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CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL, 20(1), 4052, 2008

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC


ISSN: 1040-0419 print=1532-6934 online
DOI: 10.1080/10400410701841898

Creativity and Cultural Production: A Study of Contemporary


Western Popular Music Songwriting
Phillip McIntyre
University of Newcastle, Australia

The contemporary Western popular music industry tends to work within a paradigm of
creativity that runs counter to current academic research. This research into creativity
can be categorized as falling along a continuum from individual to contextual responsi-
bility and ranges across a number of disciplines including psychology, sociology, linguis-
tics, philosophy, and communication and media studies. However, it is the contention of
this article that it is the systems model of creativity in particular, partially coupled with
the similarly complex approach to cultural production presented by Pierre Bourdieu,
which provides the most useful working platform to investigate the idea of creativity.
Through the use of an ethnographic research methodology, this article investigates
the systems model of creativity as it applies to contemporary Western popular music
songwriting. It concludes that a contemporary Western songwriters ability to make
choices, and therefore be creative, is both circumscribed and facilitated by his or her
knowledge of the domain of contemporary Western popular music and his or her access
to, and knowledge of, the field that holds this knowledge that allows the conclusion, at
the more philosophical level, that these ideas can also be presented as an account of the
interdependence of agency and structure within the workings of the creative system.

There appears to be a widespread commonsense view of resulted in the idea that creative individuals possess a
creativity still in use in the contemporary Western popu- set of powers peculiar to them that are beyond the grasp
lar music industry. This view is based on two sets of of mere mortals. Both positions, the inspirational and
interrelated myths. There is such a deeply held belief the romantic perspective, exemplified at the extreme by
in them that it is difficult for many in the industry to the myth of romantic agony (Petrie, 1991), have pro-
see critically past these ideas and ask Are they true? vided the ground for the stereotypical and common view
As Boden (2004) explained, one view could be labeled of the unconstrained, self-expressive, quasi-neurotic
the inspirational view and the other the romantic view. artist existing in their garret, waiting for the muse to
The inspirational view has its antecedents in Greek arrive or for inspiration to strike.
thought. Platos (1937) musings on the muse and the The contemporary Western popular music industry
idea that a creator must be undisciplined and almost as a dynamic structure inhabited by working songwri-
mad while waiting to be divinely inspired are still with ters as well as by other performers, producers, engineers,
us today. The second, that is, the romantic view, is not artist managers, agents, promoters, publishers, record
so sharply drawn and claims that creativity has a lot executives, touring personnel, music retailers, manufac-
to do with the extraordinary and the use of innate gifts turers, distributors, instrument makers, collection agen-
of intuitive talent (Boden, 2004). This notion can be cies, video producers, music journalists, and other
partly traced to Kantian ideas on aesthetics and devel- related media operativestends to maintain these myths
opments from there (Howe, 1999; Watson, 2005). It has of the creative individual, despite the evidence of the col-
laborative nature of record making or live performance
(Frith, Straw, & Street, 2001; Hennion, 1990; Sawyer
Correspondence should be sent to Phillip McIntyre, School of 2006; Wicke, 1990). As Wicke asserted, there has been
DCIT, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia. an insistence on a belief in individual genius figures
E-mail: phillip.mcintyre@newcastle.edu.au
CREATIVITY AND SONGWRITING 41

inspired by various muses who are unconstrained and creativity these have produced, in opposition to the
free to channel their songs from seemingly mystical individual focused conceptions of the romantic and
sources. Both Shuker (1994) and Brennan (2006) inspirational myths, appear to have found their apogee
pointed out these notions are seen in the writings of in poststructuralist arguments that called metaphori-
music journalists who reinforce the myths that both cally for the death of the author (Barthes, 1977;
the industry and the performers build around them- Foucault, 1977). This rhetorical device was an attempt
selves. Despite the changing view of audiences for popu- at a reasoned displacement of the romantic view (Pope,
lar music (Cohen, 1991; Gamson, 1994; Lewis, 1992; 2005) where the responsibility for creativity was pre-
Lull, 1991) these myths are echoed by the audiences of viously centered solely on the individual, as exemplified
all popular music genres in the West who, along with by the creator=genius model (Howe, 1999; Weisberg,
the industry, tend to oppose art with commerce (Negus, 1993). However, it is a contention of this article that
1996) and pursue a logic that tries to sustain the myths the Hegelian synthesis of these ideas may be found in
in order to proclaim and maintain valid cultural terri- confluence conceptions of creativity that attempt to
tory (Martin, 1995; Stokes, 1994). Post-60 s rock artists, resolve what has been called the agency=structure
for example, are often seen as free-willed agents heroi- dichotomy (Archer, 2003; Bourdieu, 1993; Giddens,
cally fighting the structures of the industry to maintain 1979). Agency, in this case, is the individual-based abil-
their creative freedom (Negus, 1996). ity to make a choice, one that is a central operational
Despite the lack of a rational or empirical base, the imperative of creativity. These are often counterposed
maintenance of these commonsense ideas on creativity to the determining aspects of structure, be it biological
have very real implications for songwriters, both in the or environmental. If this question can be resolved a
studio and in the popular music marketplace, leading solution to satisfactorily reconceptualizing creativity
many into discursive frameworks at odds with the may be found.
reality of their situation (Wicke, 1990). Despite these It is argued here that the systems model of creativity
implications Shuker (1994) acknowledged that research (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988, 1997, 1999, 2004), coupled with
into this specific area of creativity in popular music is the recent work on cultural production by Pierre
sparse, with some recent work (e.g., Toynbee, 2000) only Bourdieu (1977, 1990, 1993, 1996), could replace the
now beginning to appear. older Ptolemiac, or person-centered, views with a more
Copernican conception where the individual agent is still
engaged in creative activity, such as in the process of
songwriting, but they are part of a much larger struc-
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY tured system in operation (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988).
The systems model proposes that the confluence of a
By starting from an Aristotelian (1960) based definition number of factors must be in place for creativity to
of creativity, where creativity is seen as an activity occur, and sees creativity resulting from a complex
whereby products, processes and ideas are generated process that is less individual-focused than systemic in
from antecedent conditions by the agency of someone, operation (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988). It can be studied
whose knowledge to do so comes from somewhere and by investigating moments within it. This system com-
the resultant novel variation is seen as a valued addition prises of a domain of knowledge, a field or social org-
to the store of human knowledge (McIntyre, 2006a, anization that understands that knowledge, and an
p. 202) it is claimed that the romantic and inspirational individual whose task it is to make changes in the
view can be eschewed for a more rational and less domain. The system in this case has circular causality,
mystical approach. as it may not necessarily start with an individual but
The rational and empirical approach has accumu- may be instigated by any component within the system.
lated a considerable research legacy to this point Our customary view is that creation is presumed to
(e.g., Amabile, 1983; Bailin, 1988; Becker, 1982; Boden, take place first with an idea manifesting itself from the
2004; Bourdieu, 1993; Csikszentmihalyi, 1988; Gardner, creative persons head, as it werethe flash of lightning,
1993a, 1993b; Gruber, 1981; Hellige, 2001; Howe, 1999; the light bulb turning on (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988), the
Jausovec, 1999; Kavolis, 1972; Martindale, 1999; Negus stroke of creative genius within, or, as Freud would have
& Pickering, 2004; Pope, 2005; Rothenberg, 1979; Runco it, a quasineurotic individual (cited in Rothenberg &
& Pritzker, 1999; Sawyer, 2006; Simonton, 2004; Hausman, 1976). However, the information that goes
Stein, 1953, 1974; Sternberg, 2004; Weisberg, 1993; into the creative idea existed long before the creative
Wolff, 1993; Zolberg, 1990). person arrived on the scene. It had been stored in the
These multiple disciplinary efforts have set the symbol system of the culture, in the customary practices,
groundwork for an increasingly complex understanding the languages the specific notation of the domain
of creativity. The rationalist reconceptualisations of (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988, p. 325).
42 MCINTYRE

The domain is described as the structures of know- finding the groove or having a feel for their material
ledge that the individual, in this case a songwriter, can (p. 55). These ideas correspond to Bourdieus (1993) con-
access. There are, as Csikszentmihalyi (1997) asserted, cept of the habitus, which has been described as
three main ways the domain contributes to the creative
system. These include the clarity of structure of the a feel for the game, a practical sense (sens practique)
domain, its centrality within the culture, and its accessi- that inclines agents to act and react in specific situations
bility. Clarity of structure within the domain works to in a manner that is not always calculated and that is not
hinder or help creativity by providing a basis for assess- simply a question of conscious obedience to rules.
ment. The more consistent the internal logic of a Rather it is a set of dispositions which generates prac-
domainthat is, the more there is no doubt about what tices and perceptions. The habitus is the result of a long
constitutes noveltythe easier it is to make decisions process of inculcation, beginning in early childhood,
about creativity within the domain. In terms of the cen- which becomes a second sense or a second nature.
trality within a culture of particular domains, physics, (Johnson, cited in Bourdieu, 1993, p. 5)
for example, is a central discipline within most Western
cultures. Therefore, it is easier for those concerned with A cultural producer, such as a songwriter, must
this domain to access sufficient societal resources to therefore acquire the specific sets of knowledges perti-
contribute to creative endeavours within it. Popular nent to their cultural practice, a set of knowledges that
music is a less central domain. The third dimension, exist within the traditions and conventions of the prac-
accessibility, is important for creativity, as the speed tice of songwriting. This process of acquiring knowledge
with which information is processed within the domain for creative action can be called domain acquisition. It is
correlates directly to the amount of novelty that the exemplified by the notion that practice is always
domain is capable of generating. How quickly can a informed by a sense of agency (the ability to understand
song be recognized as a comparatively worthwhile song? and control our own actions), but that the possibilities
It is the task of the person, in this case a songwriter, of agency must be understood in terms of cultural
to produce some variation in this inherited information, trajectories, literacies and dispositions (Schirato &
this set of conventions, rules, and ideas of what is, in Yell, 1996, p. 148).
effect, the structured knowledge of songs and songwrit- This possibility of action occurs within, or is pro-
ing that the individual songwriter has access to. In order duced in, a field of works. The field of works is a related
for a person to become a songwriter utilizing the knowl- concept to the domain of knowledge in as much as it is
edge base, the internalized codes and manner of thought the accumulated cultural work done to this time in a
of that cultural domain, a songwriter must firstly particular field. For contemporary Western popular
acquire the cultural capital pertinent to it. Cultural capi- music, it is the heritage of collected songs and recordings
tal is also a form of knowledge, an internalized code accumulated over the history of the domain of popular
or a cognitive acquisition which equips the social agent music. According to Toynbee (2000), it also includes
with empathy towards, appreciation for or competence techniques and codes of production. For Bourdieu
in deciphering cultural relations and cultural artefacts (1996), the heritage accumulated by collective work
(Johnson, cited in Bourdieu, 1993, p. 7). In acquiring presents itself to each agent as a space for possibles, that
this knowledge, a songwriter undergoes a long process is as an ensemble of probable constraints which are the
of inculcation or immersion in the knowledge develop- condition and the counterpart of a set of possible uses
ing a feel for it, a sense of how it operates. Bourdieu (p. 235). The structure of the field of works thus pro-
called this feel for the way things are done habitus. vides the ground, the antecedent conditions, from which
The notion of habitus is also an approximation of the other works spring. This proposition works as an
description of the activity that a reflective practitioner attempt to resolve the agencystructure dichotomy
undertakes in accumulating usable knowledge in their as cultural production, from this perspective, comes
own production of culture. Schon (1983), for example, about through practice that is both enabled and con-
suggested that knowing, for a reflective practitioner, can strained by the structures of knowledge the creative
have a number of properties. He suggested that in the agent engages with.
process of learning to adjust their action, while in the pro- Although agents, utilizing their habitus, have the
cess of acting, practitioners are absorbed into a kind of ability to make creative choices, they dont do so within
reflection on their patterns of action, on the situations in a social vacuum. They do so within particular fields.
which they are performing. And on the know-how This is the other major structural component, along
implicit in their performance. They are reflecting on with the domain, of the creative system that provides
action and in some cases, reflecting in action (Schon, the songwriters possibility for action. Fields have been
1983, p. 55, italics in original). It is the utilization of described in a number of ways. For Csikszentmihalyi,
these processes that Schon described as practitioners the easiest way to define a field is to say that it includes
CREATIVITY AND SONGWRITING 43

all those who can affect the structure of a domain people working within this areathat is, the fieldthen
(cited in Sternberg, 1988, p. 330). He argued that a creativity is said to have taken place. As Csikszentmihalyi
field is essential to establish whether an innovation (1988) has asserted, it is the task of the field to select
merits attention or not (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). For promising variations and to incorporate them into the
Bourdieu, fields are structured and dynamic spaces domain (p. 330).
built around objective sets of social relations that denote There is a useful analogy that explains the inter-
arenas of production and circulation of goods ideas dependence of the three components in this system:
and knowledges (Johnson in Bourdieu, 1993). They are the person, the field, and the domain. A fire cannot exist
spaces of social contestation and struggles over without tinder, air, or a spark. However it is the spark,
what will or will not be accepted into the domain as or in this case the person, that appears to be active in
the field is occupied by other agents who also have the process, and thus it is seen as having chief responsi-
access to the cultural capital, the domain knowledge, bility. Not so, as the spark is necessary but without air
pertinent to the operation of the field. It is to the field and tinder there would be no flame (Csikszentmihalyi,
that a cultural producer must take their work in order 1997, p. 7). Each is equally important in the production
to have its merits judged as a worthwhile piece of of the flame, just as the person, domain, and field of
cultural production. popular music are equally important in producing
Fields can affect creativity in three different ways creative songs.
(1997, pp. 4344). First, it does so by being reactive or It was the task of this research to investigate the
proactive. A reactive field does not solicit novelty, veracity of these claims as they applied to contemporary
whereas a proactive one does by actively demanding Western popular music. In so doing, it tested out the
novelty from the artists concerned. In this way, the systems model of creativity in relation to its operation
social organization that governs popular music, for within popular music songwriting. This investigation
example, requires constant novelty to maintain its of the existence of these systemic structures and their
commercial base. Second, the field can affect creativity action in relation to the agency of songwriters working
by choosing a broad or narrow filter in the selection in contemporary Western popular music was the princi-
of novelty. As Csikszentmihalyi has contended; pal aim of the research project. In accomplishing that
aim, the study examined

Some fields are conservative and allow only a few new 1. the domain of songwriting,
items to enter the domain at any given time. They reject
2. how songwriters acquired that domain to gain the
most novelty and select only what they consider best.
habitus of songwriters,
Others are more liberal in allowing new ideas into their
domains, and as a result these change more rapidly. At 3. how the field operated in contributing to the selec-
the extremes, both strategies can be dangerous: It is tion of certain material over others, and
possible to wreck a domain either by starving it of 4. finally, how songwriters, as the person in the sys-
novelty or by admitting too much unassimilated novelty. tem, contributed to this systemic process and were
(p. 44) located as agents within their own personal socio-
cultural background.
Third, the field affects creativity by being well
connected to the rest of the social system and thus able The research, therefore, focused on the domain,
to channel support into that particular domain domain acquisition, the field, and the person in terms
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1997, p. 44). of the part that each contributed to the system of
The person, the other major component of the sys- creativity pertinent to contemporary Western popular
tems model (along with the field and the domain), music songwriting. It did this through a comprehensive
may be an individual pre-disposed to making variations ethnographic study of the songwriting system at work.
in the domain. For instance, they could be songwriters This methodological approach used the techniques of
born with sensitivities to sound not possessed by others, participant observation, in-depth interviews, survey,
or have a set of environmental factors operate on them and document and artifact analysis.
(such as sibling position, social class, or educational
opportunities) that predisposes them to information-
processing strategies in an unusual way. They may have METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH
been in a position to benefit from the enculturation and
socialization into the domain of popular music and The methodology used in this research for investigating
acquired the norms, values, and roles of the musician. the systems model of creativity in relation to popular
But, following the attributional school of thought, if music songwriting was that of ethnography. As Punch
what the person produces is seen to be creative by the (1998) has asserted,
44 MCINTYRE

the term ethnography itself comes from cultural and behaviors. It can reveal a wealth of detailed
anthropology. Ethno means people or folk, while information, as it allows for in-depth investigation
graphy refers to describing something. Thus eth- not normally available to other more objectivist forms
nography means describing a culture and understanding of investigation.
a way of life from the point of view of its participants:
This specific ethnographic research into songwriting
ethnography is the art and science of describing a group
was predominantly carried out in the field in Australia,
or culture. (p. 157)
and its methodological techniques included participant
observation, a number of in-depth interviews coupled
It has also been described as producing a literal pic- with a series of shorter interviews, access to secondary
ture of the way of life of any spatiotemporally located interview material, a limited survey, and the examin-
culture-bearing group (Wolcott, cited in Punch, 1998, ation of a variety of other artefacts, documents, and
p. 160). As Priest (1996) has argued, the sorts of objects songwriting procedures. Although there are very few
of study, such as the one researched here, must studies of this type done to this point, one should cite
be understood as whole systems, not isolated parts Csikszentmihalyis own investigation into creativity. In
(p. 25). Punch also recommended understanding a the period 1990 to 1995, while he was professor and for-
way of life from the point of view of its participants mer chairman of the Department of Psychology at the
(p. 157). Hammersley and Atkinson (1995) have seen University of Chicago, Csikszenmihalyi, along with a
ethnography as a form of research that involved the core of his students, undertook an examination of what
ethnographer participating in peoples daily lives for he termed 91 exceptional individuals who had made a
an extended period of time, watching what happens, difference to a major domain of cultureone of the
listening to what is said, asking questionsin fact, sciences, the arts, business, government or human well-
collecting whatever data is available to throw light on being; he or she had to be still actively involved in
the issues that are the focus of the research (p. 1). that domain (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997, p. 12). The inter-
The conduct of this research into songwriting and the views comprised the central part of his methodology
systems model of creativity was, therefore, an attempt to (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997).
follow these key principles of ethnographic work. How- For this particular study into songwriting, although
ever, I recognize that there may be criticisms of eth- they formed only part of the data collection, there were
nography as a research tool. Apart from the standard a total of 83 in-depth interviews, with an aggregate of 71
methodological problems associated with sampling, of that group being conducted with working songwri-
mediation, reliability, and validity, these may include ters. Twelve interviews were conducted with various
the possibility that interview subjects may, intentionally popular music industry functionaries. These 83 inter-
or unintentionally, mislead the interviewer; the partici- views were carried out over a period of 10 years, from
pant observer may mediate experience being observed; 1994 through 2003, and were conducted in person and
both the researchers and subjects recall of events may by telephone, recorded to cassette tape, and transcribed
be problematic in terms of memory; and the method shortly after each interview was conducted. Although
can be more time consuming and less concise than other most of the interviews were conducted with single indi-
quantitative methods (Cohen, 1993). Finally, there is the viduals, a small number were conducted in a group
criticism that the data may not be able to be used to pro- situation, with a maximum of four respondents. There
ject future outcomes in a statistical sense and, therefore, were also a limited number of occasions where interview
problematise the use of the results as a predictive plat- subjects were accessed twice. The interviews lasted, on
form or allow them to be generalized statistically. average, 45 minutes each. Some extended to 2 hours
In defense of the method, one could argue, as and others to 30 minutes. Access to the interview sub-
Yin (1989) did, that this method may not allow for stat- jects was limited to those songwriters who were touring
istical generalisation, but this does not preclude the and promoting new material at the time of the research
researcher from engaging in analytic generalizations. and to those who were known to the researcher or his
One should also recognize the problems associated with contacts within the industry. As such, they constituted
attempting to maintain an objective position and, in a convenience sample (Lull, 1990).
doing so, account for the constructed nature of human This sample included writers who had been working
experience (Crotty, 1998). Once this latter ontological at the international level of the contemporary Western
and epistemological position is assumed, many of the popular music industry for some time, who have made
critiques briefly outlined above may in fact be modified. significant impact on the domain of songwriting, as evi-
In this regard, it is the strength of ethnography that it denced by their numerous awards, chart-topping suc-
allows the researcher to collect information that cannot cesses, and international tours. For example, Andrew
be easily quantified and allows for cross-cultural com- Farris, the major songwriter for INXS, at one time
parison of complex and contextual attitudes, experiences, during his career had one of the highest selling albums
CREATIVITY AND SONGWRITING 45

in the North American, European, Latin American, and in-depth interviews described above, the cultural
Asian charts. Rob Hirst from Midnight Oil was also practices of contemporary Western popular music
successful in the North American charts, and many of songwriters were studied through a process of partici-
the groups album releases in Australia went straight pant observation.
to number one on release. There were a number of Participant observation, as an ongoing and thorough
writers of this type included in the study, such as Greg observation of culture in practice, is necessary for a vital
Ham from Men at Work and Dave Faulkner from the contextual understanding to develop (Morley &
Hoodoo Gurus. Others were national identities. Six of Silverstone, 1991). Lull (1990) contended that identify-
these writers have received recognition in the form of ing patterns of authentic human activity requires sub-
lifetime achievement awards at events such as the stantial immersion in its natural contexts, immediate
Australasian Recording Industry Association (ARIA, and referential (p. 19). Participant observation is, how-
2006) Hall of Fame awards event or received national ever, not an easy option, as building up good relations
recognition through other awards such as Australian with people, particularly those in the music industry,
of the Year. These included songwriters such as Paul and gaining access to their lives can require consider-
Kelly, Rick Brewster, Chris Bailey, and Mandawuy able investment of time and emotion (Cohen, 1993,
Yunupingu. Both of these groups of songwriters have p. 125) in order to collect enough adequate data to gain
been the source of entries and inclusions in various the necessary contextual references (Spradley, 1979).
popular music histories and anthologies, academic arti- In this regard, it is pertinent to describe in detail how
cles, and video documentaries (see, for example, ABC, the participation that enabled this particular research to
2001; Beilby & Roberts, 1981; Breen, 1987; Cockington, proceed was undertaken. I have been involved in the
2001; Creswell, 1993; Creswell & Fabinyi, 1999; Doyle, milieu of songwriting and popular music for the past
1999; Freud, 1997; Hayward, 1992; Homan, 2000, 30 years. I have been, and continue to be, a self-
2003; Hutchison, 1992; Jenkins, 1994; Leiber, 1996; published songwriter, instrumentalist, and musical
Masterson & Gillard, 1999; Mathieson, 1996; Mitchell, director for various musical groups. I have previously
1996; OGrady, 2001; Rogers, 1975; Sly, 1993; Walker, worked in music retail, where I not only sold and
1996; Whiteoak & Scott-Maxwell, 2003; Wilmoth, repaired various instruments but also was instrumental
1993; Zion, 1988; Zollo, 1997). Many of the writers in in purchasing stock and organizing promotional events.
the study were lesser known but identifiable to a smaller During the period of this research, I also produced and
and regional cohort of admirers. Some of the writers presented a local music community radio program in
remained at the local level. The majority of respondents Newcastle, Australia. I was also a teacher of songwriting
were of Euro-Australian origin and, out of the entire in a number of tertiary institutions. My ongoing work as
sample of 71 songwriters interviewed, 13% were women a music journalist was also particularly crucial to the
and 87% were men. In addition, for analysis the primary research, as it afforded me access to writers from beyond
source in-depth interviews were coupled with secondary the local area, with this contact occurring over an
interview material accessed from a variety of sources extended time-frame. During the period of the research,
(e.g., Flanagan, 1986; Zollo, 1997). This secondary I also managed a band from Newcastle, NSW. My pos-
material included interview material from significant ition as band manager allowed me access to levels of the
American, British, and Australian songwriters. As such, industry not normally afforded to others in observing
it can be argued that a relatively broad and representa- songwriting and recording sessions, organizing and
tive sample of interview material from the contemporary participating in video shoots, dealing with radio and
Western popular music tradition has been accessed. television operatives, flying interstate for promotional
The survey was conducted early in the research and ventures, dealing with agents and promoters, and acting
was carried out over a 2-year period. The survey results as tour manager for this group while they were touring.
have been used to give an indication, and an indication This management position gave me an insiders view-
only, of what the domain of popular song is currently point that would be difficult for another to obtain.
considered to be. The sample used for this survey con- For example, my time at a world-class studio in Sydney
sisted also of a convenience sample of 115 tertiary level in 2002 where the band was being produced by an
students. The fact that these students were attending award-winning producer provided the opportunity to
classes where songs were either being directly dissected observe and discuss this activity and its effects on the
or being used as program information, indicates that songs being recorded from an industry insiders perspec-
the sample population for the survey may not have been tive. At the beginning of the research period, which
as indicative as another sample may have been. How- started in 1994 and concluded in 2004, I was also oper-
ever, the response rate was high, with no student includ- ating an audio production company where I hired public
ing identifying details. In addition to this survey, the address systems to various musical acts across most
results of which are discussed below, and the block of genres ranging from metal to country to hip-hop and
46 MCINTYRE

worked as front-of-house operator and stage manager considerable set of resources to draw on, but this
for local and national touring rock and pop acts. Num- situation is placed against a contradictory attitude to
ber of music videos I made during this period were being popular music and musicians with a pattern of low sta-
broadcast on national television in Australia. At the lat- tus and high importance (Merriam, 1964). Economi-
ter end of the research period, I moved this activity cally, the income derived from popular music places
toward studio work, producing, and engineering demos the industry as an important, if not central, domain of
and commercial CD releases for a number of local wri- Western culture, allowing access for those concerned
ters, which I continue to do. In this way, it has been with this domain to significant resources to contribute
hoped that I have has been involved as a participant to creative endeavours within it. For example, in
observer in, as Punch (1998) recommended, under- 1999 the total copyright industries contributed approxi-
standing a way of life from the point of view of its mately $[US]677.9 billion (up nearly 10% from the
participants (p. 157). previous year) to the U.S. economy, accounting for
Other multiple sources of evidence were used in a approximately 7.33% of the GDP (RIAA, 2003). How-
process of triangulation in an attempt to overcome a ever, not all songwriters have access to these funds.
single-sighted approach to the research. Hsia (1988) In terms of the clarity of structure of the domain,
argued in Mass Communication Research Methods that that is the knowledge system a creative individual uses,
the use of a number of differing ways of accumulating contemporary Western popular music songwriting
information are usually applicable both within and appears to be governed less by precise rules than it is
between methods and, although triangulation may be by convention. This can be ascertained, as I have
rooted in a scientifically naive notion that multiple argued elsewhere (McIntyre, 2001), by an exploration
methods can reveal a single true reality, it does allow of the legal=industrial framework that songwriters
for more confidence in the conclusions of qualitative work with, coupled with an attempt to appreciate what
studies. The use of multiple methods in this case has an audience comprehends as songs, and also contem-
the advantage of constructing a more encompassing plating the sociohistorical nature of cultural change
perspective on specific analyses, what anthropologists and, significantly, delineating the methods that bring
call holistic work (Jankowski & Wester, cited in Jensen those songs into being. From this research, a number
& Jankowski, 1991, p. 45). of these conventions and elements of the song have
The material used to triangulate the research (Hsia, been identified.
1988) involved observation and analysis of documents The first of these is the formal structure, conceptual
such as recordings of lengthy press conferences with schema, or set of generative conventions that organize
songwriters; the examination of songwriters own work- the experience of music into song. These conceptual fra-
books, tour booklets, and itineraries; demonstration meworks cannot be directly observed, except as the song
CDs supplied by publishers; minutes of meetings; e-mail is used and reproduced in its production and consump-
correspondence; teaching materials; pamphlets from tion. It can also be seen that, in all efforts to delineate
relevant organizations; videotaped footage of recording the components of a song, lyric and melody are pri-
sessions; and other pertinent artifacts and documents. marily significant, as they are constituent elements in
These documents and artifacts were treated as bearers all definitions and descriptions found in this research.
of clues to then make inferences from. Some of the arti- It can also be asserted that all manifestations of a song
facts, such as the songwriters workbooks and publishers are versions of it, but these various permutations of the
promotional CDs, revealed methods of operation not song consist of elements that do not essentially disturb
available from interview discussions or observation. that songs basic melody and lyric. These elements
The direct observation of much of this material occurred include simple and complex harmonic and rhythmic fea-
on site, as it were, and was used to verify, to an extent, the tures such as accompaniment, arrangement, or orches-
data gathered from the interviews and other observations. tration and would also, dependent on the perspective
The collected data resulting from the ethnographic used, include performance characteristics and pro-
research encompassing the participant observation, the duction elements. Although it can be argued that these
interviews, the survey, and the examination of a variety latter elements may have a decreasing order of impor-
of other artifacts, documents, and songwriting proce- tance, especially to the legal industrial framework
dures was then analyzed in relation to the systems model concerned with them, any workable and pragmatic
of creativity outlined above. definition of song must include not only melody and
lyric, but also the other components identified above.
It is these elements that constitute, for most practical,
The Domain
if not legal, purposes, the component and constitutive
From the evidence obtained, it is argued that the specific aspects of a musical work (McIntyre, 2001, p. 110).
domain of popular music has, in some respects, a Therefore, a contemporary Western popular music
CREATIVITY AND SONGWRITING 47

songwriter must be aware of the domain of songwriting, 7. absorbing their familial influences, and
identified in this research as: 8. absorbing the information stored in multiple
songs through their access to popular culture
1. lyric and melody, transmissions.
2. form and structure,
3. rhythmic components, What also became evident from this research is the
4. simple harmonic components, way that each writer had become so thoroughly
5. accompaniment, arrangement, and orchestration, immersed (Weisberg, 1999) in the domain of contempo-
and rary Western popular music songwriting that it appears
6. performance and production characteristics that to them to have become tacit (Schon, 1983, p. 52), so
enable their work to be manifest in a material much so that a feel (Braheny, 1990, p. 8) for how to
form. write songs became evident. This development of the
songwriters habitus (Bourdieu, 1977, 1990, 1996) as
It is this expanded set of components that constitutes an intuitive use of information appears to support
the conventions of the symbol system, the knowledge Basticks (1982) conception of intuition. Bastick coun-
structures, and the cultural capital residing in the field tered the notion of intuition as a mystical, metaphysical,
of works, that is, the domain that songwriters draw on or psychic phenomena with a very specific understand-
to produce a contemporary Western popular song. ing of it. He saw intuition as a fundamental process of
cognitive practice where a form of nonlinear parallel
processing of global multicategorized information
Domain Acquisition
occurs. This information is derived from learned experi-
It was also found that, in order to acquire a working ence. It can, thus, be claimed that the process of domain
knowledge of this symbol system, the contemporary acquisition has resulted in an available body of knowl-
Western popular music songwriters interviewed and edge readily and, in Basticks terms, intuitively accessed
observed had wide-ranging training in the domain, and processed by these songwriters. In Bourdieus terms,
usually as an extension of training for performance they acquired the habitus of songwriters.
(Green, 2002; Lilliestam, 1996). Like all artists and
scientists (Weisberg, 1988) this training or process of
education for these songwriters occurred both infor-
Fields
mally or formally (Green, 2002). These processes were
not found to have been mutually exclusive. With the Fields, seen as structured spaces organized around this
exception of one or two songwriters, it would be difficult domain knowledge where the production, circulation,
to argue that these writers acquired their domain infor- and appropriation of goods, services, knowledge, or sta-
mation in a completely informal setting. Nor can it also tus (Swartz, 1997, p. 117) takes place, can also be seen
be claimed that these writers have been wholly, exclu- as a vital component of the systems view of creativity.
sively, or completely immersed in a purely oral cultural These fields, inhabited by a social organization that
framework with no formal training at all. Instead, it understands the structured domain knowledge, have
would be more precise to argue that the majority of the essential function of determining whether an inno-
these writers domain acquisition occurred from within vation in domain knowledge can be selected and itself
a variety of sources that ranged across both formal incorporated into the domain (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997).
and informal processes including, in no order of In this regard, it can be claimed that a songs existence
priority, is subject to a dependence on a complex structure of
many participants (Becker, 1982), who operate within
1. having access to poetic skills seen as akin to lyric the field of contemporary Western popular music.
writing skills in the formal education process, In the case of contemporary Western popular music,
2. having access to elementary music lessons as part this field can be seen to consist of musicians peers,
of the compulsory schooling system, members of the recording and publishing arm of the
3. receiving semi-formal instruction from musicians industry, operatives within the live performance arena
engaged in private tuition, (McIntyre, 2003) and the various functionaries of man-
4. learning songs as part of learning an instrument, agement, with each of the operatives working in these
5. learning songs for performance, areas being seen as cultural intermediaries (Negus,
6. engaging in a degree of auto-didacticism through 1996) existing within specific institutional structures.
access to peer information and ad-hoc mentoring The evidence from the research suggests that the field
within a form of oral transmission of domain for contemporary Western popular music is a proactive
knowledge, one, actively demanding novelty, balanced against
48 MCINTYRE

tradition, from the songwriters concerned in order to low status occupation that is also, at the same time,
maintain the fields economic base. The filters the field thought to be highly important (Merriam, 1964).
uses are relatively broad, dependent on genre and cur- Songwriters also have a high importance, if low status,
rent commercial requisites, and the field is relatively lib- within Western culture. Popular musics economic pos-
eral in allowing new ideas into the domain. As a result, ition within global production gives it a certain signifi-
the domain changes rapidly at the superficial level of cance, if not centrality, within that culture (Laing,
content but maintains relatively formal structures over- 1999; RIAA, 2003). However, access to the financial
all. The instigation of song ideas may come initially resources of Western culture and society, although more
from the field in many cases, giving support to the easily facilitated by those within the industrial frame-
notion that the system of creativity operates under a work, is ameliorated by the fact that the majority of
process of circular causality. musicians do not prove commercially successful (IFPI,
In addition, it was seen that the media also operates 2003). The resultant lack of financial stability for the
as a constituent element of the field for popular music. vast number of musicians contributes to the low status
Decisions are made about playlists on radio (McIntyre, that they often hold. These combined elements that
2006c), in particular, and video play on television, and make up the perceived characteristics of the occupation
these decisions regulate to an extent, through an itera- are bound to the social behavior of the popular musician
tive and recursive feedback process, the ability of in that the roles and norms adopted by musicians predis-
songwriters to continue to operate in this creative field. pose them to a set of behaviors that correlate with that
The press, as an adjunct to the industry is also vital occupation. Whether the musician was engaged as a
in this process. New media (i.e., Web sites, email, web- wage laborer, contractor, partner in a small business,
casts, etc.) have also facilitated and augmented these or acts as company director, the status, roles, norms,
songwriters abilities to find alternative methods of and accompanying adopted behaviors both limited and
engaging with the field for contemporary Western enabled certain ways of operating. In addition, the dif-
popular music. fering financial disbursements afforded songwriters
The audience for contemporary Western popular means they, themselves, hold a special status within
music is a significant constituent part of this field, the community of musicians.
especially if the field is seen as all those who can affect Furthermore, these musicians ability to carry out
the structure of a domain (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988, their chosen occupation is inflected, but not solely
p. 330). The move from conceptualizing audiences for determined, by both biological and environmental
popular music as passive receivers of information to that factors that create conditions for action. In this
of active participants (McQuail, 1997), in not only using regard, there is not enough evidence from the available
songs for purposes that the writers or manufacturers studies to say, with absolute precision, anything more
may not have intended but also in participating in the than that biological attributes may partially create
act of making meaning, can be seen to include the the necessary conditions to allow creativity to occur
audience as a vital constituent in the creative process. (Martindale, 1999). Investigations that have examined
Audiences, through their actions in the marketplace, in the link between personality types and a musicians
the same iterative and recursive feedback process, have creativity have concluded that existing research is
the ability to regulate the life of a recorded song. This inadequate and unpersuasive as to the musicians per-
ability, therefore, partially governs the longevity of a sonality characteristics (Woody II, 1999, p. 248).
songwriters continuing activity. In an indication of These conclusions, however, dont rule out either gen-
the complexity of the system the songwriters may be etics or personality as factors in creative activity but,
included in the field as they are also capable of recogniz- instead, indicate that certain predispositions may, in
ing the validity of domain reorganisation. part, provide the grounds against which creativity
may occur. Similarly, the process of enculturating
and socializing musicians into their occupation, as out-
lined above, may provide a predictive set of general
The Person
behaviors, coupled with the accumulation of a songwri-
Contemporary Western popular musicians are the indi- ters habitus, making these a set of predispositions to
vidual agents who comprise the third major component act rather than necessarily determining the action of
of the systems model of creativity. Although it is recog- the musician in writing songs.
nized that, within the category of musician, there are In taking the knowledge system and rearranging
performers who are not songwriters, all of the writers aspects of it to create novel and valued cultural pro-
investigated in this research were performing musicians. ducts, songwriters make choices. They act as agents in
The occupation of musician carries with it a prescribed this process whose essential task it is to produce some
set of norms and values, and is perceived as being of a variation in the fields inherited information or domain
CREATIVITY AND SONGWRITING 49

(McIntyre, 2006a). In producing these variations in the CONCLUSION


symbol system, they make decisions and choices about
them. The limitations on autonomous decision making It has been argued that, for the contemporary Western
are, however, set by the field and domain, acting as both popular music songwriter, all the conventions of con-
a set of constraints and enabling factors making creative temporary Western popular music are significant parts
choice possible (Archer, 2003; Giddens, 1979, 1984; of the domain of this form of cultural representation.
Toynbee, 2000; Wolff, 1993). This situation can be best Other songwriters, fellow musicians, record producers,
exemplified by arguing that without the knowledge of engineers, A&R directors, publishers, record company
songs being in place, the person cannot act within the executives, music video makers, distributors, concert
field. The choices they make may take the form of beha- promoters, tour managers, agents, fans, and audience
vioral events or rational acts, be centered around the members are the individuals who make up the network
basic cognitive practice of nonlinear parallel processing of interlocking roles within the structures that constitute
of global multicategorized information (Bastick, 1982), the field of songwriting. It is the social organization of
or come about through utilizing skill and discipline in the field that makes decisions about whether a reorgani-
working at the creative process (Bailin, 1988; Weisberg, zation of domain information is admissible as part of
1993). These latter two conjectures, summarized as the domain. That is, it is the social organization that
intuition or disciplined work, can be compared to, and decides whether a song is a song in the first place and,
correlate with, the writing methods employed and second, how closely that song adheres to or departs
described by many of these writers. These writing meth- from the tradition of contemporary Western popular
ods can be summarized, naively and romantically, as music. The field decides how a song fits in relation to
existing on a continuum between inspiration and craft, all other songs. Songwriters draw on the specific domain
but the argument is also put from the rationalist per- of songs and songwriting and rearrange it in unique
spective that these may, in fact, be part of the same and novel ways. Contemporary Western songwriters,
creative phenomenon (Bailin, 1988; Weisberg, 1993). as choice-making agents, therefore work within a struc-
At the same time, it has been argued that agency tured system that shapes and governs their creativity
develops in consciousness when the entity of the self while they contribute to and alter that system.
develops and begins to make choices that may override, If a persons habitus, his or her feel for the way things
to an extent, the biological and social programming of should be, inclines him or her to act and react in parti-
the individual where the self resides (Csikszentmihalyi cular ways in particular situations then the ability to
& Csikszentmihalyi, 1988). What may motivate the self engage in a cultural practice must circumscribe their
to engage in creative activity is the desire to engage with choices while at the same giving them the ability to make
and return to what has been described as autotelic, or those choices. The ability for songwriters in the contem-
self directed, experience, an experience more commonly porary Western popular music tradition to make choices
referred to as flow (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, and, therefore, be creative is thus both circumscribed
1988). Although this state may be the result of particular and facilitated by their knowledge of the domain of con-
neurochemical processes at work (Marr, 2006)rather temporary Western popular music and their access to,
than the various mystical, metaphysical, religious, or and knowledge of, the field that holds this knowledge.
other phenomenological bases that have been ascribed The domain, which must be accessed by the individual
to itthe phenomena does, nonetheless, exist. This via combinations of formal and informal educational
hyperaware and highly focused state was reported procedures that become second nature or intuitive, is
widely within the creative activity of these contemporary operative in creativity through the activity or agency
Western popular music songwriters and may be a sig- of the individuals variations of domain information
nificant motivator, in and of itself, for this activity. and transmission of this knowledge. It is the fieldthat
The experience can also be linked to an immersion in is, the members of the social organization who are
the domain to the extent that the knowledge of song- familiar with the knowledge system and act as cultural
writing becomes intuitive or second nature, and thus intermediariesthat selects and filters the variations in
becomes capable of occurring automatically (Bastick, domain knowledge for reinclusion in the domain. In
1982; Braheny, 1990; Bourdieu, 1977, 1990, 1996; this way, cultural change is facilitated and progresses.
Schon, 1983) for these individual songwriters. This situ- The interdependence of the domain, field, and person
ation exemplifies Wolffs (1981) assertion that all involved in the cultural production of contemporary
action, including creative and innovative action, arises Western popular music, as seen by the exposure and eluci-
in the complex conjunction of numerous structural dation of the creative systems model applied to contem-
determinants and conditions. Any concept of creativ- porary Western popular music songwriting in this
ity which denies this is metaphysical and cannot be research, allows the conclusion, at the more philosophical
sustained (p. 9). level, that the ideas outlined above can also be presented
50 MCINTYRE

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