Communication and the creation of media content: a practitioner-based enquiry study of popular music songwriting

The author has argued that an investigation of creativity and cultural production is an important research concern for those studying communication (McIntyre, 2009, pp. 156-172). This concern is also highlighted in one of the research focuses put forward by Paul Cobley in The communication theory reader (1996). Cobley posited a simple question, amongst quite a number of others, for those researching communication. His seemingly straightforward question was: “how are messages created?” (Cobley, 1996, p. 1). In reviewing the literature it can be seen that there has been substantial research already undertaken in other disciplinary areas apart from communication that has gained a rationally based understanding of creativity and how it works. Given this growing body of research we in the discipline of communication can no longer simply follow commonsense assumptions about the relationship between creativity and media practice. In pursuing these ideas this paper outlines the results of investigating the production of one of the major forms of media content for radio—that is, popular music and the application of the current ideas about creativity to it. The paper presents the findings of a study into songwriting carried out using the methodology of practitioner-based enquiry (Murray & Lawrence, 2000).The outcomes confirm the veracity of one confluence model of creativity—that is, the systems model as initially proposed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1988; 1997; 1999). In doing so this applied case contributes in its own small way to broader ideas and debates about communication, creativity and culture.