Create, Produce, Consume - by David Bruenger

About the Book

"Music usually begins as an idea or a feeling. Understanding how or why is a mystery beyond the scope of this text. Instead, we will take musical creation as a given and focus on what comes after: shared musical experience, what makes it happen, and the forms of value it can generate. Musical experience depends upon someone making and someone else listening to music. Performance can be technologically mediated so that performer and listener don't need to be in the same space at the same time. Or the performer and listener can be in the same room (or even be the same person). But for music to have wider impact, the minimum "equation" is one performer plus one listener equals a musical experience. How music moves from an idea--creation--to the ears of listeners--reception--is where the production structures of music enterprise come into play. All forms of music production provide access to musical experience, regardless of venue or technological medium. Access to music and musicians is what brings music commerce, community, and culture to life. Consequently, managing access and the complex relationship between artist and audience is the essential mission of every music enterprise, regardless of where or when or in what genre it happens"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Create, Produce, Consume explores the cycle of musical experience for musicians, professionals, and budding entrepreneurs looking to break into the music industry. Building on the concepts of his previous book, Making Money, Making Music, David Bruenger provides readers with a basic framework for understanding the relationships between the artist and audience and the producer consumer by examining the methods underlying creation-production-reception and creation-consumption-compensation. Each chapter offers a different perspective on the processes and structures that lead listeners to discover, experience, and interact with music and musical artists. Through case studies ranging from Taylor Swift's refusal to allow her music to be streamed on Spotify to the rise of artists supported through sites like Patreon, Bruenger offers highly relevant real-world examples of industry practices that shape our encounters with music. Create, Produce, Consume is a critical tool for giving readers the agile knowledge necessary to adapt to a rapidly changing music industry. Graphs, tables, lists for additional reading, and questions for further discussion illustrate key concepts.

Online resources for instructors and students will include sample syllabi, lists for expanded reading, and more.

From the Back Cover

"This clear-eyed, comprehensive guide to today's music business stands out from the pack, steering clear of both cheerleading and doomsaying. Bruenger's structured approach systematically covers all aspects of the industry, taking the perspectives of artists, audiences, and entrepreneurs into account. Each carefully constructed chapter moves from theoretical models through case studies to contemporary issues, ending with further reading and exercises for self-study or class discussion. A music industry degree between two covers."--Robert Fink, Professor of Musicology and Chair of the Music Industry Studies Program at UCLA

"This is what those interested in the topic have been waiting for. This book is the holy grail of Music Industry Studies."--Gary Beckman, Director of Entrepreneurial Studies in the Arts, North Carolina State University

"Conveys a textured and many-layered approach. David Bruenger is an expert in unfolding big ideas to best grasp many moving parts."--Mitchell Korn, Senior Lecturer of Music and Educational Outreach, Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music

Review Quotes

"The music industry has changed dramatically in the past two decades. Bruenger . . . has written another very useful book for those seeking a framework for understanding those changes. . . . The underlying theme of the book is that music is not just about making and spending money but also about experiences that can change people's lives."-- "CHOICE"

About the Author

David Bruenger is the founding director of the Music, Media, and Enterprise Program at The Ohio State University. He is the author of Making Money, Making Music: History and Core Concepts.