Lou Aimes-Hill

Profile

I hold an MA in Music Performance from Bristol University, as well as a PGCE in Post Compulsory Education (Brighton), and BA in Music and Drama (Surrey). 

When not studying, my background lies in media, the arts, and education, and I have worked in all of these sectors extensively since my initial BA graduation in 2001. 

I am passionate about arts education and outrach, and I believe truly in the power of contextualising the arts and how powerful this can be as a tool of communication. 

Research interests

My thesis title is The Currency of the Cover Version: How Changes in Technology affect the notion of Authenticity in Popular Music. 

During time studying the contentious issue of authenticity in early music as part of my MA studies, my attention turned to the idea of authenticity in popular music, specifically when we link that to the cover version. The global pandemic threw the music industry into a state of frustrated stasis – especially where live music is concerned. I am extremely interested in the output of musicians that have still been releasing material during the period of global lockdown, and how cover versions seem to have provided a vehicle for new releases and artist colaborations. Technology, of course, has played an integral role in both making this possible and making it successful. 

I have a deep interest in music and popular culture. Genres and the idea of authenticity in popular music. How authenticity is created and maintained and who decides what is or is not authentic. In addition to this I am particularly interested in gender and genre associations and cross-overs in popular music, and in how technology is changing the ways in which we consume, produce and disseminate music in the Twenty-First Century. 

Conference Papers:

May 2022: ‘The Currency of the Cover Version’. Institute of Advanced Study, Warwick University. ‘Contested Modes of Authorship’.

Qualifications

• MA Music Performance
• PGCE Post Compulsory Education
• BA Music and Drama & Theatre Studies