producing an orchestra's sound.     

Assessment of andropause awareness and erectile dysfunction among married men in Ile-Ife,Nigeria

Andropause (also known as androgen decline in aging males) has implications for the reproductive health and quality of life of older males. Very few studies have, however, been reported among the Nigerian population on andropause-related issues. This study assesses the perspective and level of awareness of married men in Ile-Ife, South-west Nigeria, of andropause. We also assessed their experience of erectile dysfunction, using a questionnaire based on the review of the International Index of Erectile Dysfunction. The study involved 355 married men, aged between 30 and 70 years. Our result shows a high level of misconception about andropause among our respondents, with 38.9% indicating that it is a myth, and another 23.6% attributing it to various causes other than being a natural aging process. We recorded a prevalence of erectile dysfunction of 43.8% (8.0% severe dysfunction and 35.8% moderate dysfunction). The prevalence of erectile dysfunction increased significantly with age, varying from 38.5% for age 31-40 years to 63.9% for the older age group of 61-70 years. The trend in prevalence of erectile dysfunction with age was significant (p < 0.05). An odds ratio of 2.82 (95% confidence interval 1.19-6.76) was recorded for the prevalence of erectile dysfunction at age 61-70 years compared with age 31-40 years. Our findings indicate a need for health education about andropause in Nigeria, and increased attention to the reproductive health concerns of males, and the older population.     

Sociodemographic Correlates and Morbidity in Lottery Gamblers: Results from a Population Survey

The aim of the current study was to examine the socio-demographic correlates, the association of mental and physical illness, and the prevalence of pathological gambling among three groups (1) those with lottery gambling only (2) those with lottery and other types of gambling and (3) those with other types of gambling only—such as playing cards, sports betting, horse racing, casino gambling etc. Data was used from a nationwide cross-sectional epidemiological nationally representative survey of the resident (Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents) population in Singapore of 6616 Singaporean adults aged 18 years and older. All respondents were administered the South Oaks Gambling Screen to screen for pathological gambling. The diagnoses of mental disorders were established using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and relevant socio-demographic data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Lottery gambling was by far the most popular form of gambling in Singapore, with 83.5 % of those who had ever gambled indicating that they had participated in lottery gambling. Those who participated in lottery gambling alone were more likely to belong to the older age group (as compared to the 18–35 years age group), be of Indian ethnicity, have a secondary or vocational education, and earn a lower income as compared to the other two groups. Our findings that those with pure lottery gambling were significantly less likely to be pathological gamblers and had significantly lower odds of psychiatric and physical morbidity as compared to the other two groups are unique and need further research.     

Community Attachment in a Rural Region1

Abstract Two models of community attachment in mass society—the linear development model and the systemic model—are reviewed. Based on data from respondents living in 27 communities in north-central Iowa, population size and density, key variables in the linear-development model, relate only weakly to community attachment as measured by social bonds and local sentiments. Length of residence, income, and age, which are variables in the systemic model, generally are more strongly related to the bonds and sentiments. Because samples were sufficiently large that data for each community could be analyzed independently, additional tests of the systemic model were possible; results indicate that differences occur among communities within an area thought to be relatively homogeneous.