Resisting the vortex of digital online music diffusion – DIY

recording and distribution strategies

Paula Abreu

Faculty of Economics/Centre for Social Studies University of Coimbra

Main purposes of the presentation:

• To present some results of KISMIF research project

regarding the punk record editions in Portugal in

order to establish the specificities of the Portuguese

context and the features similar to other contexts

(O’Connor for the USA).

Main purposes of the presentation:

• To discuss the way some of these results point to, on

one hand, the DIY philosophy of punk culture and, on

the other hand, to forms of resistance both to the

dominant culture of digital distribution and musical

consumption and the (new) spirit of capitalism

running through the global network (WWW).

The data

Information collected through:

• the interviews to punk musicians, producers, editors and punk

fans;

• documents gathered during the research (press documents,

fanzines, records, photos, flyers, posters…) and provided by

many of the interviewed;

Data bases built through the analysis of these multiple sources of

information and documents;

General Assumptions

1.In Portugal, punk made its appearance more or less

simultaneously with the United Kingdom (UK) or the

United States (US) scenes – the first punk bands appeared

in the late 1970s (Guerra, 2014).

2.These first punk bands took part of the rise up of the

alternative rock in Portugal, thus assuming a central role

in the history of rock music in the country (Guerra 2014).

General Assumptions:

3. In the middle of the 1970s, the Portuguese record edition field was

embryonic – 2 big national companies controlled the Portuguese

music edition and represented some of the international majors (EMI,

CBS, WEA). Few international companies had their own offices in

Portugal, such as Polygram (Abreu, 2010);

4. After de 1974 Revolution, multiple independent labels appeared,

editing new forms of Portuguese popular music, rock and alternative

rock (Abreu, 2010);

General Assumptions:

5.The consolidation of the Portuguese record edition field was

very late, completed at the beginning of the 1990s – the new

copyright law and international copyright conventions where

then implemented and the 5 majors established their own

offices at the country (Abreu, 2010);

6.The Portuguese records sells grew during this decade, but the

Portuguese market was very small (the more successful discs

sold 150.000 units, but most of them did not sell more than

10.000 to 20.000) (Abreu, 2010);

General Context Assumptions:

7. The international majors controlled the market, namely the

edition of the Portuguese repertoire; the national

independent labels where a few ones and very vulnerable;

8. At the beginning of the 21st century everything changed – the

national and the international phonographic fields went

through a severe reconfiguration related to the development

of the WWW and the new forms of music distribution (Abreu,

2010);

What happened with the Portuguese punk

record edition?

Portuguese punk records between 1976-2013 (N)

0102030405060708090

100110120130

19

76

19

78

19

80

19

82

19

84

19

86

19

88

19

90

19

92

19

94

19

96

19

98

20

00

20

02

20

04

20

06

20

08

20

10

20

12

14,5

65,0

6,813,7

Type of record formats (%)

Cassette CD Online (mp3, ogg, etc.) Vinyl

0

50

100

150

200

250

Album / LP /Full Length

Compilations Demo Single EP DVD

Type of record editions (N)

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

0,0 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0 50,0

Majors (EMI/VC; Polygram, BMG, SONY,MCA, Universal)

National Labels

Other-countries labels

Authors edition

Others

Labels (%)

Portuguese punk record labels:

• Personal projects and investments of punk musicians or

fans;

• Part of the punk scene networks and working within

them to find out the bands they work with, as well as

other kind of resources they need (to produce, promote,

distribute their editions)

• Giving privilege to K7s and Vinyl formats;

Portuguese punk record labels:

• Generally, with no contracts with the bands;

• Depending on their own mailing lists, on the bands

networks and on punk concerts and venues to distribute

the records (k7s and Vinyl);

• Working with internet platforms: classically Myspace;

nowadays at least Facebook, but also Bootcamp or

Tumblr;

The analysis of the empirical data we have gathered through this

research project is still going on. So we hope the study of the

perceptions of musicians, fans and mediators can help us on this

work of interpreting the Portuguese punk music scenes/culture

within a larger theoretical frame:

• On the forms of attachment and ways of relation with culture

and life;

• On the relation between specific forms of culture production,

distribution and consumption – like de punk DIY mode – and

the new capitalist forms and devices of the cultural industries.

Thank You for Your attention

Paula Abreu pabreu@fe.uc.pt

KISMIF http://www.punk.pt/pt/