Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2026 - CMNS 314 D300

Topics in Media Production and Aesthetics (4)

Cultural Production of Popular Music(Cultu

Class Number: 7034

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 5 – Apr 10, 2026: Tue, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    VANCOUVER

  • Prerequisites:

    17 CMNS units with a minimum grade of C- or 45 units with a minimum CGPA of 2.00.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Topics on the cultural production of acoustic, visual, and/or multimodal communication. Explores cultural contexts of media production, media artifacts, media perceptions, and alternative media practices. Topics include: advertising, film, gaming, radio, television, and questions of representation in media professions. This course can be repeated twice for credit if the topics are different (up to a maximum of three times).

COURSE DETAILS:

This course offers an interdisciplinary excursion through the roots, progress, trajectories and cultural significance and power of popular music. Ultimately, it focuses on the question: why and how popular music matters. An exhaustive linear history of popular music is neither feasible nor appropriate in a single semester-length course; instead, the course will proceed according to specific themes, issues, debates, and perspectives, including: popular music and protest; popular music and social change; the cultural production of popular music; technological foundations of popular music production; youth cultures, youth media, and popular music; popular music and gender; popular music in film; popular music and advertising; independent music production; regional musical forms and commercial currents; “authenticity” in popular music; the business, profitability and popular music; the machinery of popular music promotion; global perspectives in popular music; the digital production and consumption of popular music; and more. Each issue/theme will be traced and analyzed through specific case studies. The course will be highly participatory, and students will contribute substantially to the case studies considered, foci, and analytical parameters of the course.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Each week, students will be assigned course readings to summarize, animate, illustrate, and analyse and to lead discussion in class. As well, students will present (in a schedule to be determined) a sociocultural history and analysis of a single song of their choosing. Students will also produce (on a platform of their choice) a mini documentary on a musical form. Finally, there will be a major research term paper due at the end of semester. All assignments will be described in the first class and detailed on the Canvas course site.

Grading

  • Contributions to/Participation in Class Discussion 20%
  • Presentations: The Sociocultural Significance of a Song 25%
  • Mini-Documentary - (Choice of Media) 25%
  • Final Research Paper 30%

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

All course readings and other resources will be available on the Canvas course site.

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.