''Volume! The French Journal of Popular Music Studies'' (subtitled in French: ''La revue des musiques populaires'') is a biannual (May and November)
peer-reviewed
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
academic journal
An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...
"dedicated to the study of contemporary
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
". It is published by the
Ăditions MĂ©lanie Seteun
The Ăditions MĂ©lanie Seteun are a publishing association dedicated to "taking popular music seriously, especially within the French-speaking world. They publish '' Volume! the French Journal of Popular Music Studies'', book collections ("Musiq ...
, a publishing association specialized since 1998 in the
cultural sociology
The sociology of culture, and the related cultural sociology, concerns the systematic analysis of culture, usually understood as the ensemble of symbolic codes used by a member of a society, as it is manifested in the society. For Georg Simmel, ...
of popular music.
History
''Volume!'' was established in 2002 under the title ''Copyright Volume!'' by GĂ©rĂŽme Guibert, Marie-Pierre Bonniol, and Samuel Ătienne, and obtained its current name in 2009. Ătienne (
Université de la Polynésie Française
The University of French Polynesia (french: Université de la Polynésie française) is a French university located in Puna'auia, French Polynesia.
History
Created by a decree of May 29, 1987, the university was originally called French Paci ...
) was its first
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
(2002â2008), before StĂ©phane Dorin (2009), GĂ©rĂŽme Guibert (2010-2017) and Emmanuel Parent (2017-2022) took over.
Special issues

The journal publishes special issues on various topics in popular music studies,
new musicology,
ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...
,
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
,
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words âGeoâ (The Earth) and âGraphienâ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
,
cultural history
Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...
,
cultural studies
Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the political dynamics of contemporary culture (including popular culture) and its historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers generally investigate how cultural practices re ...
,
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
, etc.
Recent topics include
music videos (2018, n° 14-2),
Jamaican Music
The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles.
Reggae is especially popular through the international fame of Bob Marle ...
(2017, n° 13-2), French
punk scenes (2016, N° 13-1),
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
(2016, n° 12-2), French chanson and
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
(2015, n°12-1), "nostalgia" (2015, n°11-1), music and
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
(2014, n°10-2), "listening" (2013, n°10-1),
Black music (2011, n°8-1)
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
and race issues in
hip hop (2011, n°8-2), "metal studies", "
counterculture
A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...
s" (2012, n°9-1 & 9-2), and
cover versions (2010, n°7-1 & 7-2),
''Volume!'' publishes a "varia" section for articles not related to the main topic, plus editorials, letters, and
book reviews.
Distribution
Online access
Since November 2011, ''Volume !'' is included in the French academic journals portal and since December 2011 in the Belgian portal,
Cairn.info
Cairn.info is a French-language web portal, founded in 2005, containing scholarly materials in the humanities and social sciences. Much of the collection is in French, but it also includes an English-language international interface to facilita ...
. All issues are available online on Openedition.org (formerly Revues.org); the six latest ones are on Cairn.info with the last four under restricted access. Since June 2016, it is also on RILM Abstracts with Full Text (RAFT).
Abstracting and indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in the
International Index to Music Periodicals, the
Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale
Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (International Repertory of Music Literature; Internationales Repertorium der Musikliteratur), commonly known by its acronym RILM, is a nonprofit organization that offers digital collections and a ...
, the
Music Index and Music & Performing Arts Online. The articles dealing with
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
are indexed on the
Jazz Institut Darmstadt bibliography and the ones dealing with
heavy metal/
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
on the
University of Central Missouri
The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is a public university in Warrensburg, Missouri. In 2019, enrollment was 11,229 students from 49 states and 59 countries on its 1,561-acre campus. UCM offers 150 programs of study, including 10 pre-profes ...
/ISMMS's metal studies bibliography. ''Volume !'' is registered by the AERES in the 18th section ("Arts").
Sponsors
The journal is classified by the AERES (18th section of the CNU, May 2012). It is published with the support of the French National Book Center (
Centre national du livre
The Centre national du livre (CNL) is a French établissement public à caractÚre administratif.
The CNL is placed under the administrative supervision of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (, ). Its vocation and role is to supp ...
) and the
French National Centre for Scientific Research.
Events and partnerships
Vibrations. Musiques, médias, société
Volume and the Ăditions MĂ©lanie Seteun have directed the electronic publication of the first French popular music studies journal ''Vibrations. Musiques, mĂ©dias, sociĂ©tĂ©'', created by Antoine Hennion, Jean-RĂ©my Julien and Jean-Claude Klein in the mid-1980s, on the French academic portal
Persée
''Persée'' (''Perseus'') is a tragédie lyrique with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully and a libretto by Philippe Quinault, first performed on 18 April 1682 by the Opéra at the Théùtre du Palais-Royal in Paris.
Roles
Synopsis
ACT I: The Palac ...
.
IASPM
The journal is a frequent partner of the French-speaking branch of the
International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM): it publishes the winner of the association's "young researcher" annual award.
Ashgate
It also published a special international, English edition of its "countercultures" issues with
Ashgate Publishing
Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham ( Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office i ...
, a partnership with the Ăditions MĂ©lanie Seteun that had already taken place for the publication of the book ''Stereo: Comparative Perspectives on the Sociological Study of Popular Music in France and Britain''.
Conferences
It has co-organized many conferences, among which:
* "Rock and violences in Europe (1955-1990)", in 2017;
* "Conçues pour durer. Perspectives francophones sur les musiques hip-hop";
*"''Heavy metal et sciences sociales : un état des lieux de la recherche francophone''" in Angers (December 2014),;
* the 2013 "Changing the Tune. Popular music and politics in the XXIst century" international conference in Strasbourg with the German association ASPM and the French branch of the IASPM.;
* In November 2012, it participated in the conference on "Digital Publishing in the Humanities. Perspectives from France and Canada" organized by the French Consulate in Toronto, the
French Institute, the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, and
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...
.;
* "What is it we call âBlack musicâ?" in Bordeaux, 2010.
Events
It organizes events (conferences, concerts) with various institutions, such as the
Musée du Quai Branly, the
Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
public library, the
Cité de la Musique, the
Philharmonie de Paris
The Philharmonie de Paris () ( en, Paris Philharmonic) is a complex of concert halls in Paris, France. The buildings also house exhibition spaces and rehearsal rooms. The main buildings are all located in the Parc de la Villette at the northeaste ...
,
La Gaßté Lyrique
La Gaßté Lyrique () is a digital arts and modern music centre opened by the City of Paris in December 2010, located at 3-5 rue Papin in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, 3rd arrondissement.[CollÚge International de Philosophie The CollÚge international de philosophie (Ciph), located in Paris' 5th arrondissement, is a tertiary education institute placed under the trusteeship of the French government department of research and chartered under the French 1901 Law on associ ...]
, or the Centre Musical Fleury Goutte d'Or-Barbara, as well as with
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
s/
festivals
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...
, such as the festival "F.A.M.E. Film Music & Experience" in March 2014, or in May 2012, the "Humanist Records Festival #3" and venues, such as the
Point ĂphĂ©mĂšre.
The "Great Black Music" exhibit at the
Cité de la Musique in Paris was co-curated by journalist Marc Benaïche and ethnomusicologist Emmanuel Parent. The latter, a member of the journal's team since 2004, had co-organized the 2010 "What is it we call Black Music?" (''Peut-on parler de musique noire ?'') conference in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, BordĂšu ; eu, Bordele; it, BordĂČ; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
whose proceedings were published in ''Volume!'' (n°8-1, 2011). He was also in charge of editing the exhibit's catalogue.
Media
From October 2012 to January 2013, ''Volume!'' editors were offered sequences on François Saltiel's show on
Le Mouv'
''Mouv '' (formerly ''Le Mouv'') is a French youth-oriented radio station which began broadcasting on 17 June 1997. As part of Radio France, it is a public radio station. The station primarily plays youth-oriented music, centered on urban musi ...
., and the
Radio Télévision Suisse
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
dedicated two issues of "Histoire Vivante" to ''Volume!'' in October 2013. A partnership with the website , created by historian
Pierre Rosanvallon, to publish reviews of books dealing with popular music, was started in November 2013.
"Le bruissement de la raison"
2 December 2013, o
5 November 2013.
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
Volume's first website
Music journals
Multilingual journals
English-language journals
French-language journals
Popular music
Publications established in 2002
Delayed open access journals
Biannual journals
2002 establishments in France