music streaming
Chronicling how music streaming services work, and reactions to them
Tony Lashley and
music streaming
What Does Music Mean to Spotify? An Essay on Musical Significance in the Era of Digital Curation
Asher T Chodosacademia.edu
Abstract: The growing field of “critical algorithm studies” often addresses the cultural consequences of machine learning, but it has ignored music. Te result is that we inhabit a musical culture intimately bound up with various forms of algorithmic mediation, personalization, and “surveillance capitalism” that has largely escaped critical attention. But the issue of algorithmic mediation in music should matter to us, if music matters to us at all. This article lays the groundwork for such critical attention by looking at one major musical application of machine learning: Spotify’s automated music recommendation system. In particular, it takes for granted that any musical recommendation – whether made by a person or an algorithm – must necessarily imply a tacit theory of musical meaning. In the case of Spotify, we can make certain claims about that theory, but there are also limits to what we can know about it. Both things – the deductions and the limitations – prove valuable for a critique of automated music curation in general."
The story, Kelley writes, is “the tale of what happens when working-class consumption of popular culture overrides the interests or concerns of popular culture workers . . . a story about the limits of solidarity . . . [set by] consumers whose own self-interest may actually clash with the demands of laboring artists.”
Worker’s Song | Franz Nicolay
What if that user base was steadfastly fixed to their own platform? If we could build a unified lobby of artists and fans, we would hold a much stronger hand in negotiation, and consequently may see more favorable deals negotiated in the use of sampled material and other roadblocks prior platforms have experienced. Legacy industry need association... See more
Mat Dryhurst • SoundCrowd: Tokenizing & Collectivizing Soundcloud
Close.
That is, of course, more or less the rub: if the Xerox machine is somewhat of a troubling invention, everything about our modern-day computer-rich ecosystem is a thousand times worse. My phone syncs to my tablet syncs to my laptop; the value proposition of every device on my person is that it instantaneously and unquestioningly shares copies — of... See more
The year of the music licensing legal wars
Well, even though making and releasing music has become easier than ever, the support of a major label — and its marketing powerhouse — is one of the top determinants (if not prerequisites) for getting access to some of the most valuable streaming "real estate" .
Julie Knibbe • Is It Possible to Get On a Spotify Editorial Playlist as an Independent Artists? | Music Tomorrow Blog
In a stunning rebuke of traditional GOP deregulatory instincts, the Senate voted 99–1 to kill the measure. For the first time in decades, conservative priorities placed local cultural guardianship over the absolute freedom to innovate. That vote showed just how unsteady the old coalitions have become, and how powerful the populist realignment... See more
And they didn’t mince around what was happening across the country. “I know perfectly well I could go out and buy a CD and put it on my iPod,” said Justice David Souter. “But I also know perfectly well that if I can get the music on the iPod without buying the CD, that’s what I’m going to do.” If that was the case, and the RIAA got its way,... See more