Chris Anderton Interview
Chris Anderton is an associate professor in cultural economy at Solent University Southampton. His research examines a range of topics including the live music and festival industries, the development and representation of music genres, the management and marketing of popular music, and the intersection of fan practices and intellectual property law.
How did you get to where you are today, professionally?
I’d like to say that I planned my academic career, but this is certainly not true. When I left school at 18 the last thing I wanted to do was carry on with education, so I took a job with a bank that over the following years I gradually became ever-more disillusioned with. My girlfriend was at University, so one summer I decided to put in an application to the same university (University of Wales Swansea as it was at the time), got accepted and more or less immediately handed in my notice. After three years studying geography I thought I’d carry on to a Masters course so looked around for something that interested me. As a lifelong fan of all kinds of music, but with relatively little talent as a performing musician, I found the MBA Music Industries at University of Liverpool and thought it looked ideal either as a stepping stone into getting into an industry job or just to find out more about how things work behind the scenes.
Having decided that I liked researching the business more than necessarily working in it, I proposed a PhD project on music festivals back at Swansea University. At the time there was little research into music festivals, yet the sector was growing at a rapid rate and becoming ever more mainstream, professional and commercialised. On completion of my thesis I made a few job applications and took a lecturing role at Solent University. I’ve been there ever since, extending on my research interests and successfully supporting students into their steps into the music industries. I’m now an Associate Professor and Associate Head working with a great team of research active academics in the music business area, and have had the opportunity to push a variety of research projects and externally focused events (gigs, club nights, outdoor festivals, conferences and so on) with students on the music business and performance courses. I am currently working with local industry stakeholders on how to enhance the music scene in Southampton.