IASPM-US and University of California Press Announce Agreement to Publish the Journal of Popular Music Studies

The International Association for the Study of Popular Music, U.S. chapter (IASPM-US), is very pleased to announce that beginning January 1, 2018, its long-standing journal, Journal of Popular Music Studies, will be published by University of California Press.

AtUniversity of California Press, Journal of Popular Music Studieswill join a journalslist that includes some of the leading titles in musicology, such asthe Journal of the American Musicological Society,TheJournal of Musicology, and Nineteenth-Century Music, as well as interdisciplinary offerings such as Representationsand Boom California.

IASPM-US President Steve Waksman is excited about the new partnership: “University of California is a publisher that shares our priorities. We plan to continue publishing cutting-edge scholarship on popular music while bringing in more voices from outside academia proper, capturing the interdisciplinary energy of a field where music writers of various stripes – scholars, journalists, bloggers, discographers, cultural critics – are engaging in regular dialogue.”

Co-Editors of the journal, Diane Pecknold and Oliver Wang echo the sentiment: “we’re looking forward to working with UC Press to pull together exciting new issues that maximize the potential from this new partnership.”

David Famiano, Journals Publisher at University of California Press shares this enthusiasm: “UC Press is absolutely delighted to partner with IASPM-US and to work with such a passionate and dedicated team to continue the publishing legacy of such an important journal.”

About Journal of Popular Music Studies:

Journal of Popular Music Studies is one of the three top scholarly journals devoted to the study of popular music internationally. It was originally established in 1988 with the title, Trackings, under founding editor Steve Jones of University of Illinois, Chicago, and Reebee Garofalo of University of Massachusetts, Boston, who was then co-chair of IASPM-US. The change of name to Journal of Popular Music Studies took hold in 1993 and has remained in place ever since.

When it was founded in 1988, Trackings was self-published by IASPM-US. Its status as a self-published enterprise went unchanged until 2001 when the journal entered a short-lived agreement with Taylor and Francis. In 2003, the journal established a more long-standing arrangement with the Malden, MA-based Blackwell, which evolved into a deal with prominent academic publisher Wiley, now Blackwell’s parent company. Wiley will continue to publish the journal through the end of 2017 and all back issues will remain hosted on the Wiley web portal.

About University of California Press:

As one of the world’s most forward-thinking publishers, UC Press gives voice, reach and impact to innovative research and exceptional scholarship. With a global circulation in over 80 countries, our journals span the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, withsubject areasthat include history, literature & criticism, film & media, music, religion, and sociology.