ABSTRACT
This introduction outlines the key concepts discussed in the various chapters of this book. Popular music remains a very good example of how contemporary cultural forms flit across media and cultural landscapes as well as global networks of governance as part of information society discourses. The Western art music canon remains irrefutably at the core of the music policies of arts agencies. Public funding for pop music has historically stood in the shadow of funding for art music. The chapter considers how this is changing and addresses the shifting nature of state intervention, examining in particular forms of music policy other than funding models. Three national case studies of New Zealand, Australia and Scotland, have provided some interesting debates about music regulation and policy in the past two decades. The policy literature database included relevant literature from past or current industry and government documents relating to policy.
