Introduction

The very term Viennese popular electronic music or Vienna Electronica has a narrower and wider meaning. It can encompass art and artists, as well as music scenes. Electronic music seems to be nation-less and borderless; its producers and consumers, cosmopolitan, global travellers, unburdened by the constraints of their national or local identity. Because of the importance of sampling and remixing, the question of authorship in electronic music tends to be complicated, with many pieces of new music having many ancestors. Electronic musicians also tend to be more 'promiscuous' than their rock and pop counterparts. Their work is usually organised around discrete units, 'projects', which have a specific time span. Production of electronic music thus fits well the type of work known as post-Fordist and neoliberal. It can be described as part of the 'gig economy'. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.