The Transformative Effects of CDs on the Australian Folk Festival Scene

Abstract

This article explores the transformative effects of the compact disk (CD) on the Australian folk festival scene using the 1998 Australian National Folk Festival as a case study. Edited interviews and analysis highlight how CDs circulate along with musicians and music genres in a global cultural economy and musical technoculture. The CD is characterised as a marketing and musical product; a kind of cultural and symbolic capital; and, a pivotal part of the musicality, sociality,and commerciality of the folk festival scene, while it simultaneously helps transform musical and performative genres.