Music, Internet and Society in the Context of Network Concepts and Theories
Music, Internet and Society in the Context of Network Concepts and Theories
The aim of the present collection of papers is to explore the role and significance of theories of networks, connections, and inter-connectedness in the understanding and conceptualization of worlds of contemporary (popular) music. Network concepts have dominated theories of globalisation (most notably that of Manuel Castells), as well as, quite obviously, theorisations of the internet as media and cultural sphere. Network science, moreover, has become a field of its own that integrates the study of society and social relationships with physics and other fields of science (notably in the work of Albert-László Barabási and his followers). The articles in the present issue all employ a network perspective, but to different ends: in order to demonstrate how the genre of ‘ubiquitous music’ enabled by today’s technologies links us as subjects into a distributed network of listening (Kassabian); to show how a critical combination of actor network theory and Pierre Bourdieu’s ‘field’ theory enables the description of the history, industry relationships and practices constituting a particular music genre (Prior); to conceptualise the reorganisation of the music industries in the wake of such technological changes as the appearance of digital music formats and internet distribution technologies (Leyshon); and finally, to investigate the online and offline organization and activity of music scenes and genres (Kruse; Barna).