Making Value is a new study – and, it is claimed, the first one –  in which Timothy D. Taylor examines how people’s conceptions of value inform and shape their production and consumption of music.

Drawing on anthropological value theory, Taylor theorises music’s economic and non-economic forms of value both ethnographically and historically. He covers the creation and exchange of value in a wide range of contexts: indie rock scenes, an Irish traditional music session, the work of music managers, how supply chains function to create various forms of value, how trendspotters seek out and create value, and how musical performances act as media of value. Taylor shows that to focus on value is to attend to what is meaningful to people as they move through their worlds.

Ultimately, Taylor demonstrates that theorising value aids us in moving beyond the music itself toward understanding how musicians, workers in the music business, and audiences struggle to make and maintain what they value.

Duke University Press, 240pp, 15cm x 23cm, paperback, 2024