Music is so ubiquitous that it can be easy to overlook the powerful influence it exerts in so many areas of our lives - from birth, through childhood, to old age. The Social and Applied Psychology of Music is the successor to the bestselling and influential Social Psychology of Music. It considers the value of music in everyday life, answering some of the perennial questions about music.
The book begins with a scene-setting chapter that describes the academic background to the book, before looking at composition and musicianship. It then goes on to look at musical preference. What aspects of music are crucial in determining whether or not you will like it?
In chapter 4 the authors consider whether rap and rock are bad for young people, highlighting some of the major moral scandals that have rocked pop music, and asks whether these have become more extreme over time. The following chapter looks at music as a commercial product. How does the structure of the music industry affect the music that we hear on the radio and buy?
The book closes with an examination of music education. How does musical ability develop in children, and how does this relate to more general theories of how intellectual skills develop? Do musical skills develop independently of other abilities?
Exceptionally broad in scope, and written in a highly accessible style by the leading researchers in this field, The Social and Applied Psychology of Music will be required reading for anyone seeking an understanding of the role music plays in our lives.
The book closes with a examination of music education. How does musical ability develop in children, and how does this relate to more generaltheories of how intellectual skills develop? Do musical skills develop independently of other abilities?

Let legendary rock manager Simon Napier-Bell take you inside the (dodgy) world of popular music - not just a creative industry, but a business that has made people rich beyond their wildest dreams. He balances seductive anecdotes - pulling back the curtain on the gritty and absurd side of the industry - with an insightful exploration of the relationship between creativity and money. This book describes the evolution of the industry from 1713 - the year parliament granted writers ownership over what they wrote - to today, when a global, 100 billion pound industry is controlled by just three major players: Sony, Universal and Warner. Inside you will uncover some little-known facts about the industry, including: how a formula for writing hit songs in the 1900s helped create 50,000 of the best-known songs of all time; how Jewish immigrants and black jazz musicians dancing cheek-to-cheek created a template for all popular music that followed; and how rock tours became the biggest, quickest, sleaziest and most profitable ventures the music industry has ever seen. After reading Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay, you'll never listen to music in the same way again.

There were approximately 7,000 full-time bandsmen serving in the British army in the interwar years. This was about a third of the total number of musicians in the music profession in the United Kingdom, making the War Office the largest single employer of professional musicians in the country. British army musicians were a key stakeholder in the music industry in the United Kingdom, but also farther afield, where it made a significant contribution to the maintenance of British imperial authority. To sustain the large number of bands, residential institutions provided young boys for recruitment into the army as bandsmen and, as a consequence, the army set the standard for musical training and performance. The music industry relied upon the existence of army bands for its business and the military played a significant part in the adoption of an international standard of musical pitch. Nevertheless, there was a tempestuous relationship between army bands and the BBC, as well as the recording industry as a whole. Using untapped sources and original material, Major David Hammond reveals the role and soft power influence of British army music in the interwar years.