ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the logic of genre and spatial organization in different Indian retail outlets in order to point to the operation of another conception of 'value': a position within a field of relational meanings. The centrality of temporal categorizations in Music Metropolis outlets reveals another aspect of musical value that Rajeev, a senior merchandising manager at the chain, described as the 'product life cycle'. Fabian Holt has argued that the taxonomies used by organized music stores are not music genres at all, but should rather be thought of as marketing categories. In the Regional Hyderabadi shelving, the only recordings to be found were film soundtracks in the Telugu language, whereas the Mumbai flagship store boasted a much greater variety of regional languages and styles. Promotional displays in the store's front windows and music from the stereo system advertised Amit's space within the Bhopali market. Genre classifications and prioritizations are cultural processes through which individual actors negotiate and perpetuate meaning.
