Music cultures in the twenty-first century are strongly shaped by online media. Music streaming, social media, video sharing sites as well as internet-based music production software, radio stations, and music magazines have variously affected the formatting, curation, and consumption of music. Largely centralized around a small number of privatized companies, where human and automated processes intersect, online music cultures are sites of mediations of power.
This conference asks: What characterizes mediations of music and power in online music cultures? What are emergent mediations of subjectivity, identity, and difference in online music cultures, and how do they map onto or newly shape discourses of taste, value, and authenticity? What possibilities may online music media offer for centering artistic and fan practices, alliances, and communities that have previously been subjugated in music cultures?