particularly in relation to the contemporary music industry,is its emphasis on music as a raw material that is then processed through a system to the public.Since Hirsch was writing, recording corporations have been increasingly organizing their activities around the 'exploita roduct. As words and images of popular music do not necessarily need to be sold to the public at all. The musical commodity can circulate within the media, generating income from the exploitation of per forming rights alone' (Erith 1987: 73). The work of music-business workers has become increasingly based around circulating the sounds and images of popular music across a range of media texts and entertainment items (films, adverts, videos, books, magazines) It is no longer so easy, if it ever was, to isolate and identify one piece of raw material' as a product that is being processed through the system.