International Association for the Study of Popular Music
learned society that promotes inquiry, scholarship and analysis in the area of popular music
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music (abbreviated IASPM) is an international learned society dedicated to the scholarly study of popular music. It was established in September 1981, with Charles Hamm and Simon Frith as two of its founding members. By 1988, it had members in over 30 countries. Since 2002, its official headquarters has been at the University of Liverpool's Institute of Popular Music, which is also the repository for the Association's archived materials.
The Journal of Popular Music Studies, published by the University of California Press, is the official journal of the Association's United States branch (abbreviated IASPM-US). It also published the IASPM Journal.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “International Association for the Study of Popular Music” is learned society that promotes inquiry, scholarship and analysis in the area of popular music. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through International, Association and Study, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “learned society that promotes inquiry, scholarship and analysis in the area of popular music” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q39046320. VIAF identifies the subject as 138180558. The Library of Congress control number is n85067007. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1981, 1988 and 2002.
Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “International Association for the Study of Popular Music”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow International Association for the Study of Popular Music primary sources, International Association for the Study of Popular Music archive and International research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “International Association for the Study of Popular Music”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “International Association for the Study of Popular Music” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.