The Value of Music in Melanesia: Creation, Circulation, and Transmission Under Changing Economic and Intellectual Property Conditions
Year: 2020
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: This article examines the principles governing the ownership and circulation of music in Melanesia. It demonstrates how musical practice is part of what connects people in kin-based, local, and regional systems of reciprocity, recognition, and social reproduction. The article outlines the principles that underlie these systems and shows how they are often starkly at odds with assumptions about value and transaction in capitalist, commodity-focused economies. The contrast is epitomized in the differences between connections forged under Melanesian political economy and those in western intellectual property law, specifically copyright. The article makes the case for understanding the value of contemporary as well as traditional forms of music in this frame, focusing on relationality and obligation in both rural and urban contexts.
Source: Oxford University Press eBooks
Authors: James Leach, Monika Stern
Institution: Aix-Marseille Université
Language: English
Subfield: Music
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3010764010