Overview As an activity that produces wealth, musical production and its effects have largely been neglected by the economics profession. This dissertation seeks contribute to a small but growing literature on the subject by analyzing musical production through a particular class analytical lens of political economy. A first problem that has encountered many within political economy, specifically within its radical variant of Marxism, is how to understand music in relation to the social totality. In the first essay of this work I provide a critical review of the literature that approaches music through the "base-superstructure metaphor", a tool of analysis well known within the Marxian theoretical tradition. In it I show how assigning elements to either one or the other of these spheres and understanding the forces of production in terms of its technical dimension (i.e. technology) limits the analytical possibilities provided by Marx's original insights. In the second part of this essay I review the ways the concept of class has been ued to analyze topics related to music within the Marxian tradition. I highlight how the essentialist moments of those particular class concepts lead to analyzes that obscure and sometimes contradict one of the main purposes Marx's original intent: to show the various guises that exploitation might take in a capitalist society. In the second essay of the dissertation I theorize musical production with the aid of a class qua surplus analysis that highlights the process of the production, appropriation, and distribution of surplus labor in relation to the production and dissemination of meaning associated with music as a cultural process. I identify various musical scenes and show the dialectic of aesthetics and musical labor. In the third and final essay, I compare and contrast two discourses of theft: those of exploitation and of piracy. I focus my attention on the music recording industry and show how the adoption of a discourse of exploitation by musicians that are not exploited and their support in anti-piracy campaigns hamper, marginalize, and contribute to eliminating none-exploitative class structures. This result is important to the literature that explores how intellectual property poses constraints to economic growth and development in the so-called Third world where most of the pirate production takes place.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 200-220). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 200-220). Also available on the Internet.

Aus EMOTIONEN wird MUSIK, aus MUSIK werden EMOTIONEN, aus EMOTIONEN werden WÜNSCHE, aus WÜNSCHEN wird MARKTWIRTSCHAFT <Der Mensch selbst ist die Urform von Musik und Musikinstrument in Einem. Dies äussert sich im Ausleben seiner seelischen Empfindungswelt, die, genau so wie Musik, nur empfind-, aber nicht greifbar ist. Aber der Mensch kann sie hörbar machen und über das Ohr findet sie den Weg in die Seele, die dann Emotionen erzeugt und freisetzt. Diese Emotionen sind der Schlüssel für die Entwicklung der Musik, die letztendlich im Laufe von ein paar tausend Jahren den Weg über viele kulturelle und technische Entwicklungen hinweg zu einer bedeutenden Wirtschaftsmacht gefunden hat>.

The Australian music industry is growing and developing yet specific information about the ways in which distribution systems develop is limited. In this study I examined the growth and change of the Australian music value chain. This includes the development of digital distribution systems and the effect that peer-to-peer technology has on system development, specifically the disintermediation between consumers and artists to the detriment of the multinational value chains. The drivers of this change are broken into social and technical elements in order to describe the growth and change occurring. The method used included a comprehensive literature review and use of secondary data from key music industry associations. The Australian music industry is a subset of the global industry and is led by foreign markets and their methods in which music content moves from the creators to the consumers. The consumption patterns of Australian music consumers are changing. The overall value of the music industry is dropping as the new digital downloads market emerges and the overall volume of sales increases; this reflects similar trends in foreign markets. CD single sales have dropped and digital single sales (in MP3 format) have increased. However, there needs to be a balance in the future development of Australian music distribution systems between the needs of music consumers and the sustainability of music companies, where there is both connectivity and steady revenue flow. There are technical elements that have caused a movement away from the traditional forms of music distribution as new technologies facilitate the change, such as Apple's iPod and broadband Internet connections. Advancement of distribution systems has increased piracy levels and the response has been the implementation of digital rights management (DRM), which prevents connectivity. There are also social elements that affect growth and change such as connectivity, or the consumers freedom to choose when, where and how to listen to their music. When music product has a restriction placed upon it its value to the consumer drops. Multinational music companies have failed to recognise the value users place on the freedom to pick and choose and have tried to control rather than to co-develop systems that meets both parties needs.