I’m a researcher of popular music and the internet. I spend a lot of time thinking & writing about how people use & understand music online. A colleague once described me as ‘relentlessly interpretative’.
(I’m not sure it was a compliment, but there you go).
I work at the University of Bristol on a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, researching live online popular music performance.
Published March 2021
How Music Empowers argues that empowerment is the key to unlocking the long-standing mystery of how music moves us. Drawing upon cutting-edge research in embodied cognitive science, psychology, and cultural studies, the book provides a new way of understanding how music affects listeners. The argument develops from our latest conceptions of what it is to be human, investigating experiences of listening to popular music in everyday life. Through listening, individuals have the potential to redefine themselves, gain resilience, connect with other people, and make a difference in society.
Find out more at howmusicempowers.com or purchase directly from Routledge.
‘fascinating reading, effective both in dissecting the “magic” of music, and in conveying its power’ (Stefano Barone, Popular Music & Society)
‘intuitive and accessible […] Gamble’s weaving together of how individual listeners, musical communities, and genre conventions interact with each other marks an interesting intervention into sticky debates over the relationship between popular music and social change.’ (Olivia R. Lucas, Popular Music)
Some things I do
- Publish original research
- Speak at conferences
- Support music producers & engineers with DMGAudio
- Organise conferences
- Webmaster for the International Society for Metal Music Studies
- Webmaster for the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Music Studies Network
- Blah in the Fediverse
- Make music sometimes
- Walk my very good dog