ABSTRACT
Policy in relation to popular music is formulated and implemented at the levels of the international community, the nation state, regions and local government. It includes the regulation and stimulation of aspects of the production and consumption of music. At an international level there are agreements on market access and copyright provisions. At the state level policies include the regulation/ deregulation of broadcasting; the use of tax breaks and content quotas; support for local copyright regulation; and, as shown in the previous chapter censorship. The local level involves venue-related regulations and the policing of public space. State attitudes and policies towards popular culture are a significant factor in
determining the formulation of such policies and the construction of meaning in popular music. At the level of attitudes, state cultural policies are indicative of the various views held about the very concept of culture itself, debates over government economic intervention in the marketplace versus the operation of the ‘free market’, the operation of cultural imperialism and the role of the state in fostering national cultural identity. As the Task Force Report on The Future of the Canadian Music Industry (1996) put it:
Most industrialized states believe that cultural products must not be treated as commodities. The cultural exemption contained in international trade agreements reflects a recognition that it is in their diversity that the richness of human cultures is to be found and that the distinctive characteristics of each culture should be preserved.
