| Title: | How Music Works : Film Composers, Labour, and the Screen Composers Association in Mid-Twentieth-Century America |
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| Authors: | ID Zechner, Ingeborg (Author) |
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| Files: |  ZUP_Zechner_Ingeborg_2026.pdf (256,97 KB)
MD5: A116C21AA963C50F5FF9194C6267B394
 https://hippocampus.si/ISBN/978-961-293-555-9/117-137.pdf
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| Language: | English |
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| Work type: | Not categorized |
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| Typology: | 1.16 - Independent Scientific Component Part or a Chapter in a Monograph |
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| Organization: | ZUP - University of Primorska Press
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| Abstract: | Film music composition emerged as one of the most prolific domains of musical creation in twentieth-century America. Beyond offering vast professional opportunities, Hollywood film music occupied a unique aesthetic and institutional position: situated between popular and art music, it was shaped by the medium of film and received ambivalent receptions from audiences and scholars alike. In the 1940s and 1950s, Hollywood composers habitually undertook diverse musical tasks – composing, arranging, conducting – within a highly industrialised division of labour that lacked a comprehensive legal framework. While actors, directors, and writers formed powerful guilds, the distinctive position of film composers, caught between creative authorship and industrial labour, required a dedicated professional body. Founded in 1945, the Screen Composers Association (SCA) sought to address this gap by supporting the specific professional needs of film composers. Despite its significance, the SCA’s history has received little scholarly attention. This article examines the SCA’s formative years to illuminate the complex intersections of composition, labour, and industry in Hollywood. Drawing on archival records of the SCA preserved at the Margaret Herrick Library and related materials in US archives, I contextualise the society’s activities within the broader networks of film and music organisations. This perspective highlights how composer societies like the SCA collectively shaped the working lives of film composers, from negotiating performance rights and addressing challenges of international distribution to fostering professional solidarity. |
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| Keywords: | Hollywood film music, film composers, Screen Composers Association (SCA), copyright law, labour law, performing rights |
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| Publication status: | Published |
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| Publication version: | Version of Record |
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| Place of publishing: | Koper in Ljubljana |
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| Publisher: | Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana |
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| Year of publishing: | 2026 |
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| Number of pages: | str. 117-137 |
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| PID: | 20.500.12556/RUP-22752  |
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| ISBN: | 9789612935559 |
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| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-555-9.117-137 |
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| Publication date in RUP: | 10.03.2026 |
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| Views: | 179 |
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| Downloads: | 7 |
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| Metadata: |    |
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