Why not Scoopit for music?

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I've added a "Scoop.it for music" widget to this blog (top right hand side).  Scoopit is a fast and easy way to share great content with you. It can include news stories, reports, ideas and articles. The people at Scoop.it say "we wanted to make the Web smarter by creating a place where quality content – ideas that matter – could be curated and shared by a community of experts, professionals and passionate people".  The reports on music and marketing that I mentioned in the previous post are stored there alongside other music related material that's currently being reported on.

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Music and marketing

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This week (2 October)  the US journal, Advertising Age has produced a special report on music and marketing

Topics (amongst others), include headphone brands; music and advertising; why vinyl is making a comeback and the power of jingles.


The library also has an  online subscription to past issues of  Advertising Age. To find and access the magazine, type Advertising Age into the "Books journals and more" tab of Library search - click on the online access link and via Business Source Complete you can browse issue by issue back to 1990 or use the "search within this publication" link to look for a particular topic.

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Hello, welcome to new students

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Welcome to the University of Westminster.  I am your academic Liaison librarian,  which means I look after the music courses by buying books, e-books and other resources. I will be teaching you how to research and evaluate information effectively so that you can find appropriate information to write and create great assignments. I run this music blog as a way to get useful information or interesting resources out to you.
To get the best out of it you can subscribe or follow by email and get a regular updates.

You can follow the library on Twitter at @UniWestLib;we are using #GreaLibStart for orientation if you want to ask some library questions.

I hope you enjoy your time being a student at the University of Westminster.
Eleri Kyffin

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New on the shelves - BPI yearbook and IFPI Recording Industries in Numbers

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The 2013 edition of the BPI Yearbook has just arrived in the library. You can find it on the reference shelves in the reference only statistics collection at 338.4762138932 BRI. This years' edition includes a special feature on streaming which relates to the  BPI's Digital Music Nation report.

Another keysource for music statistics with more of an international focus is the IFPI Recording Industries in Numbers - you can find the current edition near to the BPI yearbook at the same number.
Both books contain statistics about sales and trends in the music industry.

IFPI have also just released their 2013 Digital Music Report  

In this connected world, thanks to Music Tank I've just found this article about Spotify's revenue over the last year.

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Learn to Use RefWorks in 20 Minutes

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I found this 20 minute tutorial to refworks in.Youtube.Refworks is a reference management tool that the Library subscribes to.
Search in Library Search for refworks - sign up once and then you have access to the resource.
You can manage your references by exporting them from Library Search and most other electronic resources. You can import references from other libraries once you are in Refworks. You can create bibliographies and use the "write n cite" function to create citations while you are writing.

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Lilac "things" for music - Helsinki Bus Station, Snopes, Confused of Calcutta

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Last week I went to a librarians conference -  Lilac   and found out  many "things" that struck me as relevant to music as resources and ways of thinking about information.I thought I would blog about three of those "things"

"Thing one" was catching up with my reading on the train to Manchester and finally getting around to  Oliver Burkeman's weekly column - "this column will change your life". This particular essay was about the Helsinki bus station theory - a perseverence lesson for all creative people - including musicians. In essence the theory goes, don't keep trying to create from scratch even if the feedback isn't great, persevere and make it better - new and original isn't always the best in a world that "fetishises originality". Helsinki  bus station theory says "stay on the bus". This probably applies as a life lesson for so many things, from practice - rehearse and make it better, to writing - keep practicing your writing, it's the only way to improve . Read the full column here

"Thing two" I discovered was via our keynote speaker JP Rangaswami.who was talking about the role of librarians in teaching people about what being accurate means, and that using our skills as information providers, librarians have a key role in helping people to understand the worth and value of information and  transmitting that knowledge to our audience.

In that capacity I thought I would mention a website that JP had highlighted, Snopes.com which sets out to debunk urban myths. For example I've always believed Mamma Cass choked to death on a ham sandwich but Snopes has debunked that one for me, as in fact she died from a heart attack.

There are all sorts of categories on Snopes that you can check out  from music to scams to computers and movies etc. Follow them @snopes

"Thing three" that I found useful was JP Rangaswami's  library and information theory. JP said that Stories are the DNA to carry information ; society is bound by stories; we (society) are the future of storytelling. The library is a place where stories are generated and created –  Libraries and librarians are better than the internet  Relationships and learning are part of the stories – we need to make our own stories. I tried these soundbites out on some music students but I don't think they were impressed. Find out more about JP at his very readable Confused of Calcutta blog  - I particularly liked this entry. JP also has a TED broadcast "information is food" which I've included.

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East Asian Popular Musicians - special issue of Popular Music

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Cambridge Journals Online - Popular Music 

The current issue of the Journal Popular Music is a special issue focussing on East Asian Popular Music and it's (dis)contents is now available.

To access it you can either search for Popular Music in Library Search or use the link and log-in via the institutional log-in button.

Essays include:

Strumming a place of one's own: gender, independence and the East Asian pop-rock screen
Eva Tsai and Hyunjoon Shin

English and identity in East Asian popular music
Phil Benson

Representing Japan: ‘national’ style among Japanese hip-hop DJs
Noriko Manabe

The poetics of resistance and the politics of crossing borders: Korean hip-hop and ‘cultural reterritorialisation’
Hae-Kyung Um

Remapping Hong Kong popular music: covers, localisation and the waning hybridity of Cantopop
Yiu-Wai Chu and Eve Leung

Deliberating fandom and the new wave of Chinese pop: a case study of Chris Li
Anthony Fung

Troubling genre, ethnicity and geopolitics in Taiwanese American independent rock music
Wendy F. Hsu

‘A new stereophonic sound spectacular’: Shibuya-kei as transnational soundscape
Martin Roberts

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Get the Digital Edge - 21 March

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Get the Digital Edge is taking place on Thursday 21st March. This one day conference, exclusively for University of Westminster students, will include a variety of workshops and seminars exploring digital literacy and employability. For more details and to sign up, please see http://westminsterdigitise.eventbrite.co.uk/ 

#digitaledge13 

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