%0 Journal Article
%T Do People Value Recorded Music?
%A Lee Marshall
%J Cultural Sociology
%@ 1749-9763
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1749975519839524
%X How much do the majority of people value music, and can or should that level of value be reflected in music¡¯s economic value? The dramatic decline in the economic value of recorded popular music in the 21st century has prompted much debate about music being ¡®devalued¡¯ and the perceived ¡®value gap¡¯ between music¡¯s socio-cultural and economic values. Using the economic decline of recorded music as a springboard, this article takes a different approach, however. It offers a theoretical analysis of popular music consumption practices organised thematically in terms of ¡®music as object¡¯ (focusing on the social values generated and perceived by recorded music artefacts) and ¡®music as sound¡¯ (focusing on the way that most contemporary musical experiences are characterised by music being background sound or accompaniment). Overall, the argument is that ¡®music¡¯ may not be as culturally valued by people as is commonly assumed. The way that music operates as a low-value entity to many people is perhaps reflected in the cultural and economic contours of the digital music industry, though they are not caused by digitisation per se
%K Consumption
%K music industry
%K popular music
%K recorded music
%K records
%K ubiquitous listening
%K value
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1749975519839524