Ananay Aguilar | University of Cambridge (original) (raw)

Publications by Ananay Aguilar

ScriptED - Journal of Law, Technology & Society , 2019

In this article I examine the experience of UK performers using collective management organisatio... more In this article I examine the experience of UK performers using collective management organisation PPL, a UK CMO established by record companies that also manages the rights of performers. I consider the effect of the regulatory framework on the provision of transparency to PPL's performer members by drawing on primary sources including interviews with performers, PPL's regulation and its public-facing material. I demonstrate that PPL marshals social, financial, legal and technological resources to prioritise the interests of record companies over those of performers. Considering that the current legal framework supports PPL's actions, I discuss two alternatives: i) tightening regulation of individual CMOs whilst respecting their monopoly status, and ii) opening up the sector to competition. Despite difficulties faced by performers vis-à-vis PPL, I ultimately side with a large body of literature suggesting that performers are best off in an environment that supports CMO's monopoly status. However, in an environment where regulators resist tightening regulation, performers are forced to support a competitive market for CMOs.

JIPITEC – Journal of Intellectual Property, Information Technology and E-Commerce Law, 2018

Elaborating on the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker’s agenda, EC Vice-Pre... more Elaborating on the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker’s agenda, EC Vice-President and Commissioner for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip wrote on his blog on 18th November 2015, “we want artists to be fully and fairly paid for their work”—the phrase that serves as the title to this article and that has reappeared in different guises throughout the process of EU copyright reform. By examining a case study on the Fair Internet for Performers Campaign—a campaign advanced in the context of the ongoing European copyright reform—I shed light on the powerful discourses on fairness that have dominated and shaped the reform process. Using discourse analysis, I found the concept of fairness to be mostly dependent on the stakeholders’ relative bargaining power and framed by hegemonic neo-liberal thought. Drawing on interviews, fieldwork, media, and the documentation produced by the European Union’s government throughout the process, the case study also illustrates the contested nature of copyright reform today.

Following criticisms of British copyright law that it is influenced by Romantic ideals of authors... more Following criticisms of British copyright law that it is influenced by Romantic ideals of authorship, I ask whether it makes sense to distinguish between music composers and performers in law. Drawing on interviews with classical and popular music performers and relevant case law, I examine how performers negotiate and exploit different rights in order to determine ownership. Evidence suggests that, rather than a binary, musicians' creative work can best be represented as moving along a continuum between composition and performance with both concepts socially much in use. Musicians position their work on this continuum according to three motifs: composer-performer discourses and careers, genre, and power relationships. I argue that the legal categories of joint or individual authorship, adaptation and performance protect most contributions to a musical work and align with social understandings of the different types of contributions. Yet I also note that, viewed more normatively, a recasting of the rights could help shift those social understandings and alter the inequalities inherent in both musical practices and the law.

Global Perspectives on Orchestras: Essays on Collective Creativity and Social Agency, 2018

in Tina K. Ramnarine, ed.: Global Perspectives on Orchestras: Essays on Collective Creativity and... more in Tina K. Ramnarine, ed.: Global Perspectives on Orchestras: Essays on Collective Creativity and Social Agency, OUP (2016).

This chapter discusses the London Symphony Orchestra’s creation and development of the pioneering orchestra-owned label LSO Live as a response to a classical music industry in crisis. The investigation of the label's business model is framed within a production of culture perspective which considers six categories: industry structure, organisational structure, occupational careers, law and regulation, technology and market. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and industry data, this chapter reveals how the London Symphony Orchestra increased its artistic and managerial independence and, in doing so, effectively multiplied its local and international reputation. As an example of forward-looking managerial culture and leadership, the LSO Live initiative continues to be imitated around the globe.

1 Matt Stahl. Unfree Masters: Recording Artists and the Politics of Work. Durham and London: Duke... more 1 Matt Stahl. Unfree Masters: Recording Artists and the Politics of Work. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2013. Pp. 296, $24.95. Consistent with related literature on creative labor, Matt Stahl's argues that recording artists have unique characteristics that differentiate them from workers in other industries. Yet, while the most celebrated trait of these creative workers is their apparent autonomy, Stahl claims that this autonomy is typically little more than a veil that hides the alienating business imperatives of the recording industry. Hence the title Unfree Masters: Recording Artists and the Politics of Work, which captures a doubleness that he sets out to disentangle in this ambitious account. Unfree Masters stands out from literature on creative labor in that it extends beyond purely cultural or political-economic analyses by juxtaposing the symbolic and social figure of the recording artist with the regulatory framework under which s/he operates. Structured in two parts, Representation and Regulation, the book offers an exploration of the recording artist as a public figure followed by a detailed exposition of the strategies and tactics employed in the negotiation of changes to labor and copyright law. Stahl writes compellingly about current topics. The part on representation discusses, in the first chapter, the parallel narratives of success and humiliation in American Idol, and in the second, the diverging career trajectories of the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Johnstown Massacre as represented in the rock documentary Dig!. They are stories of success and failure that offer meaningful insight into the type of behavior expected from This is the version accepted by the Journal of Popular Music Studies. To reference this review please use the following details: Aguilar, Ananay, 2015: Review of Matt Stahl's (2013) Unfree masters: recording artists and the politics of work, Journal of Popular Music Studies 27 (2), pp.235-8.

In 2000, following a decade of steadily decreasing investment in classical recordings, the Lond... more In 2000, following a decade of steadily decreasing investment in classical recordings, the London Symphony Orchestra launched its own label, LSO Live. By combining live recording with an innovative business and rights management model, and aided by falling distribution costs through the development of MP3 files and the internet, the orchestra was able to offer recordings at budget prices. Yet the success of the label, which ‘even penetrated the hallowed shelves of the Sainsbury’s supermarkets chain, normally occupied only by pop CDs or ‘‘crossover’’ albums’, was the product of a care- fully crafted publicity campaign. Traditionally considered second best in the record industry, live recording had to be justified by the musicians for themselves and the outer world. This article, based on interviews and observations of the LSO while re- cording during the 2007^8 season, examines the aesthetic discourses that came to the fore while making sense of the less than ideal working conditions. As I aim to illustrate, the conflicting expressions of classical music emerging during this period are concisely captured by Lydia Goehr’s dialectic of the ‘perfect musical performance’ and the ‘perfect performance of music’.

Debates, no.9, agosto 2007, pp. 52-71 (Portuguese). Este trabalho nasceu com o intuito de coleta... more Debates, no.9, agosto 2007, pp. 52-71 (Portuguese).

Este trabalho nasceu com o intuito de coletar ferramentas para a análise de música eletroacústica, considerada segundo a perspectiva da música concreta colocada en 1948 por Pierre Schaeffer. Partindo de algumas reflexões construtoras desse imaginário musical, o artigo discute o uso dos processos de estruturação como ferramenta analítica.

This research explores tools for analysing electroacoustic music, considered from the perspective of music concrète as conceived by Pierre Schaeffer in 1948. Beginning with some reflections on the construction of this musical imagery, the article discusses the use of structuring processes as an analytical tool.

Cuadernos de música, artes visuales y artes escénicas, vol.1 no.2, 2006, pp. 53-71 (Spanish).

Invited talks by Ananay Aguilar

Law and norm of music borrowing conference, School of Law, University of Birmingham, 13 July 2015

Creative Labour(er): anthropological perspectives on the work of art, Department of Social Anthro... more Creative Labour(er): anthropological perspectives on the work of art, Department of Social Anthropology, King's College, University of Cambridge, 8 June 2015

The 'turn to labour' in media and cultural studies has seen a series of publications denouncing the supposed autonomy of artists as a prophecy of the intensification of the neo-liberal regime to come. Mc Robbie (2002) voices her concerns about the contribution of highly individuated work to the decline of a political society for the gain of a free market economy. She laments in particular the loss of 'workplace politics in terms of democratic procedures, equal opportunities, anti-discrimination policies and so on'. Stahl (2013) has similar concerns developing McRobbie's argument by demonstrating how people are lured into the freelance workforce through media representations that highlight the privileges of music-makers that are, in reality, enjoyed by a very small minority. These are highly relevant arguments, especially if seen in the context of the ‘zero-hours contracts’ debates preceding the last electoral campaign. In my own interviews with musical performers I have found vestiges of the feelings of alienation described by Stahl paired with the high barriers of entry feared by McRobbie, and in fact individual discourses describing more difficulties of making a living as performers than instances of flourishing (Hesmondhalgh & Baker 2011). However, in this paper I would like to focus on the positive discourses. This is not to support a free market economy; to the contrary, I wish to join a more recent 'hands-on' strand of commentators by reflecting on what types of policy efforts might counter the negative effects of the increased casualisation of creative labour. This is especially relevant in a political climate that seeks to record alleged quantitative outcomes to justify public support for the arts (Belfiore & Bennett 2010). This is an exploratory paper that draws variously on approaches from law, music and media and cultural theories.

Copy / Ctrl, Department of Music, Goldsmiths, University of London, 5 May 2015 In my project on ... more Copy / Ctrl, Department of Music, Goldsmiths, University of London, 5 May 2015

In my project on performers' rights I ask whether it makes sense to distinguish between composers and performers in law. In this talk I reflect on the relationship of composition and performance drawing on fieldwork and interviews with performers and literature on collaborative creative processes. Robert Thicke's much discussed contribution to Blurred Lines offers a case in point here.

Faculty of Music Colloquium, University of Cambridge, 19 November 2014 This talk is part of a ... more Faculty of Music Colloquium, University of Cambridge, 19 November 2014

This talk is part of a larger project entitled 'Performers' rights: music making in the digital era', which investigates how musicians make a living and how they use the legal resources available to them. In this talk I approach literature on creative labour, specifically Stahl's (2013) discussion that considers representation and regulation as two sides of the same coin. Departing from Stahl's analysis of the rockumentary Dig!, I reflect on alternative interpretations of the film and other representations of musicians to contribute to a better understanding of the poor legal environment performers experience today (e.g. Bently 2002). By drawing on extensive interviews with performers conducted over the last few months, I reflect on alternative models as a basis for a regulatory framework more closely aligned to the contemporary experience of music-making.

Keynote address at the CRASSH Creativity, Copyright, Circulation Conference, University of Cambri... more Keynote address at the CRASSH Creativity, Copyright, Circulation Conference, University of Cambridge, 28 March 2014

Art of Record Production AHRC Research Network on Performance in the Studio (PitS) Online Confere... more Art of Record Production AHRC Research Network on Performance in the Studio (PitS) Online Conference, 29 April 2013

Music and Digitisation: Intellectual Property, Cultural Commons and Ontological Politics, Univers... more Music and Digitisation: Intellectual Property, Cultural Commons and Ontological Politics, University of Oxford, 12 January 2013

Conference papers by Ananay Aguilar

My current four-year research project focuses on performers' legal rights. The study responds to ... more My current four-year research project focuses on performers' legal rights. The study responds to criticisms to copyright law for privileging Romantic ideals of classical music that pay excessive tribute to the author. To overcome this asymmetry, the research places performers' rights at the centre of the discussion. Drawing on interviews with performing musicians and record industry and government representatives, I examine these rights from a wide perspective: I take into account 1) the history of these rights, 2) how performers make use of the law in everyday practice and through case law, 3) how the rights are managed, and 4) the processes involved in changing existing law. I have found a systematic under-privileging of performers in aesthetic and legal discourse and practice. This paper engages with the fourth point by examining the Fair Internet for Performers Campaign advanced by the Musicians’ Union with international support from AEPO-ARTIS and FIA. By mapping the stakeholders in this debate and their differing strategies and proposals, I assess the timeframe and chances of this campaign to lead to positive change for performers. I argue that, ultimately, this battle is one of successfully harnessing and directing public opinion by persuasively narrating popular music: the major labels’ greatest strength.

Back to the future: popular music and time, IASPM Conference, Universidad Estadual de Campinas, B... more Back to the future: popular music and time, IASPM Conference, Universidad Estadual de Campinas, Brazil, 29 June - 3 July 2015

While the world wide web has been held as an invaluable resource for music marketing and distribution, the vast and growing quantity of music circulating the web also means that it has become ever more difficult for artists to be noticed. Daily updates in order to grow an audience and keep fans locked in consume hours of time that could otherwise be devoted to the production of music, as does learning how to create ISRC and barcodes, signing up to aggregators and collection societies, and negotiating presence on online shops and streaming services. Through a series of interviews with musicians and industry representatives, as well as online research, this paper presents routes taken by musicians to enter the market. I join other authors who argue that despite the opportunities offered by the web, many musicians still aspire for a record deal with a major label. But I also ask to what extent, and in what ways, activities associated with marketing and distribution are cost-effective and relate these to questions of job satisfaction and the meaning of launching one's music independently. It is only through a detailed understanding of these questions that policy efforts can be directed towards artists' needs.

RMA Authorship in Music Study Days, University of Oxford, 6-7 March 2015 Authorship and perfor... more RMA Authorship in Music Study Days, University of Oxford, 6-7 March 2015

Authorship and performance have traditionally been classified as two distinct categories, upheld by Romantic ideals about creativity: authorship representing the work of creative genius and performance that of mere interpretation of the author's work. These ideals have permeated the practices (e.g. session work) and institutions (e.g. conservatories, copyright law) surrounding professional musicianship. In my project I ask what the impact of these ideals might be on the everyday lives of professional musicians across a variety of genres. In this paper I discuss the results of my first set of 20 interviews with performers (out of an anticipated total of 40), reflecting on issues of ownership, regulation and making a living. The interviews suggest that musicians skilfully negotiate different degrees of authorship depending on the amount and speed of payments, credits and rights, and so resist categorisation of their work: rather than a binary, their work represents a continuum between authorship and performance. Yet negotiations are consistent with the constraints offered by the market, and so copyright law in principle appears flexible enough to accommodate these different forms of creativity. I thus reflect upon alternative ways of thinking about creativity as a form of labour in the context of this interdisciplinary conversation between music studies and law.

Vienna Music Research Days, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, 1-3 October 2014

Workshops by Ananay Aguilar

Organised by Ananay Aguilar, Faculty of Music / Centre for Intellectual Property and Information ... more Organised by Ananay Aguilar, Faculty of Music / Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, University of Cambridge, 9 December 2014