Music by Numbers: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in the Music Industries. Edited by Richard Osborne and Dave Laing. Bristol: Intellect, 2021. 270 pp. ISBN 978-1-78938-253-2

and the student of any one of the areas under discussion would do well to consult the piece in question, but very few of the authors attempt to connect their particular subject to broader themes or to make comparisons across national contexts – in short, no one in this book is speaking to anyone else. Some authors argue convincingly against the restrictions of generic categories; others structure their chapters entirely by discrete generic categories. One topic is covered both by a very senior scholar, who produces an accomplished and thought-provoking piece, and by a postgraduate student working well beyond their usual area of expertise and seemingly unsupported, resulting in some unfortunate and highly regrettable pages containing a number of basic errors. The overall result is an anthology, but not a conversation. That said, what we learn is often fascinating. Flávia Camargo Toni’s discussion of the relationship between Sigismund Neukomm and the illiterate, mixed-race composer Joaquim Manoel Gago da Câmera is richly detailed, and would benefit further from a wider contextualisation within the vogue for publishing ‘national melodies’ in the non-Lusophone world. David Robb’s introduction to the political and rebel songs of revolutionary Germany is a masterpiece of concise description, and a worthy trailer for the book on that subject he recently co-authored with Eckhard John (2020). Jan Dewilde’s analysis of song’s role in the development of Flemish linguistic nationalism is never less than absorbing. Scott makes particular reference to the pandemic at the end of his introduction (p. xxv). Perhaps the original intention was to come together, share expertise and generate discussion that would enrich and open out these chapters. It is an unhappy reflection on recent history that the 19th-century musicians and works documented in these pages managed to circulate much more freely and fruitfully than the book’s contributors. Taken as a starting point rather than a conclusion, this volume begins to look more promising: this is a topic rich in scholars and sources, and I look forward to the conversation continuing in years to come.