The Endless Refrain: Memory, Nostalgia, and the Threat to New Music

Rowell, David

ISBN 10: 168589139X / ISBN 13: 9781685891398

Published by Melville House, 2024

Used - Like New. Seller Inventory # 1-C-3-1940

Synopsis:

In The Endless Refrain, former Washington Post writer and editor David Rowell goes deep into the psychology of the average listener - as well as the algorithms that function as today's tastemakers - to explore the devastating effects of technology run amok on musicians and fans alike. Making an incisive analysis of the economic and technological forces behind the rise of streaming services like Spotify and iTunes, Rowell examines how contemporary currents of music consumption and production shut the doors on the organic creation of new music and trapped us in a whirlpool of repetition and stale nostalgia. Combining personal memoir, interviews, industry research, and good old-fashioned critical passion, Rowell's book is a pungent indictment of a music culture gone awry, crippled by nostalgia and subverted by the sinister hive minds of the internet.

About the Author: David Rowell grew up in North Carolina and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For nearly 25 years he was an editor at The Washington Post Magazine and has taught literary journalism in the MFA department at American University. He is currently a senior editor at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. His previous books include the novel The Train of Small Mercies, and Wherever the Sound Takes You: Heroics and Heartbreak in Music Making. He lives just outside of Chapel Hill.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Endless Refrain: Memory, Nostalgia, and ...
Publisher: Melville House
Publication Date: 2024
Binding: paperback
Condition: Like New