Situating creative production: recording studios and the making of a pop song

Abstract

Purpose This paper explores the spatial and material context of a creative production project. Taking the music recording project as an empirical setting, it explores the creation of a pop song and reveals the highly situated character of its management and organisation. Making a creative product such as a pop song is a complex endeavor, requiring a large number of decisions involving highly subjective and often contested and contestable judgments. The purpose of this paper is to understand how this is achieved. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on observation of musicians and a music producer during the creation of a pop song in a mid-sized recording studio. Interviews were also conducted with the participant musicians and 24 music producers based in the UK. The resulting qualitative data were analysed using a socio-material perspective to trace the spatial relationships and explore the material organization of the project. Findings Producing musical product is achieved through establishing spatial and material relations in order to regulate tasks and roles and manage the challenge of making decisions within temporarily assembled teams engaged in tasks characterised by high levels of uncertainty. Originality/value This paper tackles a neglected aspect of creative management, the physical context in which it is carried out. Other sites within the creative industries such as design and film studios, theatre and other performance spaces can usefully be analysed using the approach and perspective of this research.

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