Catherine Strong | RMIT University (original) (raw)
Papers by Catherine Strong
Journal of world popular music, Jun 22, 2022
Compared to many nations in the global metropole, Australia experienced low per capita cases of t... more Compared to many nations in the global metropole, Australia experienced low per capita cases of the novel coronavirus during 2020. However, despite the nation’s geographical isolation, its dependence on international travel did result in a number of infections in early 2020, prompting federal and state governments to impose travel restrictions, social distancing orders, and eventually some state-wide lockdowns. The strategy to help affected businesses and workers was a combination of income support, tax relief and economic incentives to spur on spending as businesses were able to again operate—an approach that became known as “hibernation”. This article examines music workers’ expectations for their future, and the future of the music industries, post-“hibernation”. Through surveying and interviewing workers and business owners from across the Victorian music industries during a period of lockdown, it is explored how workers position themselves in relation to the idea that the sector could return to “normal” post-COVID, and these responses are situated within creative work research. Without common spaces of socialization and common economic objectives, workers within the hibernated music industries have demonstrated individualized approaches to their career planning, fragmented by the breakdown of daily rituals and routines. Some workers are orienting themselves to a future where the sector re-opens mostly unchanged, while others believe that the industry will be fundamentally different post-COVID. Workers’ activities in lockdown are shaped by these beliefs, with many exiting or preparing for an exit from music work, while those who anticipate staying undertake extensive labour to ensure the viability of their careers. The article concludes by considering what this might mean for the future of live music events in Victoria.
Journal of world popular music, Jul 21, 2016
This article uses analysis of media articles and archival materials to pursue two aims. First, ... more This article uses analysis of media articles and archival materials to pursue two aims. First, we investigate the effect of Riot Grrrl and grunge's gender equality impetus in the Australian context. In pursuing this, we discuss the rise of female musicians in Australia around the time of grunge and into the late 1990s, particularly in women-only or mostly-women bands, and bands for whom gender was a key defining factor. Second, in keeping with the goals of feminist historians (although this is not a historical paper, as such) we aim to document the activities of some of the female musicians who were active in Australia during the 1990s. Given that this area has been otherwise neglected in academic accounts of Australian popular music and of Riot Grrrl/grunge, it will provide an important starting point for further studies to expand upon. We demonstrate here that the Australian intersections between feminism and rock music are unique, as are the dialogues, debates and solutions proffered, as they combined immediate, local grassroots activity with support from international acts who themselves, while notable in their celebrity, had similar ties to the type of direct action cultural communities exemplified by the Rock'n'Roll High School concept.
Routledge eBooks, Jul 2, 2021
This chapter gives an overview of the current state of the screen composition industries in the c... more This chapter gives an overview of the current state of the screen composition industries in the countries represented by the individual composers in this collection, to understand what factors are keeping women from succeeding. Screen composition is traditionally, and still remains, one of the most unequal areas in terms of music making. In the USA, for example, from 2014–2016 only 1% to 2% of composers working on the top 250 films at the box office were women, while the figure for women composers represented in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ music branch in 2016 was 13%. This is in line with the Australian context, where in 2017, only 13% of working screen composers identified as female. And, despite the fact that two of the three women composers to ever win individual Oscars hail from Britain, figures are most shocking in the UK, with rates of female participation in film music recorded at 4.3% in 2017. Reasons for these low participation rates include but are not limited to; women’s exclusion from networks that are dominated by men; difficulty maintaining the type of schedules required in a high-pressure industry when also dealing with caring responsibilities; and a lack of role models and recognition for women. Women composers also encounter unconscious bias in screen industry culture, and overt expressions of sexism that make them feel excluded from or unsafe in the industry, including sexual harassment and assault. Understanding the barriers women face is vital in developing ways to increase their presence in screen composition, and also to fully appreciate the achievements of those discussed in this volume.
Journal of World Popular Music
Compared to many nations in the global metropole, Australia experienced low per capita cases of t... more Compared to many nations in the global metropole, Australia experienced low per capita cases of the novel coronavirus during 2020. However, despite the nation’s geographical isolation, its dependence on international travel did result in a number of infections in early 2020, prompting federal and state governments to impose travel restrictions, social distancing orders, and eventually some state-wide lockdowns. The strategy to help affected businesses and workers was a combination of income support, tax relief and economic incentives to spur on spending as businesses were able to again operate—an approach that became known as “hibernation”. This article examines music workers’ expectations for their future, and the future of the music industries, post-“hibernation”. Through surveying and interviewing workers and business owners from across the Victorian music industries during a period of lockdown, it is explored how workers position themselves in relation to the idea that the secto...
Victorian Music Development Office, 2020
Towards Gender Equality in the Music Industry, 2019
Journal of World Popular Music, 2016
This article uses analysis of media articles and archival materials to pursue two aims. First, ... more This article uses analysis of media articles and archival materials to pursue two aims. First, we investigate the effect of Riot Grrrl and grunge's gender equality impetus in the Australian context. In pursuing this, we discuss the rise of female musicians in Australia around the time of grunge and into the late 1990s, particularly in women-only or mostly-women bands, and bands for whom gender was a key defining factor. Second, in keeping with the goals of feminist historians (although this is not a historical paper, as such) we aim to document the activities of some of the female musicians who were active in Australia during the 1990s. Given that this area has been otherwise neglected in academic accounts of Australian popular music and of Riot Grrrl/grunge, it will provide an important starting point for further studies to expand upon. We demonstrate here that the Australian intersections between feminism and rock music are unique, as are the dialogues, debates and solutions...
Creative Industries Journal, Jun 15, 2023
Death and the Rock Star, 2016
Death and the Rock Star, 2016
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Policy, 2022
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music, Space and Place, 2022
The Women's Movement in Protest, Institutions and the Internet, 2013
Made in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand, 2018
The city of Melbourne has long had a reputation for having a strong musical culture. In recent ye... more The city of Melbourne has long had a reputation for having a strong musical culture. In recent years this has increasingly been recognized and emphasized politically. State and local politicians have been promoting Melbourne as a music city (Homan and Newton 2010; see also Chapter 14); as not just a national but global center for the creation and performance of popular music, where music is central to the life of the city, as well as central to tourism and economic growth. One aspect of this has been the inclusion of popular music in heritage discourses. This is in line with trends in other Western cities such as Berlin, Germany and Austin, Texas in the USA, and reflects a major shift in how popular music is regarded. From being very much considered a low-brow, throw-away form of culture with little lasting significance, it is now being incorporated into the stories that nations, cities and communities tell about what is important about their past (Bennett 2009; Roberts 2014).
Popular music is increasingly becoming recognised as an important aspect of a city's identity... more Popular music is increasingly becoming recognised as an important aspect of a city's identity and history (Bennett, 2015; Roberts, 2014). In Melbourne, one of the ways this has been recognised is through the creation of laneways named after bands and musicians. These spaces have the potential to be a celebration of Melbourne's music history and a way of increasing its appeal as a tourist destination. However, to date, no research has attempted to evaluate the visibility, usage and public reception of Melbourne's music heritage laneways: AC/DC Lane, Amphlett Lane, and Rowland S Howard Lane. This qualitative study provides a preliminary analysis of the effectiveness of these laneways. Building on past research on popular music's place in the identity of cities, we interviewed laneway visitors, asking about the value of the laneways, their shortcomings and effectiveness as commemorative sites, and how future laneway namings should proceed. To complement interviews and f...
The Routledge Companion to Popular Music History and Heritage, 2018
Journal of world popular music, Jun 22, 2022
Compared to many nations in the global metropole, Australia experienced low per capita cases of t... more Compared to many nations in the global metropole, Australia experienced low per capita cases of the novel coronavirus during 2020. However, despite the nation’s geographical isolation, its dependence on international travel did result in a number of infections in early 2020, prompting federal and state governments to impose travel restrictions, social distancing orders, and eventually some state-wide lockdowns. The strategy to help affected businesses and workers was a combination of income support, tax relief and economic incentives to spur on spending as businesses were able to again operate—an approach that became known as “hibernation”. This article examines music workers’ expectations for their future, and the future of the music industries, post-“hibernation”. Through surveying and interviewing workers and business owners from across the Victorian music industries during a period of lockdown, it is explored how workers position themselves in relation to the idea that the sector could return to “normal” post-COVID, and these responses are situated within creative work research. Without common spaces of socialization and common economic objectives, workers within the hibernated music industries have demonstrated individualized approaches to their career planning, fragmented by the breakdown of daily rituals and routines. Some workers are orienting themselves to a future where the sector re-opens mostly unchanged, while others believe that the industry will be fundamentally different post-COVID. Workers’ activities in lockdown are shaped by these beliefs, with many exiting or preparing for an exit from music work, while those who anticipate staying undertake extensive labour to ensure the viability of their careers. The article concludes by considering what this might mean for the future of live music events in Victoria.
Journal of world popular music, Jul 21, 2016
This article uses analysis of media articles and archival materials to pursue two aims. First, ... more This article uses analysis of media articles and archival materials to pursue two aims. First, we investigate the effect of Riot Grrrl and grunge's gender equality impetus in the Australian context. In pursuing this, we discuss the rise of female musicians in Australia around the time of grunge and into the late 1990s, particularly in women-only or mostly-women bands, and bands for whom gender was a key defining factor. Second, in keeping with the goals of feminist historians (although this is not a historical paper, as such) we aim to document the activities of some of the female musicians who were active in Australia during the 1990s. Given that this area has been otherwise neglected in academic accounts of Australian popular music and of Riot Grrrl/grunge, it will provide an important starting point for further studies to expand upon. We demonstrate here that the Australian intersections between feminism and rock music are unique, as are the dialogues, debates and solutions proffered, as they combined immediate, local grassroots activity with support from international acts who themselves, while notable in their celebrity, had similar ties to the type of direct action cultural communities exemplified by the Rock'n'Roll High School concept.
Routledge eBooks, Jul 2, 2021
This chapter gives an overview of the current state of the screen composition industries in the c... more This chapter gives an overview of the current state of the screen composition industries in the countries represented by the individual composers in this collection, to understand what factors are keeping women from succeeding. Screen composition is traditionally, and still remains, one of the most unequal areas in terms of music making. In the USA, for example, from 2014–2016 only 1% to 2% of composers working on the top 250 films at the box office were women, while the figure for women composers represented in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ music branch in 2016 was 13%. This is in line with the Australian context, where in 2017, only 13% of working screen composers identified as female. And, despite the fact that two of the three women composers to ever win individual Oscars hail from Britain, figures are most shocking in the UK, with rates of female participation in film music recorded at 4.3% in 2017. Reasons for these low participation rates include but are not limited to; women’s exclusion from networks that are dominated by men; difficulty maintaining the type of schedules required in a high-pressure industry when also dealing with caring responsibilities; and a lack of role models and recognition for women. Women composers also encounter unconscious bias in screen industry culture, and overt expressions of sexism that make them feel excluded from or unsafe in the industry, including sexual harassment and assault. Understanding the barriers women face is vital in developing ways to increase their presence in screen composition, and also to fully appreciate the achievements of those discussed in this volume.
Journal of World Popular Music
Compared to many nations in the global metropole, Australia experienced low per capita cases of t... more Compared to many nations in the global metropole, Australia experienced low per capita cases of the novel coronavirus during 2020. However, despite the nation’s geographical isolation, its dependence on international travel did result in a number of infections in early 2020, prompting federal and state governments to impose travel restrictions, social distancing orders, and eventually some state-wide lockdowns. The strategy to help affected businesses and workers was a combination of income support, tax relief and economic incentives to spur on spending as businesses were able to again operate—an approach that became known as “hibernation”. This article examines music workers’ expectations for their future, and the future of the music industries, post-“hibernation”. Through surveying and interviewing workers and business owners from across the Victorian music industries during a period of lockdown, it is explored how workers position themselves in relation to the idea that the secto...
Victorian Music Development Office, 2020
Towards Gender Equality in the Music Industry, 2019
Journal of World Popular Music, 2016
This article uses analysis of media articles and archival materials to pursue two aims. First, ... more This article uses analysis of media articles and archival materials to pursue two aims. First, we investigate the effect of Riot Grrrl and grunge's gender equality impetus in the Australian context. In pursuing this, we discuss the rise of female musicians in Australia around the time of grunge and into the late 1990s, particularly in women-only or mostly-women bands, and bands for whom gender was a key defining factor. Second, in keeping with the goals of feminist historians (although this is not a historical paper, as such) we aim to document the activities of some of the female musicians who were active in Australia during the 1990s. Given that this area has been otherwise neglected in academic accounts of Australian popular music and of Riot Grrrl/grunge, it will provide an important starting point for further studies to expand upon. We demonstrate here that the Australian intersections between feminism and rock music are unique, as are the dialogues, debates and solutions...
Creative Industries Journal, Jun 15, 2023
Death and the Rock Star, 2016
Death and the Rock Star, 2016
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Policy, 2022
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music, Space and Place, 2022
The Women's Movement in Protest, Institutions and the Internet, 2013
Made in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand, 2018
The city of Melbourne has long had a reputation for having a strong musical culture. In recent ye... more The city of Melbourne has long had a reputation for having a strong musical culture. In recent years this has increasingly been recognized and emphasized politically. State and local politicians have been promoting Melbourne as a music city (Homan and Newton 2010; see also Chapter 14); as not just a national but global center for the creation and performance of popular music, where music is central to the life of the city, as well as central to tourism and economic growth. One aspect of this has been the inclusion of popular music in heritage discourses. This is in line with trends in other Western cities such as Berlin, Germany and Austin, Texas in the USA, and reflects a major shift in how popular music is regarded. From being very much considered a low-brow, throw-away form of culture with little lasting significance, it is now being incorporated into the stories that nations, cities and communities tell about what is important about their past (Bennett 2009; Roberts 2014).
Popular music is increasingly becoming recognised as an important aspect of a city's identity... more Popular music is increasingly becoming recognised as an important aspect of a city's identity and history (Bennett, 2015; Roberts, 2014). In Melbourne, one of the ways this has been recognised is through the creation of laneways named after bands and musicians. These spaces have the potential to be a celebration of Melbourne's music history and a way of increasing its appeal as a tourist destination. However, to date, no research has attempted to evaluate the visibility, usage and public reception of Melbourne's music heritage laneways: AC/DC Lane, Amphlett Lane, and Rowland S Howard Lane. This qualitative study provides a preliminary analysis of the effectiveness of these laneways. Building on past research on popular music's place in the identity of cities, we interviewed laneway visitors, asking about the value of the laneways, their shortcomings and effectiveness as commemorative sites, and how future laneway namings should proceed. To complement interviews and f...
The Routledge Companion to Popular Music History and Heritage, 2018
Etymologically, nostalgia is a longing to return home. Music, as a temporal art, has numerous way... more Etymologically, nostalgia is a longing to return home. Music, as a temporal art, has numerous ways of suggesting or magnifying a vanished past, whether fantasized or actually experienced. This issue of Volume! offers a whole scope of various insights on the phenomenon of nostalgia, within a diversity of genres: French chanson, Canadian country song, cold wave… In turns a generational phenomenon, a marketing tool or an aesthetic cement for diverse musical communities, the protean aspect of nostalgia is investigated by the international contributors to this issue from a broad spectrum of social sciences. This issue aims at taking part in the pluridisciplinary debate on the central importance of nostalgia within popular music.
Call for Papers: IASPM Journal 8/1 (2018) Gender Politics in the Music Industry Issue Editors: C... more Call for Papers: IASPM Journal 8/1 (2018) Gender Politics in the Music Industry
Issue Editors: Catherine Strong and Sarah Raine
300-word abstract, to iaspmgenderissue (at) gmail.com: 28 August 2017
Submission of full paper, to the journal’s OJS: 15 January 2018
Moving on from the already substantial body of literature on gender on the musical stage, IASPM Journal, the journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, wishes to encourage further research and debate in the area of gender with a special issue that foregrounds the people, practices and places of the music industry, to be published in 2018.
http://www.iaspmjournal.net/index.php/IASPM_Journal/article/view/854/922