From ‘commercial sell out’ to community-based event: The paradoxes of Polish punk rock music festivals

Abstract

This article is based on both ethnographic field research and the author’s many years of experience as a punk fan. The researcher-participant analyses the 40-year history of two Polish music festivals in order to trace the complex trajectory and changing meaning of the punk subculture in Poland. The analysis is centred on two significant events: the Jarocin Rock Festival and the Rock on the Swamp Festival. The author suggests that the countercultural past of punk, rooted in the 1980s, is now being sentimentalized and commercialized. It is treated by conservative local authorities as an insignificant monument of the past. On the other hand, punk has become an agent of important and surprising social changes. A small festival in a provincial town is inclusive for its inhabitants, integrating two very different communities. Thanks to this, the notion of ‘selling out’ is contrasted in the form of a punk-inspired, community-based event.

Building the Virtual Dancefloor: Delivering and Experiencing House Music Events in the Time of COVID-19

“…In these eventscapes, the divide between performer and audience is less delineated both physically [89] and conceptually, as performers mix freely with, and may form part of, the audience and community [104]. This sense of music communities is widely noted in research [91,104,105] as a key element of experience which can sometimes be even more important than the music itself [106]. This community element of grassroots events is self-evidently different from events staged by global artists in large venues, which by nature draw more disparate audiences for what tend to be one-off spectaculars as opposed to smaller events which can happen far more frequently.…”

How music helps constructing the atmosphere of streets

“…The first and the second question's goal is to explore whether people will notice the music that broadcast by the street and its degree,while the table 1's result is as follows: The questionnaire's structure is progressive [3] .In the section of N,we aim to explore whether the effect of the music is recessive.Therefore we design the question N1 and N2.Question N1's result shows that there are 556 people choose "YES",for most of people can notice the music from a quiet environment to a street with music broadcast.However,N2's result which is included in figure 1 shows that there are only 115 people will listen to the music the street broadcasts,and nearly 80% people will ignore the music and turn the attention to their shopping route,which will help music construct the atmosphere and affect people in subconsciousness.…”

“…The results are as follows: As what the figure 4 shows,the income in the morning increases 51.3%,the income after dusk increases 56.5%,while the total income increases 35.4%.These results show that music really has a strong impact on people's shopping behaviour.According to our observation,people who are anxious in the morning will be relaxed and buy a piece of bread as the breakfast,while people who have free time to bargain will shopping faster to come to the next store or restaurant early.These phenomenons shows that music do change people's social behaviour,mood and shopping style by designing quiet or fast scenario,which will make street and its business owners earn more. [3]…”