Virtual Music

Virtuality has entered our lives making anything we desire possible. We are, as Gorillaz once sang, in an exciting age where 'the digital won't let [us] go.' Technology has revolutionized music, especially in the 21st century where the traditional rules and conventions of music creation, consumption, distribution, promotion, and performance have been erased and substituted with unthinkable and exciting methods in which absolutely anyone can explore, enjoy, and participate in creating and listening to music. Virtual Music explores the interactive relationship of sound, music, and image, and its users (creators/musicians/performers/audience/consumers). Areas involving the historical, technological, and creative practices of virtual music are surveyed including its connection with creators, musicians, performers, audience, and consumers. Shara Rambarran looks at the fascination and innovations surrounding virtual music, and illustrates key artists (such as Grace Jones, The Weeknd), creators (such as King Tubby, Kraftwerk, MadVillain, Danger Mouse), audiovisuals in video games and performances (such as Cuphead and Gorillaz), audiences, and consumers that contribute in making this musical experience a phenomenon. Whether it is interrogating the (un)realness of performers, modified identities of artists, technological manipulation of the Internet, music industry and music production, or accessible opportunities in creativity, the book offers a fresh understanding of virtual music and appeals to readers who have an interest in this digital revolution.

Shara Rambarran is Senior Lecturer in Music, Business and Media at the University of Brighton, UK. She is the musicologist for Spotify's award winning music podcast, Decode, co-runs the Art of Record Production conferences, and is an editor on the Journal on the Art of Record Production. Shara is the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Music and Virtuality, The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education, and Diva: Feminism and Fierceness from Pop to Hip-Hop (Bloomsbury, 2023). Shara is the author of Virtual Music: Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era (Bloomsbury, 2021).

List of Figures Introduction: The Future of Music has Arrived 1. "Blame it on the Machines": Historical Placings of Digital Virtual Music. 2. "Technology gives you everything immediately.": A Brief Critical Discussion on the Digital Virtual. 3. "We are Musical Makers": The Experimental and Digital Virtual Trademarks of Genre and Style. 4. "Give Life Back to Music": Remixing Music. 5. "The Game has Changed": Video Game Music. 6. "Living in a Fantasy": Performers and Identity. 7. "Showroom Dummies": Live and Simulated Performers, Performances, and Audiences. 8. "Take Control": Creators, Fans, and the Internet. 9. "Digital Witness": Online Communities, Networking, and Virality. Conclusion: Rewind or After the Future? Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index