Music in the Moment of "Cyber Culture:" an Outward Spiral
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 7-6-2020 10:00 AM Music in the Moment of "Cyber Culture:" An Outward Spiral Brandon Sked, The University of Western Ontario Supervisor: Coates, Norma, The University of Western Ontario A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the Master of Arts degree in Music © Brandon Sked 2020 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Musicology Commons Recommended Citation Sked, Brandon, "Music in the Moment of "Cyber Culture:" An Outward Spiral" (2020). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 7065. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/7065 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract The advent of the Internet, and file-sharing specifically, challenged the relationship between music and its monetary value. This thesis investigates what happened after music became “free.” Richard Middleton’s “moments of situational change” are used as a framework for discussion. Through a survey of recent history and twentieth-century technologies, it becomes clear that the amplification and acceleration of scale, pace and patterns of music consumption, production and distribution practices as incited by the Internet renegotiated music’s monetary value, but did not introduce us to the way we value music aesthetically, as a pastime, and as a means for constructing community and a sense of self. Practices and phenomena associated with the digital age, such as streaming and “prosumption,” as well as commodities such as the iPod illustrate not only the twisted beauty of the present, but also a continuum with the past and an optimism for the future. Keywords: Middleton, Situational Change, Conjunctural Change, MP3, Music and the Internet, Music and Identity, Streaming, Prosumption, Materiality, File-Sharing. ii Summary for Lay Audience How disruptive exactly, was the advent of the Internet to the record industry? Listeners no longer felt the need to pay for music. Rather, listeners could download as much music they wanted for free, courtesy of file-sharing platforms such as Napster. As such, music’s monetary value was put into a state of flux while the reasons we listen to music could shine brighter than ever before. This thesis investigates how music continued to be valued aesthetically, as a pastime, and as a means for constructing community and a sense of self while its monetary value was being renegotiated. Richard Middleton’s “moments of situational change” are used as a framework for discussion and models involving feedback cycles and circuits are used to illustrate and facilitate analysis. This thesis takes a more synoptic approach in surveying recent history not only through a musicological lens, but also through consulting media studies, popular music studies, and cultural studies. Chapters focus on practices and phenomena associated with the digital age, such as file-sharing, shifts in materiality, music streaming and portability, and “prosumption” to demonstrate that the Internet has amplified and accelerated the scale, pace, and patterns of music consumption, production and distribution practices. Discussions also encompass the implications of music permeating our everyday lives via our smart devices such as the iPod and music streaming platforms such as Spotify. Since technology changes faster than we do, historicizing the present through connections and comparisons with older technologies and practices illustrates not only the twisted beauty of the present, but also a continuum with the past and optimism for the future. iii Acknowledgements I would like to extend many thanks to my supervisor Dr. Norma Coates for her encouragement and for reining in abstract ideas to keep me grounded. Her feedback and insights have been crucial to the completion of this thesis. I would also like to thank my secondary reader Dr. Keir Keightley, whose meticulous and specific feedback was invaluable in helping me see the flaws and gaps in my work and research. To my parents, Debra Sked and Bradley Sked, thank you for your unwavering support, patience, and understanding which has allowed me to my forge my own path. Too few can go to school without worrying about accumulating debts, having a roof over their heads, or feeding themselves; I only hope that I will be able to repay you one day, and that my work will make you proud. And thank you to my friends Matteo Ferrero-Wong, Matthew Wong, Cole Canaday, and Jury Kobayashi for all the laughs, the camaraderie, for keeping me sane, and lifting me up whenever I had doubts. iv Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... ii Summary for Lay Audience ..................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... vii Prelude ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Preface .................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 7 Methodology and Literature Review...................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1 – Crisis to Incite Situational Change: File-Sharing and Napster ............................ 13 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 13 File-Sharing and Piracy ........................................................................................................ 14 Napster ................................................................................................................................. 18 Music’s Social Value ........................................................................................................... 22 Piracy and Morality .............................................................................................................. 25 File-“Sharing” ...................................................................................................................... 28 Past Piracy ............................................................................................................................ 31 Radiohead and the Economics of Free ................................................................................. 34 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 36 Chapter 2 – The Spiral Widens: The Feedback Loop and the Rise of New Commodities...... 38 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 38 The Collector ........................................................................................................................ 41 The Material’s New Clothes ................................................................................................ 41 Standardizing the MP3 ......................................................................................................... 44 The iPod ............................................................................................................................... 46 The “Circuit of Practice” and “Performative Integration” ................................................... 48 The External Hard Drive ...................................................................................................... 52 The Vinyl Record ................................................................................................................. 53 The “Diderot Effect” ............................................................................................................ 56 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 59 Chapter 3 – Decorating Spaces Sonically: Schizophonia and Ubiquitous Listening .............. 63 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 63 Ubiquitous Listening and Distributed Subjectivity .............................................................. 65 v Music as Architecture........................................................................................................... 69 Portable Music and “No Dead Air”...................................................................................... 69 Spotify Knows Best .............................................................................................................. 74 Taking Up the Gatekeeper Mantle ....................................................................................... 77 Living the Good Life ...........................................................................................................