June 9, 2023 | 9:00AM
Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St.
Music and the Internet is a hybrid, multi-day interdisciplinary conference that will take place virtually and at the University of Chicago on June 9–10 2023. Its goal is to bring together scholars and creators to present across a variety of perspectives on the intersection of music, sound, and online culture, and to help cultivate the developing international network of thinkers at work on these topics.
From autoplaying videos to social media echo chambers, the 21st-century internet is a noisy place. The internet and online platforms have become increasingly entwined in both the music industry and in everyday musical activity, with music as both a shaped and shaping medium. Online music communities have emerged around net-native genres with distinct aesthetic, communicative, and meme-based conventions. Such developments have varied throughout the history of music on the internet, with reverberating effects in other online creative industries. Accordingly, a range of theoretical, practical, and ethical issues are in open (and often urgent) discussion for those studying these phenomena.
Recent research meetings in this area of study include Music and the Internet (Oxford, 2018), Like, Share and Subscribe (Online/Lisbon, 2020), Digital Socialities (Aarhus, 2021), Information Overload? Music Studies in the Age of Abundance (Birmingham, 2021) and Internet Musicking (Online, 2022). This conference continues the momentum of the burgeoning interdisciplinary field of music and internet studies, fostering conversations across disciplines including (but not limited to) music studies, sociology, media theory, and computer science.
THEMES FOR THE CONFERENCE WILL INCLUDE:
- Internet Musical and Audiovisual Aesthetics
- Internet Music Genres
- Music Platforms and the Digital Music Industries
- Music Fandoms and Communities Online
- Music in Virality, Memes, and Trolling
- Histories and Archives of Internet Music(king)
- Methodologies, Tools, and Ethics in Studying Online Music
- Music and Sound in Online Games
- Music Livestreaming and the Attention Economy
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Jabari Evans (University of South Carolina, Harvard University Rebooting Social Media Institute)
Keynote Panel: Classical Music, Public Musicology, Race, and Social Media
Dr. Imani Danielle Mosley (University of Florida)
Babatunde Akinboboye (@babatunde_hiphopera)
If you have any questions about access or to request a reasonable accommodation that will facilitate your full participation in this event such as ASL interpreting, captioned videos, Braille or electronic text, food options for individuals with dietary restrictions, etc. please contact the event organizer.
View the conference website for the full schedule and details.
This conference is co-sponsored by The Department of Music, Media Arts Data and Design (MADD) Center, Department of Sociology, Department of Anthropology, and The Franke Institute for the Humanities.