Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T13:56:30.951Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Part III - Critical Influence and Influences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2019

Christopher Dingle
Affiliation:
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Get access

Summary

Music critics wield great power. Their writing influences public opinion and contributes to how audiences receive works. They focus attention upon specific works and musicians, thus justifying these as most worthy of public recognition and debate. They help works to achieve repeat performances, and thereby to establish their places within the performing canon. In the age of recorded sound, they influence sales and affect charts. Although some claim that with the recent rise of ubiquitous digital critical commentary (much of it amateur) professional critics have lost their traditional authority, online criticism continues to exercise considerable sway. In a very real way, critics have been – and continue to be – the gatekeepers of the canon. As Roy Shuker has observed, ‘popular music critics … function as significant gatekeepers and as arbiters of taste’.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×