Introduction : Researching Popular Music Censorship

The present volume brings together six articles which all address issues of censorship in music. While restrictions on free speech in popular music are often ascribed to the semantic content of lyrics or images, the authors in this special issue take their point of departure from the perception that the musical sound in its complexity rather plays a major role in silencing musicians and artists. Drawing on diverse cases of restrictions in various popular music genres, the volume expands knowledge on how censorship affects music life and how it can be theorized