Oliver Seibt is Assistant Professor of Cultural Musicology at the Universty of Amsterdam since 2016.

He studied musicology (with a specialization in ethnomusicology), cultural anthropology, and Japanese studies at the University of Cologne and gained his doctorate at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. His dissertation was published under the title Der Sinn des Augenblicks: Überlegungen zu einer Musikwissenschaft des Alltäglichen in 2010.

An Uchida fellowship by the Japan Foundation allowed him to collect materials for his Magister thesis on the Japanese domestication of “Western popular music” during a three-months stay in Japan in 1996. After having worked as a freelancer for EMI Music Germany (1998-2007) and as a research and teaching associate ("Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter") at the universities of Cologne (2000-2008) and Bern (2008-2009), he returned to Japan in 2010 for a three-months field research trip to the Tokyo visual-kei scene that was part of a multi-sited research project on the globalization of Japanese popular music he conducted as a post-doctoral research fellow of the DFG-Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” at Heidelberg University (2009-2012). Before he was appointed assistant professor of cultural musicology at UvA, he worked as interim professor for ethnomusicology at the universities of Cologne (2013) and Frankfurt am Main (2013-2015), and as a guest professor at the University of Vienna (2015-16).

As a guest lecturer, he has also taught at the universities of Maiduguri (Nigeria), Saarbrücken, Giessen, Bremen, Zürich, and Utrecht, at the University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt am Main, the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg in Mannheim, and at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Oliver Seibt is co-founder of the German-speaking branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM-D-A-CH) and served as its general secretary from 2012 to 2016. Since September 2019, he acts as chair of the Benelux branch of IASPM.

His current research interests are in (the globalization of) Japanese popular music, everyday life music studies, and the role of the imaginary in musicking.

Publications (a selection)

* 2020 Made in Germany: Studies in Popular Music (Routledge Global Popular Music Series), ed. by Oliver Seibt, Martin Ringsmut, and David-Emil Wickström. New York and London: Routledge.

* 2020 "Introduction: Deutschland! - Echt Jetzt? German Popular Music's Complicated Relationship with German Identity", in Made in Germany: Studies in Popular Music (Routledge Global Popular Music Series), ed. by Oliver Seibt, Martin Ringsmut, and David-Emil Wickström. New York and London: Routledge, pp. 1-15 (together with Martin Ringsmut and David-Emil Wickström). 

* 2020 "Japonism 2.0: German visual-kei Fans, Tokio Hotel, and the Popular Music Genre That Must Not Exist", in Made in Germany: Studies in Popular Music (Routledge Global Popular Music Series), ed. by Oliver Seibt, Martin Ringsmut, and David-Emil Wickström. New York and London: Routledge, pp. 184-194.

* 2018 “The (musical) imaginarium of Konishi Yasuharu, or How to make Western music Japanese”, in Studies on a Global History of Music: A Balzan Musicology Project (SOAS Musicology), ed. by Reinhard Strohm. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 157-176.

* 2017 “J-Pop: Warum populäre Musik aus Japan nicht unbedingt japanisch klingt“, in Global Pop, ed. by Claus Leggewie and Erik Meyer. Stuttgart: Metzler, pp. 307-314.

* 2016 “Expeditions of desire”, in Seismographic sounds – Visions of a new world, ed. by Thomas Burkhalter, Theresa Beyer and Hannes Liechti. Bern: Norient, pp. 321-326.

* 2014 “Bekenntnis zu (einer post-interpretativen) Musikethnologie“, contribution to the “Diskussion: What Discipline? Positionen zu dem, was einst als Vergleichende Musikwissenschaft begann“, in Die Musikforschung 67(4), pp. 388-393.

* 2012 “Asagi’s voice: Learning how to desire with Japanese visual-kei”, in Vocal music and contemporary identities: Unlimited voices in East Asia and the West, ed. by Christian Utz and Frederick Lau. New York and London. Routledge, pp. 249-267.

* 2010 Der Sinn des Augenblicks: Überlegungen zu einer Musikwissenschaft des Alltäglichen (Studien zur Popularmusik). Bielefeld: transcript-Verlag.

* 2010 “Aus dem Rahmen gefallen: Ein Versuch mit Erving Goffman zu erklären, wann’s in der Musik witzig wird”, in Musik und Humor: Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung in der Musik, ed. by Hartmut Hein and Fabian Kolb. Laaber: Laaber Verlag, pp. 13-29.

* 2008 “Warum die Musikethnologie die Suche nach dem singenden Menschen mittlerweile eingestellt hat”, in Aspekte des Singens. Ein Studienbuch (= Musikpädagogik im Fokus, Band 1), ed. by Andreas Lehmann-Wermser and Anne Niessen. Augsburg: Wißner, pp. 50-64 (together with Sebastian Ferdinand Hamsch).

* 2004  “Don’t let me be misunderstood: Zur Verstehbarkeit populärer Musik”, in Musik und Verstehen, ed. by Christoph von Blumröder and Wolfram Steinbeck. Laaber: Laaber Verlag, pp. 300-311.

* 2004  “Katja Ebstein y el indiecito del Perú: La polifonía como método etnomusicológico aplicado a un Schlager alemán”, in Lienzo: Revista de la Universidad de Lima, No. 24, pp. 9-32 (together with Julio Mendívil).

* 2004  “Wer alles zu hören ist, wenn Katja Ebstein vom Indiojungen aus Peru singt, und was diese Stimmen in der Musikethnologie zu suchen haben”, in Die Musikforschung 57 (3), pp. 257-268 (together with Julio Mendívil).

* 2003  “Totgesagte leben länger – Überlegungen zur Relevanz der Musikethnologie”, in Die Musikforschung 56 (3), pp. 261-271 (together with Kerstin Klenke, Lars-Christian Koch, Julio Mendívil, Rüdiger Schumacher, and Raimund Vogels).

UvA Courses

current

* An Introduction to Cultural Musicology (bachelor seminar with lecture)

* Methods in Cultural Musicology (= Analyse- en onderzoeksmethoden A, block 1, bachelor seminar) 

* Globalizing East Asian Popular Musics (= Cultural Musicology II, bachelor seminar)

* Popular Music Studies (bachelor seminar)

* Towards a Musicology of the Everyday (master seminar with lecture)

previous

* Popular Music, Jazz, and the Principles of Musical Classification (= Riffs & Scales, part 1)

* Analyse- en onderzoeksmethoden C: zelfstandig onderzoek (together with Maarten Beirens, Ashley Burgoyne, and Rutger Helmers)

* On the Formation, Diversification and Globalization of Hip-Hop (= Theoretical perspectives on popular music and media, bachelor seminar)

Courses taught at other universities (a selection)

* Musical Encounters (master seminar, Utrecht and Zurich)

* Japanese Gentlemen, Stand Up Please! A History of Popular Music in Japan (lecture, Frankfurt am Main and Vienna)

* Menace II Society? On the Formation, Diversification and Globalization of Hip-Hop (seminar, Cologne, Bern, Heidelberg, Frankfurt am Main, Vienna)

* Please Lay Down Here on this Turntable: An Ethnomusicological Self-Analysis (seminar, Cologne and Vienna)

* Dentô Ongaku: An Introduction to Japanese Traditional Music (seminar, Frankfurt am Main and Vienna)

* Sounding Signs: Popular Music and Subcultural Identity (seminar, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main) 

* How to Make Things with Sounds: Musicology and Performance Theory (seminar, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main)

* On Alienated Masses and Subversive Practices: An Introduction to Popular Music Studies (seminar, Saarbrücken and Frankfurt am Main)

* A History of Ethnomusicology (lecture, Frankfurt am Main)

Bachelor theses

• Andriske, Niels Simon
  Die Auswirkungen der Anbindung von Musikstreamingdiensten an soziale Netzwerke (Facebook, Twitter) auf das Nutzerverhalten (Köln 2013)
• Balk, Thieri
  Zijn er (musikale) aspecten te benoemen waardoor de muziek van Radiohead als melancholisch waargenomen wordt en verschilt dit per luisteraar? (Amsterdam 2020)
• Beenhakker, Olle
  Housecultuur. Het ontstaan en ontwikkelen van housemuziek als genre (Amsterdam 2020) 
• Claasz-Coockson, Kelsey
  Powervrouwen in popmuziek: Het feminisme van Beyoncé en Taylor Swift (Amsterdam 2016)
• Conrad, Matt
  Music of the Anti-Vietnam War Movement: Perspectives in the Literature (Amsterdam 2019)
• d'Engelbronner, Diederik
  The Vanishing Frontiers Between Cultural Strata in Two Amsterdam Music Scenes (Amsterdam 2016)
• de Haan, Joran
  Ways of Operating Portable Audio: The Use of Portable Audio in Urban Everyday life (Amsterdam 2016)
• Harms, Job
  Any World That I’m Welcome To: How Steely Dan Have Gained Authenticity in the Musical Genre of Jazz (Amsterdam 2017)
• Hoetjes, Sjors
  X Marks the Spot: A Map of Sonic Hauntology (Amsterdam 2018)
• Itterzon, Stan van
  In de studio. Een analyse van machtsrelaties, de totstandkoming van creatieve ideeën en de rol van financiële belangen binnen de muziekstudio (Amsterdam 2021)
• K., S.
  Eine kurze Geschichte der südkoreanischen Indie-Musikszene (Köln 2014)
• Kindor, Kevin
  Die Verortung der Band Radiohead im populärmusikalischen Genresystem im Spiegel der britischen Musikpresse von 1995 bis 2000 (Köln 2014)
• Legters, Koen
  Hip-hop, politiek en maatschappelijke problematiek. Een literatuurstudie naar de verhouding tussen hip-hop, de studie naar hip-hop en het presidentschap van Barack Obama en de Black Lives Matter-beweging (Amsterdam 2021)
• Lenzhölzer, Christiane
  „Unsere Musik hat sich seit der Renaissance kaum verändert.” Die Bedeutung der Praktizierung von Musik- und Tanztraditionen in der rumänischen und ungarischen Bevölkerung in Ungarn und Siebenbürgen heute (Köln 2014)
• Linskens, Randy
  Door de ogen van de Ultra's: Een onderzoek naar Nederlandse identiteit in een Nederlandse muziekstroming (Amsterdam 2018)
• Long, Lisa
  Techno und die kollektive Efferveszenz: Vergemeinschaftungsprozesse bei Techno-Partys (Köln 2014)
• Mariën, Anthony
  Kunst dat kan ik ook! Drop-outs in de gesubsidieerde muziekacademies in Vlanderen (Amsterdam 2016)
• Nijs, Jasmin
  We gon’ be alright: The Role of Music and Tradition in the Black Lives Matter Movement (Amsterdam 2016)
• Oeffelt, Cathelijne van
  Creedence Clearwater Revival en de diversificatie van Amerikaanse rockmuziek eind jaren '60 (Amsterdam 2021)
• Paquay, Daan
  Welkom in het Verre Oosten: Zwolse identiteit in de muziek van Opgezwolle (Amsterdam 2018)
• Schalks, Jasper
  Countrymuziek in Nederland (Amsterdam 2018)
• Schelvis, Sydney
  Neosemiotics in Popular Music Studies: An Existential Semiotic Approach to Early 1990s Rap Music (Amsterdam 2016)
• Vierbergen, Mick
  Mobile Music and Urban Experience: Private Sound Bubble or Urban Information Overlay? (Amsterdam 2016)
• Wagemaker, Sven
  Gamelan in the Netherlands – The Racial Imagination (Amsterdam 2017)
   

Master and Magister theses

• Bauer, Eva
  A cappella und die Macht der Definition. Wechselwirkungen zwischen diskursiver Begriffsformation und musikalischer Praxis in der Szene von A-cappella-Ensembles im deutschsprachigen Raum (Wien 2017)
• Bauwens, Joram
  The Transnational Distribution of East-Asian Popular Culture to Western Audiences by Internet Platforms (Amsterdam 2017)
• Beckers, Massimo Raoul
  Shaping the Soundscape History (Amsterdam 2018)
• Beenhakker, Olle
  Raving Through Rosa's Glasses. Using Resonance Theory to Study Rave Culture (Amsterdam 2021)
• Bogaard, Lisanne
  'This Is America': The Usage of Music in Black Lives Matter Compared the Analysis of Music in the Civil Rights Movements (Amsterdam 2018)
• Bulawa, Martin
  Silent Disco@Club Culture: Eine ethnographische Untersuchung von Kopfhörerparties (Köln 2014)
• Dvorkin, Evgenij
  Electronic Bodies: Dance and Body Experience in the Techno Music Scene (Köln 2014)
• Fritz, Heiko
  Überlegungen zu Ursachen und Funktion homophober Äußerungen im deutschsprachigen battle- und gangsta-rap (Köln 2014)
• Hevey, Jack
  ‘The Grey Unyielding Concrete.’ A Survey of Dublin’s Current Cultural Landscape in Response to the Closure of Several Late-night Music Venues (Amsterdam 2020)
• Hoetjes, Sjors
  Dolar versus Barthes. The Object Voise as Critique of the Grain of the Voice (Amsterdam 2021)
• Jain, Sanjeevani
  Exploring ‘Musicology’ in Hindustani Music Education: A 20th Century Case of Problematic Contextualization (Amsterdam 2018)
• Janssen, Phoebe
  This Must Be the Space. Mapping Spaces of Post-1989 Berlin and Their Relation to the Local Club Culture (Amsterdam 2021)
• Jeunink, Joy
  “Hip-hop Is the Only Place Where Non-White Dutch People Are King.” A Research into Dutch Hip-Hop as an Extension of American Hip-Hop’s Africanist Aesthetics (Amsterdam 2020, Research Master Arts and Culture)
• Primor, Dorin
  Bad Music in the Music Classroom: Israeli Music Teachers' Notions About Bad Music and Its Place in Music Education (Amsterdam 2018)
• Rhannam, Maha
  Casablance Jungle: Music and Positive Youth Development in Morocco (Amsterdam 2019, International Development Studies)
• Reeve-Baker, Jim
  The Audio File and The Audiophile: Understanding How The MP3 Has Impacted Music Production From 2010-2016 (Amsterdam 2016)
• Schelvis, Sydney
  The Voice, Body, Bass, Beats, and Sensation: A Post-Semantic Inquiry into Electronic Dance Music’s Materiality (Amsterdam 2017)
• Schmidt Muñoz, Mijal
  The Cosmological Properties and the Performative Sonic Transmission of ikaros: Sacred Medicinal Melodies from Peruvian Amazonian Communities (Amsterdam 2021) 
• Schuitenmaker, Charlotte
  Applied Ethnomusicology (Theoretically) Applied: What Indigenous Australians and Activists Think Applied Ethnomusicology Actually Has to Offer Them (Amsterdam 2017)
• Taus, Karin
  Die Rückwirkungen der internationalen Wahrnehmung isländischer InterpretInnen auf das zeitgenössische Musikleben Reykjaviks. Eine ethnografische Skizze (Wien 2019)
• Trevisan, Peter
  Musikpiraterie und Moral – Eine qualitative Untersuchung der illegalen Musikbeschaffung in Deutschland (Köln 2014)
• Tucker, Jacob
  Excavating the Bass: A Critical Historiography of UK Dance Music (Amsterdam 2021)
• Üregen, Melissa
  Imagining Paris through Jazz: Über die Bedeutung von Musik für die Wahrnehmung von Stadt (Wien 2017)
• Vervoort, Levente
  Gypsy Hippies, Jewfros and White Boy Preaching Bands. The Ironic Reception of World Music (Amsterdam 2021) 
• Wijte, Amani
  The Black Panther as Emancipation: Race, Representation, and the African Musical Topos (Amsterdam 2019)
• Will, Hans-Georg
  ​„Eine Frage des Geschmacks“: Zur Genese unserer musikalischen Wahl (Frankfurt am Main 2015)