Music Criticism Research Articles

Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll by Maureen Mahon

Reviewed by: Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll by Maureen Mahon Kamilla Arku Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll. By Maureen Mahon. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2020. 408 pp. Black Diamond Queens: African American Women in Rock and Roll is a "project of recovery and inclusion … and a consideration and critique of the workings of power and genre in the recording industry" (27). In this authoritative 2020 monograph, cultural anthropologist Maureen Mahon seeks to complicate rock and roll history by emphasizing the presence and influence of African American women on the genre. Arguing against prevailing narratives that center young white men as rock's protagonists, she posits that not only did her subjects exist, but that their voices mattered. Mahon insists that Black women shaped the history of rock and roll in ways that historians, institutions, musical gatekeepers, and the public have systematically erased, rendering her subjects' voices inaudible. Mahon utilizes a wealth of historical and ethnographic sources to bring her subjects to life. Drawing from not only fellow ethnomusicologists but also feminist scholars, historians, poets, musicologists, music journalists, and musicians, Mahon's interdisciplinary research allows her to represent her subjects and their eras in all of their complexities and contradictions. Her interviews with living subjects (including musicians Merry Clayton, the Shirelles' Beverly Lee, and the late Betty Davis) are especially compelling, as they not only present the artists as authors of their own narratives but also offer a glimpse into the research process of the contemporary scholar (Mahon's equally comical and compelling interview with a reticent Betty Davis is a standout). Black Diamond Queens is particularly indebted to other women scholars working at the intersection of race, gender, and popular music, especially Susan Fast, Jacqueline Warwick, and Daphne Brooks. Mahon's text seems to commune with Brooks's research in particular, notably Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound and "The Write to Rock: Racial Mythologies, Feminist Theory, and the Pleasures of Rock Music Criticism" (for this journal)1; like Mahon, Brooks interrogates the simultaneous centrality and marginalization of Black women in popular music. The influence of Black feminist scholars and writers working outside of music also permeates the text. Mahon invokes Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Kimberlé [End Page 180] Crenshaw, and the Combahee River Collective to illuminate and fete her subjects. From Big Mama Thornton to Tina Turner, Mahon's "Black Diamond Queens" express their feminine power through their artistry and creativity, channeling the "open and fearless underlining of [the] capacity for joy" Lorde describes in "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power."2 In her frequent comparisons of the experiences of African American women with those of white women and Black men in the music industry, Mahon also invokes the intersectional work of bell hooks, whose Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism3 she describes as a "watershed" (27). Throughout, Mahon firmly reminds us that Black women were oppressed both by the racism of white people and the sexism of patriarchal forces across the racial divide. Each of Mahon's chapters focuses on a woman or group of women whose labor shaped the history of rock and roll, tracing their personal and professional trajectories with both admiration and a keen critical eye. Mahon positions each of her subjects in their artistic, economic, and social milieus, and she reveals how they internalized, capitalized on, or challenged the music industry and the public's conceptions of Black women and Black femininity. Chapter 1 discusses Willa Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, whose "rags to rags" career "encapsulates the blend of presence and obscurity that is emblematic of black women in rock and roll" (29). As a performer Thornton challenged conceptions of gender through her assertive vocals and disruptive lyrics, influencing artists like Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin. Mahon paints a vivid portrait of a musical powerhouse, focusing on Thornton's technical and expressive artistry and her skills as an improviser and composer. She also gives space to Thornton's critical consciousness, citing interviews from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s in which Thornton asserts her ownership over her work and accomplishments, and reveals...

Critical Assessment of Poetry of Philip Larkin

In the year 1922, Philip Larkin was born in Coventry, which is located in England. In addition to finishing with First Class Honors in English, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. John's College, Oxford, where he also became friends with the author and poet Kingsley Amis. After completing his undergraduate degree, Larkin went on to pursue professional courses in order to become a librarian. He began his career in Shropshire and Leicester, continued it at Queen's College in Belfast, and ended it as the librarian at the University of Hull. He worked in libraries the whole of his life. Not only did Larkin produce volumes of poetry, but he also wrote and published two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), as well as jazz music criticism, essays, and review articles. The latter were compiled into two books: All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961-1968 (1970; 1985) and Required Writing: Miscellaneous Pieces 1955-1982. Both were published in 1970 and 1985 respectively (1984). Before his death in 1985, he was considered by many to be "England's other Poet Laureate." He was one of the most well-known poets to emerge from England in the decades after World War II. In point of fact, when the post of laureate became available in 1984, numerous poets and critics advocated for Larkin's election to the position; nevertheless, Larkin chose to stay out of the spotlight.

Modern algorithms for interpreting the history of music: an epistemological discourse

In the article a historically significant situation is considered, when with the revival in the last third of the twentieth century of B. Asafyev's ideas on music as a sound intonation environment and an art of intoned meaning, as well as because of the expansion of modern humanitarian knowledge due to close interdisciplinary links, the musical criticism underwent a process of active development, synthesizing the subject field of historical and theoretical musicology on the basis of culturology and philosophy. The achievements of this process have been analyzed, which demonstrate a radical renovation of the conceptual and semantic content of the leading categories of musicology, in particular, in relation to the interpretation of historical phenomena in music in view only of their inherent worldview paradigms. Analytical algorithms for detecting epistemologically reliable data on the style of epochs and criteria for compiling their generalized "image" under the guise of an invariant model are specified. The expediency of a monadological (nonlinear) approach to the history of music, which methodologically corresponds to the idea of "philosophy of integrity", is proposed and substantiated.

Activities of music societies of Eastern Galicia as a prerequisite for the development of professional performance (ist third of the XX century)

The purpose of the article is to present the activities of music societies in Eastern Galicia during the late nineteenth – first third of the twentieth century, which laid the foundations for the development of national professional music education and performance, including piano. The methodological basis of the publication is historical-stylistic and comparative approaches, methods of historical-cultural discourse (V. Cherkasov), fundamental historical-musicological positions (L. Korniy, L. Kianovska, etc.). Problems of musical culture, education, and performance were considered by Galician musicians of that time (S. Lyudkevych, V. Barvinsky, N. Nyzhankivsky, etc.) in the broader context of national and cultural life, cooperation of Ukrainian cultural and educational societies, the active position of composers, performers, and teachers, which contributed to the development of professional education and performance, music culture in general. This methodological approach was continued by modern musicologists (M. Zagaykevych, L. Kiyanovska, L. Korniy, L. Mazepa, M. Cherepanin, etc.), who interpret the cultural and artistic life of Galicia in the second half of the nineteenth - early twentieth century. as a turning point in the process of formation of professional musical culture, due to the adoption of the so-called "cultural autonomy" (1867). Scientific novelty. A significant role in this process was played by music centers founded by the Society for the Distribution of Music in Galicia, the Galician Music Society (hereinafter - the Polish Music Society), the GMT Conservatory (1854) as the main musical educational institution in Galicia in the second half of the nineteenth century. The role of Ukrainian music societies was important, most of all – the centers of "Boyan" and "Union of Boyans", Music Society M. Lysenko, which became the basis for the establishment of the Ukrainian professional music institution – Higher Music Institute (1903), then - Lysenko Higher Music Institute (VMIL), the activities of an extensive network of its branches in various cities of Galicia. Significant educational activities of cultural, educational, and musical societies have encouraged professional composers to create original musical works, arrangements of folk songs, compiling the appropriate professional repertoire. In turn, this necessitated the development of professional music criticism in the Ukrainian periodicals. Analyzing the socio-cultural context of music societies, we relied on the developed classifications of their activities (N. Kobrin). This allowed us to outline the role of numerous monographic and thematic concerts dedicated to Ukrainian and Western European composers, solo concerts of prominent Ukrainian vocalists, and instrumentalists in the growth of performing skills of Ukrainian artists of this period. Conclusions. Conclusions are made about the decisive role of the network of cultural, educational, and musical societies of Eastern Galicia in the late nineteenth - first third of the twentieth century. in the process of development in the region of musical performance and musical culture in general.
 Keywords: musical culture of Western Ukraine, end of XIX – first third of XX century, cultural-educational and musical societies, musical performance.

„Odgadnąć i uzewnętrznić wielką tajemnicę […] Chopinowskiej muzyki” – Dusze niektórych melodii. Chopin Cezarego Jellenty

The article constitutes a detailed analysis and interpretation of one of the most important texts written at the turn of the twentieth century, which was devoted to the reception and interpretation of Frédéric Chopin’s compositions in the Young Poland period. In his work, Cezary Jellenta presents the nervous perception of the Polish composer’s music typical of the era and refers in his reflections to numerous works of painting and both Polish and world literature, which perfectly illustrates the fascination with the idea of the correspondence of arts. It is also a testimony to the foundations of the emerging music criticism and evidence of the undying adoration for Frédéric Chopin’s works.

Performance and Reception of Bartók’s Violin Music during His First Concert Tour of the United States (1927–1928)

Abstract During his first concert tour of the United States (1927–1928) Bartók played primarily his own music in lecture-recitals, orchestra performances, and chamber music concerts in fifteen American cities. Over the course of the tour, he collaborated with violinists Jelly d’Arányi and Joseph Szigeti to present a few of his works for violin and piano to members of musical clubs in New York City and Philadelphia, and before dignitaries at the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C. – namely his Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 2 (1922), Hungarian Folk Tunes, for violin and piano (arranged by Joseph Szigeti, 1926), and Romanian Folk Dances for Violin and Piano (arranged by Zoltán Székely, 1925). In Boston and New York, Bartók played on recitals that also included performances of his String Quartets nos. 1 and 2. In this article I document the American reception of Bartók’s violin music during his U.S. recitals of early 1928. Music criticism in American newspapers and music journals, as well as detailed program notes from the string quartet performances, have been taken into account to reveal the assessment of Bartók’s violin music and string quartets and the characterization of the composer in the American press and concert halls. The reviews have also been considered in comparison to later recordings of the violin and piano works made by Bartók and Szigeti.

Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in the American Midwest

Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in the American Midwest

Review: Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound, by Daphne A. Brooks

Review: <i>Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound</i>, by Daphne A. Brooks

Review: Songbooks: The Literature of American Popular Music, by Eric Weisbard

Review: <i>Songbooks: The Literature of American Popular Music</i>, by Eric Weisbard

A Critical Analysis of the Universalization of the Star Classification-oriented Popular Music Criticism

이 글은 현재 예술 장르를 떠나 평론의 보편적인 방식처럼 여겨지는 별점 혹은 수치로 환산되는 평가방식에 대해 대중음악 평론의 영역 사례를 중심으로 비판적으로 살피는 데 목적이 있다. 나아가 이 현상을 양적 평가를 다른 질적 평가보다 신뢰하는 현대사회의 사고방식/가치체계와 연결지어 사고해 본다. 이를 통해 역사적, 미학적, 철학적 관점에 입각한 논리적 수사의 구사를 통해 전문성을 인정받고 존재 가치를 증명해 온 평론의 역사를 일별하고, 현재의 변화가 지닌 의미를 추적한다. 글의 구성은 평론이라는 글쓰기 형식이 대두되게 만든 역사적 배경과 그로 인해 형성된 평론의 성격과 특성에 대한 모색, 최근 중요한 평가방식으로 부상한 별점 평가에 대한 고찰, 미디어 환경 변화와 평론의 현재에 대한 비판적 검토로 이뤄져있다. 평론은 문화산업의 내부와 외부의 경계선에 존재하면서 평가 대상의 형식적 측면은 물론, 역사성, 미학, 가사, 패션 등 다양한 측면을 아우르며 해석하여, 이를 수사적으로 기술하는 작업이다. 평론은 작품에 대한 논쟁을 이끄는데, 이는 홍보의 방편이 되기도 한다. 2000년대 이후 대중음악을 둘러싼 미디어&#8228;기술 환경이 변하면서 예술장 자체가 변화하기 시작했다. 평론을 위한 미디어 역시 변화했다. 나아가 평론 글쓰기 방식도 달라졌는데, 대표적인 변화가 별점으로 대표되는 직관성을 강조하는 양적 평가의 보편화이다. 온라인 환경에서 평가 참여자의 폭도 확대되었는데, 전문 평론가와 일반 수용자의 별점이 다른 경우도 자주 발견된다. 이는 두 집단이 대중음악을 바라보는 관점이 다르기 때문이기도 하지만, 어떤 측면을 어떻게 어떤 방식으로 어느 정도의 비중을 두고 평가할 것인지에 대한 논의 자체가 매우 드물기 때문에 발생하는 현상이기도 하다. 별점 평가가 불러온 여러 논란은 대중음악 평론의 기준에 대한 논의를 불러올 뿐 아니라, 글쓰기 방식 자체에 대한 성찰 또한 불러오는 계기이기도 하다.The purpose of this article is to critically examine the evaluation methods converted into Star-classification or figures, which are considered as a universal method of criticism regardless of the current popular music criticism. Furthermore, we consider this phenomenon in connection with the modern society’s mindset/value system which trusts quantitative evaluation more than qualitative evaluations. Criticism has historically been recognized for its expertise through the logical rhetoric based on historical, aesthetic, and philosophical perspectives. We take a glimpse of the history of these criticism and find the meaning of current changes. The composition of the article includes the historical background that led to the rise of the writing style of criticism and the nature and characteristics of the critique formed thereby. Subsequently we review about the Star-classification, which has emerged as an important evaluation method in these days, and check changes in the media environment and critical examinations of the present state of criticism. Criticism is a work that exists at the boundary between the inside and outside of the cultural industry, and interprets it in various aspects of the evaluation target, historicality, aesthetics, lyrics, and fashion, and describes it rhetorically. Criticism leads to debate about the work, which is also a means of publicity. Since the 2000s, the media and technology environment surrounding popular music has changed, and the art field itself has begun to change also. Furthermore, the method of writing criticism has changed, and the most representative change is the generalization of quantitative evaluation that emphasizes intuition represented by star-classification. The number of evaluation participants has also increased online, and in the process, it is often found that star-classification of professional critics and general audiences are different. This is partly because the two groups have different views of popular music, but also because very rare to discuss on which aspects, how, and how to evaluate them. The various controversies brought about by the star-classification make it possible to discuss the criteria for popular music criticism and reflexivity on how to write.

Géza Csáth's Musicographical Work and His Fundamental Aesthetic Viewpoints

Abstract In this paper the musicographic significance of the essays on music and the musical criticism of Hungarian novelist Géza Csáth is discussed on the basis of lexicographic entries and the few scholarly papers in which some of his views are present. The picture of this music critic is completed by a brief account of the problems of a stylistic determination of his literary œuvre, as well as of the importance of psychoanalysis for his artistic creativity and activity. There are three main problems in Csáth's writings on music: support of modernism in music, advocacy of national style in artistic music, and emphasis on the importance of artistic individualism; while the first two problems are mentioned in several scholarly works, the third – Csáth's insistence on artistic individualism – has not been the subject of musicological consideration. Likewise, Géza Csáth's aesthetic views on music have not even been identified, though he was a highly educated critic who was among the first to recognize the importance of Béla Bartók and to support impressionism, expressionism and tendencies towards atonal music. Csáth's aesthetic attitudes were clearly influenced by Darwinism and the positivism of the late nineteenth century; yet, in his essays on music, we find much more than an organicistic and psychologistic interpretation, and that is a deeper understanding of the connection between artistic music, the cultural climate, and the changing needs of audiences at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Zwischen Ost und West: Franz Liszts nationale Identität in der Wiener Musikkritik (1857–1900)

Abstract In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Habsburg Monarchy was a political entity giving home to great numbers of people of different nationalities and ethnicities. However, the dominant power in the structure of this multi-ethnic state was reserved for the Germans. Yet, the ever more emphatic demands of ethnic groups of other origins for more autonomy had a serious impact on the political and cultural supremacy of the Germans. Based on this recorded background, I will examine in the context of my paper to what extent Viennese music criticism of Franz Liszt’s symphonic programme music proves to be influenced by the reception of his national facets of identity. To do justice to this concern, the first step is to gain an overview of what statements were made during the journalistic discourse on Liszt’s symphonic programme music regarding its nationality. Building on this, it will be determined what function these statements had in the argumentative mediation of the aesthetic judgement on Liszt’s programmatic compositions. Against the political background outlined above, the question arises as to whether the Hungarian-national facet of Liszt’s identity in particular was instrumentalized by Viennese critics in order to strengthen negative judgments about his œuvre by means of a politically motivated German-nationalist narrative.

Bernard Shaw: Book Critic

ABSTRACT As a journalist, Shaw displayed an uncanny versatility, penning opinion articles, open letters, music and drama criticism … and book reviews, perhaps the least known of his journalistic activities. These reviews—stylistically valuable in themselves—contain a wealth of information on Shaw's art. Indeed, in this early work one can find many of the ideas he would later rework in his plays and some of the distinguishing technical and formal features of his trade as a playwright. Thus, this article provides a thematic and stylistic account of the content of some of these reviews, in order to demonstrate, first, that Shaw's critical style deserves praise and attention in its own right; and then, that these critical pieces provide a faithful picture of the reading public of the time, and a true index of Shaw's intellectual and literary interests as well as the blueprint of Shaw, the playwright.

Locating stylistics in the discipline of English studies: a case study analysis of A.E. Housman’s ‘From Far, from Eve and Morning’

Abstract Literary stylistics, whose subject matter is literary language, straddles the disciplines of literary criticism and linguistics, as Henry Widdowson pointed out 45 years ago. Since then, developments in discourse analysis and multimodal studies have had the potential to expand the map of the interactions between different disciplines. This case study performs a traditional stylistic analysis of the poem ‘From Far, from Eve and Morning’ from A E Housman’s A Shropshire Lad but also demonstrates the potential for a multimodal perspective on stylistics by relating it to a musical analysis of Vaughan-Williams’ setting of the poem. It begins with a linguistic analysis of phonology, graphology and punctuation, lexis, phrase structure, clause structure and clausal semantics. It proceeds to a discourse analysis of pragmatics and discourse structure. And it ends by relating the linguistic and discoursal analysis to the music through music criticism. By way of conclusion, it suggests that both linguistic analysis and appreciation of musical structure and mood are useful ways into Spitzer’s philological circle, by which linguistic analysis and musical appreciation can pave the way for literary appreciation.

Digitalization and the Musical Mediation of Anti-Democratic Ideologies in Alt-Right Forums

ABSTRACT Popular music research has explored digital technologies’ potential for democratizing music consumption, distribution, and production. This article, however, focuses on the anti-democratic implications of digitalization for popular music by exploring discussions of music in 1,173 posts in 6 Alt-Right forums, from 2010–2018. It demonstrates that, first, owing to algorithmic architecture, interpretations of musical politics are mutually reinforcing in these spaces. Second, a large degree of musical “omnivorousness” in these forums is both a feature of contemporary far-right strategy and a consequence of digitalization. Third, by articulating “reactionary democratic” principles through music criticism, these movements more easily evade regulation.

THE MERGING OF MUSIC CRITICISM AND MUSIC PROMOTION: CONVERGED MUSIC INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS ON FACEBOOK

This paper explores the changing socio-cultural dynamic between local music entrepreneurs and journalists/critics on Facebook in Estonia. Through the analysis of 32 semi-structured interviews with music industry professionals and experts and observations of their activities on Facebook, the study identifies the decreasing distance between music criticism and music promotion. On the one hand, the music critics once envisioned as ‘autonomous gatekeepers’ (Hirsch, 1972) find it increasingly hard to transfer their musical authority, expertise and perceived independence to the commercially driven social media environment. As a result, some of them have taken up entrepreneurship themselves, converged their various identities by mixing their critical/evaluative practices as critics and business-oriented practices as entrepreneurs. On the other hand, some niche music entrepreneurs are stepping into the role of cultural authorities by mobilizing and catering to specific taste cultures and genre communities by becoming expert gatekeepers in their own right, despite being compromised by their business interest. In this context, it is no more useful to talk about the ‘mutual dependency’ of the music press and industry PR (Forde, 2001; Negus, 1992). Rather, among the tightly interwoven music scenes like the ones in Estonia, where many players adopt a variety of different and often conflicting roles (especially on Facebook), we should recognize the complete convergence of music promotion and music criticism and the loss of critical distance and autonomy altogether.

Country Canon

The Bloomsbury 33⅓ series of album monographs encompasses both canonical rockism and canonical poptimism. Rockism: defined often in a backwards sense—the authenticity of music, and technical skill, over the artifice of pop. Poptimism: defined by Jody Rosen as setting “the old assumptions on their ear: Pop (and, especially, hip-hop) producers are as important as rock auteurs, Beyoncé is as worthy of serious consideration as Bruce Springsteen, and ascribing shame to pop pleasure is itself a shameful act.”1 Notably, the two books that early on sold best for 33⅓ were Carl Wilson’s polemic about populist taste via Celine Dion’s “Let’s Talk about Love”2 and Kim Cooper’s volume on indie rock heroes Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In an Aeroplane over the Sea.”3 The critical conversation in the 33⅓ books is not pop against rock, or commercial against indie, but commercial and indie working together to limn a post-rock crisis of taste.Surveying the series volumes, most of the albums are North American and follow either prescribed indie taste or an allowable poptimist one. What is not even considered pop, however, the but in the “everything but” (as Wilson noted in a taut discussion of the issue), is country. Excluding the Japanese and Brazilian series, there are 154 album monographs to date. Depending on how loosely one defines country, there are between three (Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee,” by Rachel Rubin; Bobbie Gentry’s “Ballad of Billie Joe”, by Tara Murtha; and Johnny Cash’s American Recordings, by Tony Tost4) and seven (if you consider Grateful Dead, Drive-By Truckers, The Byrds, or Nick Cave country or country-adjacent). What is missing? Only the most important artists in country music history: Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Freddy Fender, Shania Twain, Garth Brooks, Barbara Mandrell, Jimmie Rodgers, and Charley Pride, among dozens of others.Five main reasons explain this gap: even poptimist pop has its own shibboleths; country music operates under a different ecosystem; singles structure genres differently than albums do; efforts at diversity notwithstanding, music criticism is not a working-class playground; and canonizers guided by fashion retain a desire to be cool, or at least current. I’ll briefly examine each of these:There are many country artists, though, whose work is overdue for the 33⅓ treatment. The recent books and podcasts on Dolly Parton and her decades-long performance of Appalachian authenticity misreads her complex understandings of camp and of performative gender—but she is beloved by everyone, including indie critics.13 And the 1970s albums of Willie Nelson are as conceptually whole, as built around deeply personal views of personal and relational failings, as Shoot Out The Lights (which has a 33⅓ volume).There is a currently missed opportunity for conversations about country, its gnarled aesthetics and politics, to be part of the conversation about popular music in general. Poptimism, and the 33⅓ series, should recognize that though country music is said to rest on tradition, a swirling maelstrom of innovation exists within it.

Rocking Chair Pop

Rocking Chair Pop

The converged promoter, the calculating professional, and the autonomous critic – the presentation of musical authority on social media

ABSTRACT This article examines how Estonian music critics and journalists present their selves on social media. Based on in-depth interviews and observations of their social media activities, it proposes a typology of overlapping positions that music critics can adopt on Facebook: the converged promoter, the calculating professional, and the autonomous critic. These positions illustrate how musical authority is disclosed or concealed in specific social media situations and highlight the social complexities involved in music criticism in small societies such as Estonia. The findings suggest that the intimate social environment and the blurring of personal and professional spheres on Facebook favor the expression of standardized positive reactions and promotional content while downplaying autonomous critical judgments in music discussions.

The emergence of promotional gatekeeping and converged local music professionals on social media

The digitalization of creative industries has undermined the business models of legacy media outlets as well as the music industries. This article discusses the two primary ways that legacy media has functioned in the context of the music industries—as a producer of symbolic value and as an engine of music promotion. However, the central aim of this study is to analyze the development of these functions in the new media sphere by identifying music promotion practices on Facebook. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with local music industry professionals in Estonia, two sets of promotional approaches have been identified: brand-centered approaches and community-oriented approaches. The findings indicate a continuing convergence of autonomous music criticism and music promotion across many dimensions and the presence of “promotional gatekeeping” as a form of business activity in small creative industries.