MEDIA 331

Recorded Music and Media Formats

Please note: this is archived course information from 2020 for MEDIA 331.

Description

This course explores the relationships between

(i) The sounds and cultures of popular music

(ii) The formats in which media industries and musicians have produced and distributed music e.g., vinyl records, radio, cassettes, CDs, downloadable MP3s and streaming platforms such as Spotify

(iii) The ways in which people have listened to this recorded music

Beyond the prerequisites for this course, students are not expected to have specialised or technical knowledge of music, sound recording or media technologies to participate in this class. We will consider music and media in their wider contexts, and relate them to debates about cultural politics, aesthetics and political economy.

The course will make you more familiar with interdisciplinary scholarship on popular music, with an emphasis on approaches in media and communication studies, sound studies, cultural studies and sociology.

We will listen to a wide range of music styles and genres from the past and present and from around the world, including but not limited to folk, blues, rhythm & blues, soul, funk, pop, rock and roll, rock, metal, reggae, disco, punk, hip hop, house, techno, drum and bass, grime and other electronic dance music. Students will have the opportunity to research and write about particular music and media from anywhere in the world that interests them.

Assessment

Coursework only

Availability 2020

Not offered in 2020; planned for 2021

Lecturer(s)

Coordinator(s) Associate Professor Nabeel Zuberi

Points

MEDIA 331: 15 points

Prerequisites

30 points at Stage II in Media, Film and Television or Anthropology

Restrictions

FTVMS 229, FTVMS 331, MEDIA 229