Heikki Uimonen

In 1985, the profound structural change took place in Finnish radio history when the first commercial stations were granted experimental two-year licenses.  The competition between two types of radio practices, the European public service radio, and the American commercial radio changed the music contents irrevocably.

The paper claims that media deregulation and changes in radio music culture alter not only music consumption but also how public place is being sonically constructed.  Theoretically, the paper draws on concept of transfonia, which was coined after critical evaluation of R. Murray Schafer’s term schizophonia. Anahid Kassabian term ubiquitous listening and its effect on constructing radio music canons will be presented as well. The paper seeks to find out how the changes of radio music policy have an influence on public space. The answer will be provided by presenting the case study on commercial radio music played in public transportation in Tampere, Finland. The analysis of broadcast music will be contextualised by presenting the music selection process and how the fictional marketing personas (“Dave and Sue”) are utilized in formatting the radios. The research material consists of interviews of radio station personnel and IFPI Finland music reports. (Presented in Urban Sound Studies. Norsound Seminar, Copenhagen 16–18.11.2012. )

During recent years instruments used in performing popular music have emerged in new and perhaps
somewhat surprising contexts. Especially second hand electric guitars and the rising value of vintage
instruments have received media coverage not only in magazines targeted to guitar players, but also in
printed media and Internet sites aimed at wider audiences. Furthermore, the celebrity-owned instruments are changing hands in auctions held at fine art and collectibles brokers such as Sotheby’s. There is also a special magazine for wealthy guitar collectors and enthusiasts, Guitar Aficionado, which is presenting collectible and vintage guitars as part of luxury lifestyle.

The paper seeks to answer why during recent decades originally serial produced musician’s tools such as electric guitars are being transformed into luxury items and highly collectible artifacts. Special attention is paid to individual instruments, which have been previously owned by celebrities and/or rock
musicians and to instruments that have been modeled after them.

The research is being contextualized to cultural history of the electric guitar. The paper also elaborates how the high market value of the vintage guitars and their increasing demand are being utilized in contemporary instrument making by
manufacturing replicas of the celebrity-owned instruments.

Theoretically the work draws from anthropological and sociological concepts of fetishism, magic
and distinction to interpret the immaterial values attached to specific vintage electric guitars. Empirically
the paper draws from the contents of Guitar Aficionado magazine and the discussion this publication has
raised on Internet sites used by guitar players.

A lot of acoustic information escapes our conscious attention partly for perceptual psychological reasons, partly because of the amount of acoustic information. These ubiquitous but often unnoticed sounds challenge not only the researches but also the soundscape educators. In order to enhance the effects and meanings connected to everyday sonic environment the soundscape researches have applied several methods including sound preference tests and listening walks.

The paper introduces the sound preference tests and recorded listening walks applied in Scottish Village of Dollar in May 2011. The pleasant and unpleasant sounds were charted during the fieldwork as a part of Soundscapes and Cultural Sustainability (2010) project, which continues the Five Village Soundscapes (1975) and Acoustic Environments in Change (2000) researches carried out in the same village.

The empirical part of the paper consists of aforementioned tests and walks carried out with different age groups in Strathdevon Primary School. The results are then compared to results of the previous studies of 1975 and 2000. In addition to that, the recorded listening walks carried out by the pupils of Strathdevon Primary School will be presented.

Furthermore, the paper contemplates the possibilities in bringing out the soundscape education and disseminating information concerning the ongoing Soundscapes and Cultural Sustainability research over the Internet during and after the actual fieldwork. This includes the issues of returning not only the previous research results to the members of acoustic community studied, but also bringing back the environmental sounds already extinct to the community where they were recorded almost forty years ago.

A lot of acoustic information escapes our conscious attention partly for perceptual psychological reasons, partly because of the amount of acoustic information.  These ubiquitous but often unnoticed sounds challenge not only the researches but also the soundscape educators. In order to enhance the effects and meanings connected to everyday sonic environment the soundscape researches have applied several methods including sound preference tests and listening walks.

The paper introduces the sound preference tests and recorded listening walks applied in Scottish Village of Dollar in May 2011. The pleasant and unpleasant sounds were charted during the fieldwork as a part of Soundscapes and Cultural Sustainability (2010) project, which continues the Five Village Soundscapes (1975) and Acoustic Environments in Change (2000) researches carried out in the same village. 

The empirical part of the paper consists of aforementioned tests and walks carried out with different age groups in Strathdevon Primary School. The results are then compared to results of the previous studies of 1975 and 2000. In addition to that, the recorded listening walks carried out by the pupils of Strathdevon Primary School will be presented. 

Furthermore, the paper contemplates the possibilities in bringing out the soundscape education and disseminating information concerning the ongoing Soundscapes and Cultural Sustainability research over the Internet during and after the actual fieldwork. This includes the issues of returning not only the previous research results to the members of acoustic community studied, but also bringing back the environmental sounds already extinct to the community where they were recorded almost forty years ago.

Environmental sounds manifest cultural, technological, and economical transformations of society. Like music, they
mediate cultural meanings. The changing sonic environment poses methodological challenges for contemporary
ethnomusicology and soundscape studies, in addition to the fact that everyday sounds are sometimes difficult to
verbalize. This paper seeks a solution to these problems by introducing a research method combining acoustic ecology and applications of social media.

According to Barry Truax acoustic ecology is the study of the effects of the acoustic environment, or soundscape on
the physical responses or behavioural characteristics of those living within it. The cultural meanings attached to
sounds should be included in research as well. Theoretically this can be based on concepts of acoustic epistemology
and soundscape competence both referring to sonic knowledge of a place.

Drawing on sound anthropologist Steven Feld, the empirical part of the research is carried out by making something
out of sound, not just writing about it. This was executed in collaboration with the informants and with relatively
inexpensive digital recorders, a pair of loudspeakers, and the Internet. The environmental sounds are recorded,
discussed, and then presented on the website including the commentary concerning the recording session.
The choice of method is supported by the fact that while recording, people are more involved and absorbed into the
sonic environment than they ordinarily are. The desired result is not a hi-fi recording but the recording event itself:
listening to the environmental sounds and the thoughts evoked by it.

The method proved successful when tested with the students at the University of Tampere in spring 2010. Further
applications will be carried out as part of the Soundscapes and Cultural Sustainability project in Dollar, Scotland,
continuing the Five Village Soundscapes (1977) and Acoustic Environments in Change (2009) research .

The dissemination of the music cassette is closely related to issues of democratization and creativity in developing countries and in the post-communist Eastern Europe.
These included large-scale piracy, the emergence of new popular music and increased freedom of musical expression.
In Western Europe the cassettes have been neglected in research although music consumption was affected there as well.

In late 1970s the International Federation of Phonographic Industry researched the use of cassette recorders and music copying. The Finns were particularly enthusiastic in home taping when compared to other Nordic countries: 83 percent of the Finnish cassette users taped music mainly from the radio. The results can be partly explained by the scarcity of radio music: for instance the state-owned Finnish Broadcasting Company broadcast rock music only seven hours per week.Furthermore, the cassette players clearly outnumbered more expensive record
players.

The paper seeks to answer the following questions: what were the individual and social changes in music consumption in 1970s Finland caused by the cassette and home taping?
Were the Finns typical or atypical in their new music consumption practices compared to other countries?
How did record sales and copying from records relate to the matter?
How did the cassette function as a trailblazer to contemporary ubiquitous music culture?

The questions will be answered mainly by statistical information and the outcome of the Internet questionnaire started in April 2010 concentrating on cassette culture and music technology.

The paper is part of Academy of Finland Musiquitous
research project investigating past and present mobile and ubiquitous music.

Keywords: compact cassette, home taping, radio music, ubiquity, mobility

Compact cassette was introduced in 1960s but the actual breakthrough happened in the 1970s.

Our presentation deals with consumer advertising in magazines from these decades. The research is contextualized with several trends: changes in listening culture, dissemination of cassettes, growing demands for popular music availability and subsequent shift of music policies in the Finnish radio.