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i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns any copyright in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Huddersfield the right to use such copyright for any administrative, promotional, educational and/or teaching purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts, may … Continued
Sunbird Records was created in 1999 by Steven Lindley and Ian Almond as a platform to release world music in Darwen, Lancashire. After no more than ten years, releasing no more than ten albums as physical CD records, the label ceased trading and lay dormant until 2013, at which time the label was redesigned to … Continued
Between the late 1970s and the present, there has been an important shift in the evolution of alternative culture. This transition, from subculture (Hebdige, 1979) to post-subculture (Thornton, 1995), has yet to be comprehensively understood by cultural discourse or applied practically as a method for cultural production. To this end, the present study is concerned … Continued
In order to create an independent record label, the present study designs a platform which facilitates the emergence of a post-subcultural network, the network and its counterpart organisation is what the present study posits as a Record Label. Sunbird Records is created as a multifaceted platform which promotes the development of its network through its … Continued
It may be useful to first define some of the present study’s keywords in order to facilitate the reader. The present study employs the term ‘Neo-tribe’ (Maffessoli, 1996), this is a useful term in order capture an organisation of participants which work collectively to produce and consume a type of dialectic, post-subcultural or context specific … Continued
The present study departs from PhD tradition, it pioneers exciting and challenging ways to conduct research within the field of design, and area of post-subcultural discourse. This study is a practice-based research project, which can be better understood through Linda Candy and Ernest Edmonds’s definition of practice and of research. In their 2018 paper ‘Practice-Based … Continued
There are some more useful and direct practice-based methodologies employed throughout the thesis which will be highlighted in a chapter’s introduction where necessary. For example, the study benefits from a more acutely incisive and valuable method in its autoethnographic fifth chapter, which supersedes participant observation (Clifford & Marcus, 1986), with the more practice-based approach of … Continued
The present study’s approach strives to be both more engaging and innovative than previous research because of its unique dialect, context and independence. Sunbird Records aims to develop a discourse with the cultural cartel by developing a parallel system from within the infrastructure of the culture industry, by designing and simultaneously critiquing the development of … Continued
Each chapter explores the pertinent aspects of an independent record label’s design: Chapter one considers the discourse surrounding subculture and post-subculture in order to better understand the territory an independent record label emerges into. The chapter decodes pertinent theories in order to support different types of organisations, primarily the independent neo-tribal micro-societal organisation. It also … Continued
By way of conclusion, the present study considers the relationships Sunbird Records might have in the future, that is to say, after it has been concluded. In an essay for his edited book Resistance Through Rituals, cultural theorist Stuart Hall describes the transition from subculture to post-subculture as he writes: “Subordinate cultures will not always … Continued
Adorno, T. & Horkheimer, M. (1944). The Culture Industry: Selected Essays On Mass Culture. London: Routledge. Adorno, T. (1981). The Culture Industry: Selected Essays On Mass Culture. London: Routledge. Alloway, L. (1972). Network the Art World Described as a System. Michigan, MI: UMI Research Press. Anderson, I. (2010, February 16). Ian Anderson in Discussuion with … Continued
Concepts of subculture have faded, while neo-tribalism (Maffesoli, 1996) has intensified as a key cultural trope. Previously, alternative culture developed through subcultural groups such as punks, mods and hippies, and for academic and writer Dick Hebdige, subculture catalysed cultural distinction through the consumption of style and existed as “systems of communication, forms of expression and … Continued
According to Maffesoli there is a differentiation to be made between “the masses”, “the process of disindividuation” and “the individual” (Maffesoli, 1996, p.6). When Maffesoli suggests that the notion of masses exist “without any precise goals”, he means that they lack distinct collective symbiotic objectives or, in other words, they function as individuals unwittingly in … Continued
The shift that Maffesoli defines—from mass to disindividuation—can be seen in the design of cultural definition, separation and distinction, all of which are typical processes utilised by subculturalists and post-subculturalists. In 2009, art and design curator and theorist Hans Ulrich Obrist interviewed social critic Raoul Vaneigem, for publishing platform and archive E-Flux. During the interview, … Continued
This shift is most prevalent in the social organisation of independent record labels and is specifically identifiable in a label’s graphic productions, such as in its identity, media and performance. In his book The Time of the Tribes, Maffesoli first articulates the notion of neo-tribalism as a direct reaction to what he terms “massification”, or … Continued
According to Maffesoli, the most dynamic culture disseminates from these neo-tribes, as he claims that “cultural and individual dynamism” is based on the “tension between heterogeneous elements” (Maffesoli, 1996, p.105) as opposed to the previously asserted formal dichotomy between the “sub” and the “cultural”, which was emphasised through graphic practice such as fanzines, posters and … Continued
In developing his notion of the neo-tribe, Maffesoli suggests that “There are many examples in our everyday life to symbolise the emotional ambience exuded by tribal development” (Maffesoli, 1996, p.105). It is important to note Maffesoli’s emphasis on “the everyday”; the neo-tribe is not a bizarre event but rather an almost banal happening. Maffesoli goes … Continued
Vaneigem’s notion of revolutions often resonates with Maffesoli’s post-subcultural notion and both generally promote what Maffesoli calls an increasing “tension between heterogeneous elements” (Maffesoli, 1996, p.105). Maffesoli’s “heterogeneous elements” and Vaneigem’s “every variation” are synonymous with the same ideal, they both conceptualise a more diverse, dynamic and stimulated culture through new modes of cultural participation, … Continued
In his 2009 book, Capitalist Realism, Mark Fisher writes frivolously with regards to the purpose of certain “cultural zones” as he writes: “the establishment of settled ‘alternative’ or ‘independent’ cultural zones which endlessly repeat old gestures of rebellion and contestation as if for the first time.” (Fisher, 2009, p.9) While this might appear to simply … Continued
When asked by Obrist about the future, Vaneigem responds: “The future belongs to self-managed communities that produce indispensable goods and services for all. The idea is to produce for us, for our own use” (Obrist & Vaneigem, 2009 [Interview transcript]). It is clear that Vaneigem supports a pluralism of cultures in his notion of “self-managed … Continued
By fostering localised independence, as a micro-society, Sunbird Records manifests itself as a “self-managing community” designed to perform neo-tribal activities, these activities take shape in a series of graphic productions. These graphic practices produce what Vaneigem terms “indispensable goods” and “services” (Obrist & Vaneigem, 2009 [Interview transcript]). In contrast to Vaneigem, Sunbird Records inflects a … Continued
The present study posits that the relationship between the emergent, and the established, is somewhat complicated, the emergent enters into a situation which theorist Aram Sinnreich articulates in his essay ‘The Materialisation of Music and the Rise of the Cartel’ which was first published as part of The SAGE Handbook of Popular Music. In his … Continued
In the culture industry, the cultural cartel has been a developing force since long before subculture, more specifically in the music industry, it was catalysed by the independent record label movement which was popularised in the 1950s by Nashville based Sun Records. Despite being less categorically defined, subculture too existed long before punks, mods and … Continued
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