Allan Watson – författare

Recording studios are the most insulated, intimate and privileged sites of music production and creativity. Yet in a world of intensified globalisation, they are also sites which are highly connected into wider networks of music production that are increasingly spanning the globe. This book is the first comprehensive account of the new spatialties of cultural production in the recording studio sector of the musical economy, spatialities that illuminate the complexities of global cultural production.This unique text adopts a social-geographical perspective to capture the multiple spatial scales of music production: from opening the "black-box" of the insulated space of the recording studio; through the wider contexts in which music production is situated; to the far-flung global production networks of which recording studios are part. Drawing on original research, recent writing on cultural production across a variety of academic disciplines, secondary sources such as popular music biographies, and including a wide range of case studies, this lively and accessible text covers a range of issues including the role of technology in musical creativity; creative collaboration and emotional labour; networking and reputation; and contemporary economic challenges to studios. As a contribution to contemporary debates on creativity, cultural production and creative labour, Cultural Production in and Beyond the Recording Studio will appeal to academic students and researchers working across the social sciences, including human geography, cultural studies, media and communication studies, sociology, as well as those studying music production courses.

Economic Geography: The Basics examines how geographical concepts – place, space, territory, networks, and scale – enable the study of economic phenomena from a spatial perspective.Readers will develop an understanding of the diverse theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches that define ‘Economic Geography’. The six chapters cover the internal complexities and contradictions of the field, its fluid boundaries, and its diverse contexts. Methodologically, the book addresses critical challenges, such as the bias towards national-level analysis that neglects regional and local nuances, and the tendency to oversimplify diverse groups, treating them as uniform entities and ignoring internal complexities. It also underscores the importance of considering the inherent power dynamics between researchers and their ‘subjects’. These critical reflections collectively ensure a more rigorous research framework for explaining how economies function.Designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students in Geography, Business, Economics, Sociology, and Politics, Economic Geography: The Basics equips students with the spatial analytical tools to explore a wide range of economic activities and their broader societal implications, including but not limited to markets, state interventions, industrialisation processes, the organisation of labour, and the dynamics of social reproduction.

Economic Geography: The Basics examines how geographical concepts – place, space, territory, networks, and scale – enable the study of economic phenomena from a spatial perspective.Readers will develop an understanding of the diverse theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches that define ‘Economic Geography’. The six chapters cover the internal complexities and contradictions of the field, its fluid boundaries, and its diverse contexts. Methodologically, the book addresses critical challenges, such as the bias towards national-level analysis that neglects regional and local nuances, and the tendency to oversimplify diverse groups, treating them as uniform entities and ignoring internal complexities. It also underscores the importance of considering the inherent power dynamics between researchers and their ‘subjects’. These critical reflections collectively ensure a more rigorous research framework for explaining how economies function.Designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students in Geography, Business, Economics, Sociology, and Politics, Economic Geography: The Basics equips students with the spatial analytical tools to explore a wide range of economic activities and their broader societal implications, including but not limited to markets, state interventions, industrialisation processes, the organisation of labour, and the dynamics of social reproduction.

In recent years, there has been high level of interest amongst policy-makers in the ‘creative city’ concept, due to the anticipation of economic and social benefits from a growing cultural and creative economy. However, a lack of understanding of local social and economic contexts, as well as the complexities and challenges of cultural production, has resulted in formulaic, ineffective misguided policies. This book is concerned, in various ways, with developing an understanding of the complex dimensions of cultural production, and with tackling the often weak and implied links between research, policy and urban planning. In particular, contributors are concerned with agents, protagonists and practices that appear to be somehow invisible to, hidden from, or indeed ignored in much contemporary creative cities policy. Drawing on case studies from the UK and the Netherlands, chapters consider creative industries and policy across a range of scales, from provincial cities and regional economies, to the global cities of London and Amsterdam. This book was originally published as a special issue of European Planning Studies.

Recording studios are the most insulated, intimate and privileged sites of music production and creativity. Yet in a world of intensified globalisation, they are also sites which are highly connected into wider networks of music production that are increasingly spanning the globe. This book is the first comprehensive account of the new spatialities of cultural production in the recording studio sector of the musical economy, spatialities that illuminate the complexities of global cultural production.This unique text adopts a social-geographical perspective to capture the multiple spatial scales of music production: from opening the "black-box" of the insulated space of the recording studio; through the wider contexts in which music production is situated; to the far-flung global production networks of which recording studios are part. Drawing on original research, recent writing on cultural production across a variety of academic disciplines, secondary sources such as popular music biographies, and including a wide range of case studies, this lively and accessible text covers a range of issues including the role of technology in musical creativity; creative collaboration and emotional labour; networking and reputation; and contemporary economic challenges to studios.As a contribution to contemporary debates on creativity, cultural production and creative labour, Cultural Production in and Beyond the Recording Studio will appeal to academic students and researchers working across the social sciences, including human geography, cultural studies, media and communication studies, sociology, as well as those studying music production courses.

In recent years, there has been high level of interest amongst policy-makers in the ‘creative city’ concept, due to the anticipation of economic and social benefits from a growing cultural and creative economy. However, a lack of understanding of local social and economic contexts, as well as the complexities and challenges of cultural production, has resulted in formulaic, ineffective misguided policies. This book is concerned, in various ways, with developing an understanding of the complex dimensions of cultural production, and with tackling the often weak and implied links between research, policy and urban planning. In particular, contributors are concerned with agents, protagonists and practices that appear to be somehow invisible to, hidden from, or indeed ignored in much contemporary creative cities policy. Drawing on case studies from the UK and the Netherlands, chapters consider creative industries and policy across a range of scales, from provincial cities and regional economies, to the global cities of London and Amsterdam. This book was originally published as a special issue of European Planning Studies.

'This is a truly refreshing take on the phenomenon of global cities. For far too long we've been seduced by the flows and networks that reproduce global cities without considering the actors, individuals, organisations, institutions, that make and shape the global-local dynamics of such spaces in global society. Throughout this collection of essays, there is a rich empirical narrative which reminds scholars of global city and urban studies that without the agency of actors, whether that be economic, political, cultural or social, any notion of flow and networks would simply wither on the vine. In short, this is a new benchmark on the geography of the global city in contemporary globalisation.'-Jonathan V. Beaverstock, University of Bristol, UKGlobal City Makers provides an in-depth account of the role of powerful economic actors in making and un-making global cities. Engaging critically and constructively with global urban studies from a relational economic geography perspective, the book outlines a renewed agenda for global cities research.This book conceptualizes global cities as places from where the world economy is managed and controlled, and discusses the significance of economic actors and their practices in the formation of the world city network. Focusing on financial services, management consultancy, real estate, commodity trading and maritime industries, the detailed case studies are located across the globe to incorporate major global cities such as London, New York and Tokyo as well as globalizing cities including Mexico City, Hamburg and Mumbai.This ground-breaking book will appeal to a broad audience including scholars in urban studies, economic geography and international management as well as urban policy-makers and practitioners in globalizing firms.Contributors include: D. Bassens, N. Beerepoot, S. Hall, M. Hesse, M. Hoyler, W. Jacobs, J. Kleibert, B. Lambregts, C. Lizieri, D. Mekic, C. Parnreiter, S. Sassen, D. Scofield, M. van Meeteren, A. Watson, S. Yamamura

The music industries are being reshaped by a fresh round of platform intermediation – one based on MusicTech, social media platforms and user-generated content, live streaming, crowdfunding and gamification. Andrew Leyshon and Allan Watson critically examine this latest wave of new platform music industries and consider how they are influencing music creation, distribution and consumption as well as their wider economic and cultural impact.Drawing on contemporary case studies and examples, the authors situate this latest wave of innovation within the historical context of earlier rounds of platform reintermediation, which saw the music industries lurch from a file-sharing crisis to the emergence of the major streaming platforms that first halted and then reversed the decline in revenues derived from recorded music. While debates about the moral economy of streaming dominate both media and academic accounts of the music industries, they show that a focus on streaming alone obscures much of the complexity resulting from related and concurrent platform innovations.The book provides an up to date and comprehensive study of the latest developments in one of the fastest-moving and innovative sectors of the cultural economy.

This book provides a critical academic evaluation of the ‘music city’ as a form of urban cultural policy that has been keenly adopted in policy circles across the globe, but which as yet has only been subject to limited empirical and conceptual interrogation.