Keywords

1 Music as a Cultural and Creative Industry in the Literature

The topics covered in this book have been given attention by the literature in the last four years, with studies about CCIs and music increasing over this period, especially in the United Kingdom. However, there is a lack of analysis in their territorial dimension, i.e. how local development (in its economic, political, social and cultural dimensions) is affected by music, such as the case of concert bands in Spain.

In our literature research conducted in Scopus, following the sequence: TITLE-ABS-KEY (music AND cultural AND creative) and limited to the years 2018–2021, we obtained 279 results, from which we selected the most relevant keywords using VosViewer (Van Eck & Waltman, 2020) in order to find some research gaps.

As shown in Fig. 1, different keywords connect music and CCIs as we have done in this book, with the colour of an item being determined by the cluster to which the item belongs (Van Eck & Waltman, 2020). There are studies about the economy of the music industry as CCIs (light blue, chapter 2), the policies that encourage music as CCIs (yellow, chapter 3), the advantages of music as therapy (green, chapter 4), the connection of music as popular culture for young people (red, chapter 5), the role of music as a CCI in local identity (purple, chapter 6) and the importance of creativity in popular music (navy blue, chapter 7).

Fig. 1
figure 1

(Source Authors’ own with VosViewer [Van Eck & Waltman, 2020])

Co-occurrences of keywords for music and CCIs

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Therefore, we have added the importance of resilience for CCIs, and especially for musical societies as cultural and creative services. Tschmuck (2003) explained creativity as a collective and disruptive process, and this has been shown through the evolution of the phonographic industry in different cultural paradigms centring on three main events: the radio (20s), rock and roll (50s) and the Internet (present). The latter has enabled music CCIs to adapt to the global pandemic.

2 Music as a Creative and Economic Activity

The impact of CCIs on the European economy is well known (De Miguel Molina et al., 2012). The music industry is based on four creative chains: creation, reproduction, distribution and consumption. Internet has enabled two phenomena: on the one hand, music consumption structures have experienced a transition to digital formats (web-based digital shops and mobiles). On the other, Internet labels, i.e. platforms for online distribution and promotion in which a piece of music is released for free under a Creative Commons or similar licence (Dellyana et al., 2017), facilitate the fight against piracy. This implies that music, which started as a service and transitioned to a product, has now returned to occupy its space as a service thanks to the Internet but also to the promotion of live concerts and local music heritage.

Within CCIs, the popularity of music has increased despite the current crisis. In “The impact of the music industry in Europe and the business models involved in its value chain”, Blanca de Miguel, Rafael Boix and Pau Rausell present an overview of the importance of this sector in Europe (European Commission, 2020) and show how its business models have evolved. The music sector is made up of different activities and companies involved in its value chain, such as production, publishing/reproduction, distribution and exhibition/consumption. All these companies have been influenced by digitalisation, which forces them to increase their rivalry by offering complementary products. The recording industry is still the activity that generates the biggest impact and it is concentrated in just a few big companies, the record labels, for which the streaming services are an important customer segment. In the case of exhibition activities, they have been able to innovate while preserving their mission and cultural heritage, incorporating streaming services. However, a lack of data makes it difficult to evaluate the total impact of all music activities, which explains why few studies have measured its total incidence.

From the point of view of public policies, this sector is worth promoting. In “The role of public policies in enhancing cultural and creative industries: an analysis of public policies related to music in Colombia”, Marleny Gómez, Daniel Catalá and María de Miguel have highlighted the importance of music in Bogota given its contribution at a cultural, social and economic level to CCIs in Colombia. In fact, the UNESCO included Bogota in its network of “creative cities of music” in 2012. These advances have been achieved thanks to the creation, development and implementation of public policies that facilitate the musical growth of the country’s capital city, together with other CCIs (Alcaldía de Bogotá, 2019). Moreover, public policies linked to CCIs have contributed to reduce social exclusion (Gutiérrez & Sáez, 2018).

In terms of specific innovations, in the chapter “Soundcool: a business model for cultural industries born out of a research project”, Nuria Lloret, Jorge Sastre, Crismary Ospina and Stefano Scarani have described the creation process of the Soundcool app, explaining its advantages in different markets and economic sectors: education, music performance, artistic performance, dance and even, in the health sector, contributing to the therapy of people with special needs (Sastre et al., 2020) and helping patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Soundcool started as a non-profit project and it could be classified as a DIY (do-it-yourself) service, but now it needs to incorporate a business model to be able to offer more and better content on the platform in the long term. It has recently an incubator programme which should help the system to move to the next level in the mid-term, through market and financial analysis of the educational field, which is the most developed part of the app (Scarani et al., 2020).

3 Music as a Social and Cultural Activity

Literature has shown important differences in relation to music preferences, social identity, cultural capital and consumption patterns. For example, music consumption has dealt with the issues of alternative music genres and how different genders participate in them. Social networks and music platforms have also played an important role in greater production, accessibility, visibility and knowledge, but also in broader music audiences (Simoes & Campos, 2017). In the chapter “Breaking the gender gap in rap/hip-hop consumption,” María-Luisa Palma, Manuel Cuadrado and Juan-D. Montoro have presented the results of an exploratory survey that enabled them to analyse rap music consumption habits and appreciation of the genre, as well as to segment participants based on satisfaction, interest and knowledge regarding rap/hip-hop. One of the findings revealed the increasing participation of women in rap and their knowledge of the genre. However, when they go to a concert, women usually go with their partners. These findings corroborate previous studies, such as the works by Laidlaw (2011) and Langmeyer et al. (2012).

Moreover, music is the foundation on which many social and cultural groups are created, such as musical societies, which play a cohesive and identity-building role in the communities. This is presented in the case of bands in the Valencian Region (Spain). In “The intangible cultural landscape of the Banda Primitiva de Lliria”, Virginia Santamarina, José-Luis Gasent, Pau Alcocer and María Ángeles Carabal analyse how this musical society contributes to positioning creativity and CCIs at the centre of local development, reinforcing identity elements in Lliria and the Valencian Region. This civil band which is the oldest in Spain is presented as an open heritage resource that has developed according to the uses, values and symbols assigned to it by local society. The band has played a key role in boosting the recognition of this form of intangible cultural heritage in social cohesion and development through collective creativity and shared culture, especially in an uncertain situation for CCIs in the pandemic.

Furthermore, in the chapter “Music for the Moors and Christians festivities as intangible cultural heritage: a specific genre for wind bands in certain Spanish regions”, Daniel Catalá and Gabino Ponce have specifically analysed the cultural, artistic and economic value of the music composed for and played at the Moors and Christians festivals in the Valencian Region. This music is recognised as one of the most genuine manifestations of Valencian music (UNDEF-FSMCV, 2011). They highlight that a large part of the economic flows that are generated in the local environments of the Moors and Christians festivals is linked to the hiring of bands for musical accompaniment in parades and for the celebration of other activities, such as concerts, recreational performances and recordings. These activities make up a fundamental part of the income sources for many musical societies (Rausell, 2018).

4 Music and Crisis Management

Finally, although music has also been affected by the pandemic, it has yet again shown its resilience in adapting to its consumers. The Valencian Region’s musical societies have been able to transmit their collective spirit (Almeria, 2014), supporting society during the lockdown period and using music as a symbol of social cohesion. This is reflected in the chapter “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on musical societies in the Valencian Region, Spain”, where Angela Carabal, Guillem Escorihuela, Virginia Santamarina and Javier Pérez present the economic impact of the pandemic on these cultural institutions, given that one of their main sources of income is contracts to perform at folklore festivals. This negative impact has also extended to their music schools, which have been forced to adapt to virtual teaching and to make the necessary investments to ensure safety through health monitoring services and audits. The chapter shows how musical societies are a reflection of Valencian society (Generalitat Valenciana, 2018) in an intergenerational group that brings together young and old people in the same space, sharing and conveying the same emotions.

5 Overall Conclusions

This book is a collective effort that has put together different aspects of music to highlight its contribution to CCIs, highlighting how these dimensions (economic, cultural and political) are related and, at the same time, pointing out how they are essential in monitoring the music industry which, in turn, can improve local development. Moreover, the territorial dimension of music as a CCI is necessary to understand the role that music plays in society, in the shape of local festivities, and approaching new generations, for example, through DIY instruments and technological platforms (Chilton, 2020).

In the specific case of civil bands, they have been presented as a local intangible resource that possesses all the dimensions of CCIs: generating economic activity, acting as a force for cohesion in the community and enhancing identity.

The resilience of the music sector has also been highlighted, showing different examples of how music activities have adapted to the challenges posed by the pandemic. In this case, the fact that the sector had already undergone digital transformation has been crucial to ensure its sustainability, although in-person performances are still necessary to continue building social identity and understanding creativity as a collective process, in which people interact with individual artists and groups, such as bands, given that they are key partners for the industry.