Musical Intimacy

Discourse on popular music frequently describes artists' recordings and performances as "intimate." Yet that discourse often stops short of elucidating how a mass-produced commodity such as popular music is able to elicit feelings of intimacy with and among its audience. Through detailed analysis of popular music's composition, performance, production, and promotion, Musical Intimacy examines how intimacy is constructed and perceived in popular music via its affective and technological affordances. From the recording studio to the concert stage, from collective experience to individual listening and perception, this book presents a working understanding of musical intimacy.

Zack Stiegler is Professor of Communications Media at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA. He has served as Editor of Journal of Communications Media Studies, and as reviewer for Journal of Communication Inquiry, and Language and Communication Quarterly. In addition to authoring a number of journal articles and book chapters, he is editor of Regulating the Web (2013). He has also served on the executive board of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (US Branch).

List of Figures and Tables Introduction PART I: Production 1. Conjuring Intimate Spaces 2. Intimacy and the Home Recording Aesthetic PART II: Text 3. Textual Dimensions of Musical Intimacy 4. Analyzing Musical Intimacy PART III: Additional Contexts 5. Marketing Musical Intimacy 6. Intimacy and Live Performance Conclusion Acknowledgments References Notes Index