environments to measure the effects on local production and consumption
of the presence of international music and, at a later date, to look at the
relationship and behavioral effects between musical tastes and the cultural
mores of the young.

The research was conducted by nationals of each country. In this way
the researchers were studying their own cultures. Each brought to the work
a national's understanding of the complexities and idiosyncracies of their
particular cultural studies: such an understanding would have been impos-
sible for a visiting academic to acquire. It must be explained that represen-
tation was not dictated by any sampling technique, random or otherwise.
The parameters of the study were not fixed in the initial stages of the proj-
ect. Since we were exploring new ground we took an open stance. From the
start we could make no claims about the global representativeness of our
sample. However, certain guidelines of choice in broad groupings were ad-
hered to. It was insured that there would be representatives of developed
and underdeveloped countries; old countries with strong national traditions
and relatively new countries with weak or no traditions, large; medium sized
and small countries; economically strong and weak ones; democracies and
other forms of government; old imperialists and new ones; countries where
the majority of young people are allowed an adolescence and countries
where adult responsibility comes in childhood. We did not consciously look
for countries with important popular music industries; we were as interested
in countries with weak domestic industries. We wanted to focus on the gen-
eration of and support given to weakly based domestic industries as well as
on the strength and impact of exporting countries. We hoped to include rep-
resentatives of countries with differing musical roots and countries with dif-
fering cultural histories. The sample eventually arrived at satisfying these
criteria. The chapters present a wide variety of concerns. They succeed in
illustrating the complexity and variety of contexts in which popular music is
produced. The study itself had no overall financial backing and had to rely
on dispersed intermittent outside sources, which were mainly directed to-
ward funding meetings or access to meetings rather than toward research
expenses. Individuals had to rely on their own resources. Each piece of work
represents a degree of personal sacrifice in time and funds on the part of the
contributor. This book was launched on enthusiasm, goodwill and friend-
ship alone and this cannot be extracted from people by dictate.

Being a collection of reports from individual countries, this book is in-
novative in that the perspective is that of the recipient as opposed to that of
the provider. The view is from inside the country. Account is only taken of
the outside foci that actually are seen to impinge on the domestic musical
environment. This is different from the usual accounts of the interaction of
national and transactional forces, which almost invariably take as their
subject the transactional aspect, describing how it affects and is accommo-
dated to varying situations. Here external influences are not subjects of
study in themselves but are viewed as part of a complex scene along with
other variables operating in various national situations. Each researcher
worked on an identical agenda generated by the group as a whole. This in-
cluded providing descriptive information about relevant demographic, so-
cial, economic and political conditions historically and currently. The his-
torical development of music was to be traced and the current state of the

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