Mapping the musical universe: A blockmodel of UK music festivals, 2011–2013

Abstract

There has been a growing recognition of the potential utility of social network analysis for the analysis of culture and more especially ‘music worlds’ in recent years. To date, however, studies have focused upon individual music worlds, defined by reference to either style or geography. In this article, we further develop this methodological innovation by using blockmodelling techniques to explore the coexistence of different music worlds within a common ‘musical universe’ and the pattern of connection between them. Specifically, we blockmodel a network of 106 UK music festivals, representing a variety of different music worlds and surveyed between 2011 and 2013. In addition to substantive findings, the article demonstrates that blockmodelling can be an effective way of identifying distinct ‘worlds’ within a wider network and of exploring the ‘universe’ constituted by the connections between those worlds.