Online Music

This research seeks to explore and understand the impact of recent technological innovations such as Peer to Peer networking and MP3 file compression upon the domestic listening environment. How, and by whom, are these technologies being used within the home and how do they relate to, and coexists alongside, more traditional forms of music reproduction in the home, such as audio tape, CD and vinyl?

A key text for this study is DeNora's Music in Everyday Life (2000), in which DeNora develops a reception theory of music appreciation, exploring the complex mesh of textual and contextual elements which make up a musical moment. Meditation upon this literature causes us to ask how new technologies of music reproduction might impact upon the meanings which music has for listeners. Further, how do phenomenological explorations of the nature of traditional and virtual music collections help us extend DeNora's project of understanding music's semiotic force?

The bulk of data collection will be conducted in 2004, and will consist of ethnographies and in depth interviews with music listeners. Recent and forthcoming fieldwork sites include time spent at the Glastonbury festival of Contemporary Arts, as well as time spent at BBC Music Online.

Gerard Oleksik