#AoIR2024 Industry

Presentation 1
 
Music Consumption through Platforms: moving towards a global perspective
Vanessa Amália Dalpizol Valiati⁽¹⁾, David Hesmondhalgh⁽²⁾, Ignacio Siles⁽³⁾, Zhongwei {Mabu} Li⁽⁴⁾, Maria Perevedentseva⁽⁵⁾
1: Feevale University; 2: University of Leeds; 3: Universidad de Costa Rica; 4: University of Leeds; 5: University of Salford
 
A growing community of researchers are concerned with the social and cultural impacts of digital platforms and the platformization of cultural production tout court (MORRIS, 2020; NIEBORG & POELL, 2018; PREY, 2018; VAN DIJCK et al., 2018). Music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, Youtube Music, etc., have assumed a fundamental role not only in the distribution of content but also in taste formation, the scaffolding of individuals’ everyday lives, and identity construction (Hagen & Lüders, 2017; Webster, 2021). In turn, contemporary consumption dynamics have reformulated the relationships between artists, listeners and platforms by eliding both groups into the category of ‘users’ who depend on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram for the discovery of new content, new markets, and music creation itself.This interrelationship directly impacts which cultural products are successful, redefining artists' success, the meaning of fandom, and the creative process (Karakayali, Kostem, & Galip, 2018). This roundtable brings together researchers who study platforms, music, and music consumption from diverse disciplinary perspectives and in a diverse range of locales around the world. We will examine platform-based music consumption practices focusing on research conducted in the UK, China, Brazil and Costa Rica, combining empirical and theoretical insights with discussion of some of the methodological challenges that arise when working in this emerging field. With this, we hope to advance an understanding of music platformisation as a truly global phenomenon, and one which requires similarly joined-up global research efforts. Overall, the central aims are to interrogate how the platformisation of music and its entanglement with individuated social media practices challenges traditional theories of music consumption and to explore its implications for culture and society.