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.
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)
Registration
You can now register on Eventbrite for either in-person attendance or online attendance (which will provide access via Zoom).
Program
The draft program is now available on this Google Doc, which will be updated with any changes.
Conference location (for delegates attending in-person)
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts
915 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Lodging options nearby include The Sophy, The Study, and the Hyatt Place Chicago – South/University Medical Center.
Code of Conduct
This conference aims to create an inclusive, safe, welcoming, and comfortable environment for sharing research.
Please be aware of your privileges and give space to those whose voices are typically marginalized in academic discussions. For example, research has found that men ask more questions and speak for longer than women at conferences. Please be patient and courteous during paper Q&As, especially when chairs prioritise contributions from those that academia usually silences.
We will not tolerate discrimination (inclusive of, but not limited, to racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism), bullying, or harassment of any conference delegate. These are important issues that may arise in research papers and can cause distress. Please keep discussion of these issues considerate and civil, avoiding assumptions about others’ experiences.
We encourage kindness and generosity in all interactions, especially chat on Zoom. Please focus more on listening than providing critique. When asking questions, emphasise constructive contributions: ‘honest’ or ‘blunt’ criticism of others’ work has rarely helped to improve scholarship. This is an English language conference, though we recognise English may be a second language for many delegates, so please be considerate of language differences.
Note that due to the hybrid format, chairs and presenters may not be able to pay constant attention to Zoom chat, so we ask that delegates collectively build an inclusive environment.
By registering for the conference, you agree to uphold these principles to the best of your ability. If you feel that anyone breaks this code of conduct, please report it to the conference committee. This will be kept confidential and we will do our best to resolve improper behavior.
We look forward to welcoming you and engaging in enjoyable discussions.
Conference Theme
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 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
Conference Co-Organizers:
Dr. Steven Gamble (University of Bristol)
Dr. Kate Galloway (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
Dr. Paula Clare Harper (University of Chicago)
Conference Supported By:
Department of Music, University of Chicago
Media Arts Data and Design (MADD) Center, University of Chicago
Department of Sociology, University of Chicago
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago
The Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
