Éditions Mélanie Seteun
Éditions Mélanie Seteun is a French publishing association devoted to popular-music studies, scholarly journals, books, and related cultural events.
Last updated August 25, 2026
AI crawler reads
No AI crawler has read this profile since Oct 28, 2026.
Overview
Éditions Mélanie Seteun is a French publishing association focused on the study and documentation of popular music, particularly in French-speaking academic and cultural contexts. Its work treats popular music as a serious field of social, cultural, political, and historical inquiry. The organization is best known for Volume! La revue des musiques populaires, a French journal dedicated to popular-music studies, and for book series addressing music, society, politics, and professional or institutional environments. The association's publishing activity developed around the Music et Société collection, which examined popular music in relation to social structures, identities, cultural practices, and collective life. It later broadened its catalogue through projects concerned with politics, including the Rock & Politics collection, and with the relationship between popular music and institutions through Musique et Environnement professionnel. These publications positioned the organization between academic publishing, cultural criticism, and the wider French-speaking music ecosystem. A central turning point was the creation of Volume! in 2002. Gérôme Guibert and Samuel Étienne founded the journal with Marie-Pierre Bonniol to provide a dedicated academic space for research on popular music. By 2017, the journal had reached 29 issues and had addressed subjects including countercultures, Black music, postcolonial approaches, and alternative music journalism. Its digital distribution expanded from 2013 through the Revues.org platform and Cairn.info, with inclusion in RILM Abstracts with Full Text from 2016. This helped connect French-language scholarship with international music-research databases and readers. Éditions Mélanie Seteun also helped preserve and extend the work of Vibrations. Musiques, médias, société, an earlier French journal of popular-music studies created in the 1980s by Antoine Hennion, Jean-Rémy Julien, and Jean-Claude Klein. The association directed the journal's electronic publication on the Persée academic portal, linking an earlier generation of French music scholarship with contemporary digital access. The organization has combined publishing with conferences, public discussions, concerts, exhibitions, and institutional partnerships. Its activities have involved venues and institutions such as the Musée du Quai Branly, the Centre Georges Pompidou public library, the Cité de la Musique, the Philharmonie de Paris, La Gaîté Lyrique, the Collège International de Philosophie, and the Centre Musical Fleury Goutte d'Or-Barbara. It has also worked with festivals, record labels, academic associations, and cultural venues, including F.A.M.E. Film Music & Experience, Humanist Records Festival, Point Éphémère, the German association ASPM, and the French branch of IASPM. The association's public-facing profile has included media collaborations and international publishing. It partnered with Ashgate Publishing on an English-language international edition of material concerning countercultures and had previously collaborated on Stereo: Comparative Perspectives on the Sociological Study of Popular Music in France and Britain. From 2012 to 2013, Volume! editors contributed sequences to François Saltiel's program on Le Mouv'. Radio Télévision Suisse devoted two episodes of Histoire Vivante to the journal in 2013, and a partnership with La vie des idées began that year to publish reviews of books about popular music. The available reference material does not establish the association's current legal status, ownership, headquarters, financial position, or present publishing schedule. It is therefore best characterized as a specialist French scholarly and cultural publishing entity whose documented activities span books, journals, digital archives, conferences, exhibitions, and media outreach.
History
Éditions Mélanie Seteun developed as a specialist French publishing association dedicated to popular music as an object of serious academic, social, and cultural study. Rather than operating solely as a conventional book publisher, it combined scholarly publication with editorial coordination, digital dissemination, conferences, exhibitions, concerts, and partnerships with cultural institutions. Its documented scope centered on popular music in the French-speaking world while also pursuing international academic connections. The association's publishing programme included the Music et Société collection, which examined popular music in relation to society and collective life. It later extended its book activity to political questions through Rock & Politics and to the relationship between popular music and institutions and professional environments through Musique et Environnement professionnel. These collections provided a framework for research that crossed musicology, sociology, cultural studies, political analysis, media studies, and the study of cultural work. The most prominent project associated with Éditions Mélanie Seteun is Volume! La revue des musiques populaires. Gérôme Guibert and Samuel Étienne founded the journal with Marie-Pierre Bonniol in 2002 to create an academic venue for popular-music research. The journal addressed subjects such as countercultures, Black music, postcolonialism, and the alternative music press. By 2017, it had produced 29 issues, indicating a sustained editorial programme over more than a decade. Digital publishing became an important part of the journal's development. From 2013, Volume! was available through Revues.org and Cairn.info, two major French-speaking platforms for scholarly material. Its inclusion in RILM Abstracts with Full Text from 2016 further connected the journal with international music-research discovery and access systems. The organization's website address is associated with the Volume! platform, although the available material does not establish the current status of the site or the association's broader operations. Éditions Mélanie Seteun also directed the electronic publication of Vibrations. Musiques, médias, société on Persée. Vibrations had been created in the 1980s by Antoine Hennion, Jean-Rémy Julien, and Jean-Claude Klein and is described as the first French journal devoted to popular-music studies. The digital publication project helped make earlier French scholarship available through a modern academic archive and placed the association within the longer history of popular-music research in France. The association's activities extended beyond books and journals. It co-organized or participated in conferences on Black music, digital publishing in the humanities, popular music and politics, heavy metal and the social sciences, rock and violence in Europe, and francophone hip-hop. These events took place in France and abroad, including a 2012 digital-publishing conference in Toronto and an international conference in Strasbourg in 2013. The organization also worked with museums, libraries, concert venues, festivals, record labels, and academic organizations. One notable cultural connection involved the Great Black Music exhibition at the Cité de la Musique in Paris. The exhibition was co-curated by journalist Marc Benaïche and ethnomusicologist Emmanuel Parent, who had been part of the journal's team since 2004 and had co-organized a 2010 Bordeaux conference on the concept of Black music. Proceedings from that conference were published in Volume! in issue 8-1 in 2011, and Parent edited the exhibition catalogue. The association also developed a media and international-publication presence. Its editors contributed sequences to François Saltiel's programme on Le Mouv' from October 2012 to January 2013. Radio Télévision Suisse devoted two episodes of Histoire Vivante to Volume! in October 2013. An English-language publishing relationship with Ashgate included a special international edition of material on countercultures and an earlier collaboration on Stereo: Comparative Perspectives on the Sociological Study of Popular Music in France and Britain. The available reference material does not provide a confirmed founding year for Éditions Mélanie Seteun itself, information about its legal structure beyond its description as an association, a current leadership roster, ownership details, financial data, or a verified present-day operating status. Its documented historical identity is that of a French scholarly and cultural publishing organization that helped institutionalize popular-music studies through journals, books, digital archives, events, and public partnerships.
- 2017
Volume! reaches 29 issues
[1]The journal's documented publication run reaches 29 issues and includes themes ranging from countercultures to postcolonialism.
- 2016
RILM indexing and full-text availability
[1]Volume! becomes available through RILM Abstracts with Full Text.
- 2014
Partnership with F.A.M.E.
[1]The organization works with the F.A.M.E. Film Music & Experience festival in March.
- 2014
Heavy metal and social sciences conference
[1]It participates in the Angers conference Heavy Metal et sciences sociales: un état des lieux de la recherche francophone.
- 2013
Volume! becomes available through digital platforms
[1]The journal is made available through Revues.org and Cairn.info.
- 2013
Changing the Tune conference
[1]Éditions Mélanie Seteun participates in the international Strasbourg conference on popular music and politics in the twenty-first century.
- 2013
Media and review partnerships expand
[1]Volume! contributes to Le Mouv', receives coverage from Radio Télévision Suisse, and begins a review partnership with La vie des idées.
- 2012
Digital humanities conference participation
[1]The organization participates in a Toronto conference on digital publishing in the humanities, organized by French and Canadian cultural and academic institutions.
- 2011
Black music conference proceedings published
[1]Proceedings related to the Bordeaux conference appear in Volume!, issue 8-1.
- 2010
Conference on Black music
[1]The association co-organizes the Bordeaux conference What Is It We Call Black Music?, later connected to a Volume! proceedings issue.
Products and positioning
A specialist French-language publisher and cultural organizer that connects popular-music scholarship with public cultural institutions, media, festivals, and international academic publishing.
Scholarly journal · 2002
Volume! La revue des musiques populaires
The association's principal journal and one of the central French-language publications devoted to popular-music studies. Founded in 2002, it provides research and critical discussion on subjects including countercultures, Black music, postcolonialism, and alternative music journalism. The journal has been distributed digitally through Revues.org and Cairn.info and was included in RILM Abstracts with Full Text from 2016.
Book collection
Music et Société
A book collection examining popular music in relation to society, social organization, cultural practices, and collective identities. It formed one of the association's initial publishing activities and established its focus on treating popular music as a serious subject of interdisciplinary research.
Book collection
Rock & Politics
A collection addressing the relationship between rock music and political ideas, practices, movements, and institutions. The available reference material identifies it as an expansion of the association's publishing activity beyond the original Music et Société focus.
Book collection
Musique et Environnement professionnel
A later collection focused on popular music and its institutional or professional environment. Its subject matter extends the association's programme toward cultural work, music industries, professional practices, and the institutions that shape musical production and circulation.
Electronic journal archive
Vibrations. Musiques, médias, société
An electronic publication of an earlier French popular-music journal created in the 1980s by Antoine Hennion, Jean-Rémy Julien, and Jean-Claude Klein. Éditions Mélanie Seteun directed its digital publication on the Persée academic portal, helping preserve and expose an important earlier body of French music scholarship.
Marketing campaigns
- 2017Rock and Violences in Europe
Europe
A conference examining rock music and violence in Europe between 1955 and 1990.
- 2017Conçues pour durer
France · French-speaking markets
A conference devoted to francophone perspectives on hip-hop music and its durability, institutions, and cultural forms.
- 2014F.A.M.E. Film Music & Experience
France
A partnership with the Paris-based festival focused on the relationship between film, music, and cultural experience.
- 2014Heavy Metal et sciences sociales
France
A December conference in Angers surveying francophone social-science research on heavy metal.
- 2013Changing the Tune
France · Europe
An international Strasbourg conference on popular music and politics in the twenty-first century, organized with the German association ASPM and the French branch of IASPM.
Outcome. The event strengthened the association's links with European popular-music research networks.
- 2012Digital Publishing in the Humanities
Canada · France
Participation in a Toronto conference addressing digital publishing in the humanities from French and Canadian perspectives.
Outcome. The event connected the association's digital scholarly work with international humanities-publishing discussions.
- 2010What Is It We Call Black Music?
France
A Bordeaux conference examining the category of Black music and its cultural, historical, and scholarly implications.
Outcome. The proceedings were published in Volume!, issue 8-1, in 2011.
Brand decisions
2016
Extend international research discoverabilityStrategyBackground
The association continued expanding access to French popular-music scholarship beyond its direct journal readership.
Action taken
Volume! was included in RILM Abstracts with Full Text.
Aftermath
The journal gained a presence in an international music-research indexing and full-text service.
2013
Move toward digital scholarly distributionStrategyBackground
The association sought broader access for Volume! and related research in a changing academic-publishing environment.
Action taken
Volume! was made available through Revues.org and Cairn.info.
Aftermath
The journal became accessible through major French-language digital research platforms.
Recent events
- 2017
Volume! reaches 29 issues[1]
Other
The journal Volume! had published 29 issues by 2017, covering themes including countercultures, Black music, postcolonialism, and the alternative music press.
- 2016
Volume! added to RILM Abstracts with Full Text[1]
Other
The journal became available through RILM Abstracts with Full Text, extending its reach into international musicological research infrastructure.
- 2013
Volume! expands digital distribution[1]
Other
Volume! became available through Revues.org and Cairn.info, broadening access to its French-language popular-music research.
- 2013
Volume! collaborates with La vie des idées[1]
Campaign
A partnership began to publish reviews of books dealing with popular music.
Sources2 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/éditions-mélanie-seteun · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled