Yun Tai | Tamkang University (original) (raw)
Articles and Chapters by Yun Tai
Popular Music and Society, 2016
This article examines the “benchmarks” that specialist critics offered when reviewing progressive... more This article examines the “benchmarks” that specialist critics offered when reviewing progressive rock recordings—the other bands and musicians that critics mentioned as points of reference in a given review. In analyzing 5118 reviews from the Dutch Progressive Rock Page (2003-2013), we show how these benchmarks have two roles. First, the more than 20,000 instances of benchmarks employed by these critics combined to form a musical hierarchy with a canon of past greats located at the top. Second, the extent to which critics applied benchmarks within reviews of 21st century recordings were shaped by the esteem accorded to the band/musician under review, as well as by the band/musician’s familiarity. Hence, benchmarks simultaneously served to construct progressive rock’s heritage and to situate new recordings in the present.
Articles, Chapters and Reports by Yun Tai
Remaking Culture and Music Spaces: Affects, Infrastructures, Futures, 2022
To understand fully the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on concert life, the following points sho... more To understand fully the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on concert life, the following points should be heeded: (1) The pandemic and its lockdowns arrived as the global music business had solidified around online streaming and live music as major income streams, with lockdowns wreaking havoc on the latter. (2) While music superstars are the most visible and well-funded in live music, non-superstars are the ones keeping live music alive, as well as the ones who suffered particularly amidst the lockdowns. (3) The pandemic struggles of non-superstars, in turn, reverberated throughout the cities in which they once performed prior to the lockdowns, doing so financially and communally. We demonstrate these points, on the one hand, by drawing upon the insights of multiple literatures and publicly available data on the global music business. On the other hand, we track live music in three cities-Athens (Greece), Atlanta (USA), and Taipei (Taiwan)-showing when and where their concerts grew silent amid the pandemic, as well as for whom that silence occurred (non-superstars vs. superstars). We thus provide a 'big-picture' view of COVID-19's impact on musicians and communities as it pertains to in-person concerts in an era of online streaming.
Popular Music and Society, 2016
This article examines the “benchmarks” that specialist critics offered when reviewing progressive... more This article examines the “benchmarks” that specialist critics offered when reviewing progressive rock recordings—the other bands and musicians that critics mentioned as points of reference in a given review. In analyzing 5118 reviews from the Dutch Progressive Rock Page (2003-2013), we show how these benchmarks have two roles. First, the more than 20,000 instances of benchmarks employed by these critics combined to form a musical hierarchy with a canon of past greats located at the top. Second, the extent to which critics applied benchmarks within reviews of 21st century recordings were shaped by the esteem accorded to the band/musician under review, as well as by the band/musician’s familiarity. Hence, benchmarks simultaneously served to construct progressive rock’s heritage and to situate new recordings in the present.
Remaking Culture and Music Spaces: Affects, Infrastructures, Futures, 2022
To understand fully the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on concert life, the following points sho... more To understand fully the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on concert life, the following points should be heeded: (1) The pandemic and its lockdowns arrived as the global music business had solidified around online streaming and live music as major income streams, with lockdowns wreaking havoc on the latter. (2) While music superstars are the most visible and well-funded in live music, non-superstars are the ones keeping live music alive, as well as the ones who suffered particularly amidst the lockdowns. (3) The pandemic struggles of non-superstars, in turn, reverberated throughout the cities in which they once performed prior to the lockdowns, doing so financially and communally. We demonstrate these points, on the one hand, by drawing upon the insights of multiple literatures and publicly available data on the global music business. On the other hand, we track live music in three cities-Athens (Greece), Atlanta (USA), and Taipei (Taiwan)-showing when and where their concerts grew silent amid the pandemic, as well as for whom that silence occurred (non-superstars vs. superstars). We thus provide a 'big-picture' view of COVID-19's impact on musicians and communities as it pertains to in-person concerts in an era of online streaming.