What do we do when we listen? The act of engagement with music in everyday life may seem simple on the surface but participation, interpretation, circulation and cultural production in the digital age are more complex and entangled than ever before. It is especially so in Japan, with its vast multimedia idol and vocaloid industries. This unique ethnographic work at the intersection of cultural, media and music studies covers a wide spectrum of music-related activities embedded in the daily lives of two Japanese cohorts. The varied case studies, including teen idol groups and virtual idols, aid the detailed examination of the relation between music, generation, and society.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Introduction: Listening, Music, Generations
- Dancing about Architecture?
- Music and Japan
- Starting Points
- Researching Music Audiences
- Reflecting on the ‘Hybrid’ Researcher
- About This Book
- References
- 1. Audiences and Musics
- Audience Research in the West
- Media Effects and Uses and the Gratifications Approach
- Encoding/Decoding and British Cultural Studies
- Beyond Resistance: The Debates around ‘The Active Audience’
- Circuit of Culture
- Media Practice
- Media Audiences: Achievements and Questions
- Audience Research and Research on Music
- De-Westernising Media, Audiences, and Listening
- Research Questions and the Conceptual Framework
- References
- 2. Listening and Listeners
- Approaches to Listening
- The Listeners
- Yoshimi
- Sayaka
- Shigeru
- Hikari
- Naoki
- Listening to and through Music
- References
- 3. The Lost and the Relaxed
- Generation as a Concept
- Generational Identities of Contemporary Japan
- Generational Music Practices
- Generational Interpretations of Listening
- The Concept of Generations Today
- References
- 4. Participation and Proximity
- Popular Music in Japan
- Star Proximity and Parasocial Interactions
- References
- 5. Idols and Virtual Idols
- Idols and Their ‘Offices’
- Vocaloid and Piapro
- Virtuality and Co-evolution
- Between the Audiences and the Producers
- Mapping Co-evolution and Proximity into the Circuit of Culture
- References
- Conclusion: Music Generations in the Digital Age
- ‘Practices’ in Media and Music Research
- Meaning of Co-evolution and Proximity
- The Challenge of Generations
- Reflecting on Fieldwork
- Addressing the Questions
- Ways Forward
- References
- Bibliography
- Index
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