Page 262 - Cultural Theory

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••• Popular Music •••

1996, ‘the term “Asda artist” was coined to describe titanic product-shifters such as Mariah
Carey and the Lighthouse Family’ by industry insiders who ‘were encouraged to sign only
the most conservative, supermarket-friendly acts’ (Cavanagh, 2001: 683). However, figures
released by the British Phonographic Industry indicate that sales for albums hit a peak of
228.3 million at the end of June 2003 – almost 3 percent up on 2002 and marks the fifth
consecutive year that album sales have topped 200 million in the UK (http://www.guardian.
co.uk/arts/netmusic/story/0,13368,1020971,00.html, accessed 24 September 2003). Clearly,
the continuing success of album sales challenges the industry’s bleak picture of the digital
age and illustrates their continuing ignorance of how records are actually used. Like the
home tapers in the 1970s and 1980s, the present-day ‘CD burners’ are more often than not
fans who circulate illegal copies among a small network of enthusiasts. This constituency
then go on to buy more albums than anyone else!
4 The biggest fear is ‘not that any particular record won’t sell but that none of their releases
will hit’ (Frith, 1983: 102, emphasis in original).
5 The collectively authored Policing the Crisis (Hall et al., 1978) is the most wide-ranging dis-
cussion as it explores the moral panic that developed in Britain in the early 1970s over the
phenomenon of mugging and it demonstrates how black youth became a scapegoat for all
the social anxieties produced by the changes to an affluent, but destabilized society.
6 Fonarow (1996, 1997) gives a number of insights into the complex and hierarchical system
of status markers at the gigs for industry personnel. For instance, there is an elaborate sys-
tem of guest passes (guest, after party, photo, all access, and laminate), each with different
levels of access and prestige. Moreover, where one places a pass is also a marker of status –
‘overt pass display is considered a sign of a novice’, while professionals will ‘discreetly place
passes on the inside of a jacket or in a back pocket’ (Fonarow, 1997: 367).

References

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Adorno,T. (1991) The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture, London: Routledge
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