Abstract: "The Music Industry is a very complex world that embraces different and broad segments needing of academic exploration. The big majority of studies and/or academic approaches to this unique business world have been focusing greatly on the record labels side but have failed to address the role of those who make the music – the musicians/artists. This is exactly what the present study aimed to understand: What is the role of the musicians in the music business? Aren’t they one of the key elements, essential players, within the whole industry, if not the most important elements ever?
The industry of music includes a large number of creative and wise musicians/bands behind one of the most discriminated music genres in the music history – Heavy Metal Music. However, diverse studies have demonstrated that Heavy Metal is recognized as a music genre that generates profit, with an increasing legion of fans all over the world hence, also considered popular music. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand how Heavy Metal Music bands and musicians succeed and how they manage to conciliate artistic creativity and commercial demands. By making a multiple case study analysis within two different settings – Portugal versus Finland – it will be shown that Heavy Metal bands / musicians possess business skills that allow them to manage and conduct both the artistic and business activities of their music business. In some of the cases, it will also be raised their entrepreneurial skills in innovating and finding new ways of reaching the audience and becoming more successful whilst doing what they love the most – making music and playing it live."
(Source: ProQuest Dissertations Publishing)
Ciências Sociais e Humanas (Social Sciences and Humanities).

Abstract: Heavy metal has a long and controversial history. One of the many things it has been blamed for is causing mental illness among its listeners. However, is the music to be blamed or are there other factors coming into play? Numerous studies have been done on various aspects of heavy metal such as its link to violence, but few have been done on mental health within the community. This paper replicated a French study examining levels of depression and anxiety within the community. Forty three participants, all active metal listeners, completed a survey examining various factors such as employment status and education levels, and completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Like the French study, it found that participants had generally low levels of depression and anxiety, but high levels were linked to outside factors. Hopefully, this will help open the floor for more valuable research on the community.

Abstract: El objetivo de este artículo es narrar la experiencia de construcción de un protocolo contra violencias por motivos de género en las prácticas del metal dentro de la región de Nuestra Abya Yala y Nuestra Afroamérica, por parte de la Comisión de Género de la Red de Estudios y Experiencias en y desde el Heavy Metal (REEHM). Para ello se dará cuenta de las diferentes etapas que componen este proceso, las cuales van desde las necesidades iniciales surgidas a partir de diversos ataques de violencia epistémica hacia integrantes de la REEHM, hasta la elaboración colectiva mediante métodos colaborativos. Esto implica la lectura, la reflexión y la escucha cuidada y grupal en la Primera Ronda de Brujxs. Hacia el final se comentan algunas conclusiones y proyecciones futuras vinculadas al metal y las problemáticas de género.
[The aim of this article is to recount the experience of building a protocol against gender-based violence (GBV) within metal music practices in the region of Nuestra Afroamerica, by the Gender Commission of the Heavy Metal Studies and Experiences Network (REEHM). The different stages that make up this process will be described, ranging from the initial needs arising from various attacks of epistemic violence against REEHM members, to the collective elaboration through collaborative methods. This involves group reading, reflection, and careful listening in the Primera Ronda de Brujxs (First Circle of Witches). Towards the end some conclusions and future projections related to metal and gender issues are discussed.]

Abstract: Two centuries-old mask traditions native to Austria and Bavaria enjoy ongoing popularity due to a creative mingling of old and new elements (heavy metal music and fireworks alongside hand-carved wooden masks and birch rod switches). The Krampus is the menacing companion of St. Nikolaus, who visits children on December 5 and 6, although nowadays groups of Krampusse may appear alone. The Perchten, who are associated with the magical female folk-figure Perchta, appear on January 5 and the week before. While the Perchten and Krampusse represent distinct traditions, their history has intersected at various points, and their contemporary manifestations share many elements, including a movement towards a “modern” aesthetic and the employment of such resources as tourist publicity and the internet to promote their appearances, educate the public, and network with each other. While the house visit was formerly the primary setting for these masked figures (or mummers), today it is the public parade.
These parades, while rooted in and resembling conventional display-custom performances marked by a static division between performer and spectator, actually consist of a kind of fluid, interactive ritual theater in which the partially improvised, partially scripted performances of masked figures and the responses of spectators shape one another. Contemporary manifestations of Perchten and Krampus traditions will be explored in light of the ongoing cultural dialogue between performers and non-performers who seek to define and interpret the tradition, and the interplay of academic and popular discourses surrounding invented tradition, Folklorismus (folklorism) and Rücklauf (feedback), and the nature of authenticity. Questions of cultural heritage “ownership” surface in the debates over form and meaning, while in the hands of the Perchten and Krampusse themselves, tradition emerges as an active process and collaborative artwork rather than a fixed commodity with boundaries which can be defined and navigated by outside observers.