Jan-Peter Herbst

We have just signed Open Access Agreements for our two volumes of Heaviness in Metal Music Production with Routledge. This means that both books will be available completely free once published, thanks to additional funding received from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Both books, particularly volume 2, will benefit from this, as it means that the figures will be available in colour — making it easier to follow the detailed documentation of the mixing techniques of the eight participating producers. The book contains almost 300 figures.

The book Musik in der spätmodernen Gesellschaft. Analysen, Positionen, Perspektiven with my co-authored chapter "Songwriting-Camps: Kollaborative Songwriting-Praxis zwischen Songwriting-Tradition und musikindustrieller Transformation" has just been published.

The chapter explores songwriting camps as a contemporary form of collaborative songwriting within the evolving music industry. It examines their historical roots in industrialized songwriting practices and their role in the post-industrial, network-driven economy. Songwriting camps serve as creative hubs and commercial enterprises that balance artistic collaboration with market demands. Positioned within theories of creativity and cultural production, they reflect the tension between tradition and transformation. The chapter argues that songwriting camps function as both hit-making factories and networking platforms, exemplifying the shifting structures of music creation in the late modern era.

You can check it out here.

After several years, I now have an updates and news section again on the website. Here I will provide updates on publications, presentations, and other activities going forward.