Digitized Cultural Production and Its Effects on Diversity and Innovation in Popular Music
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Internet technologies, from Napster to Spotify, have changed the musical tastemaking process dramatically over the past fifteen years. Popular narrative assumes that these platforms have democratized musical tastemaking by diminishing major record labels’ monopoly over mass distribution. This same narrative predicts that the democratic forum afforded by these platforms should foster diversity and innovation in popular music, relieving us from the typical formulaic, standardized fare. But is this really true? Have these platforms enabled democracy, or have technology companies usurped the hegemonic power that major labels once held? Furthermore, have these new platforms diversified popular music and eliminated barriers to entry for marginalized artists, or do these platforms hold biases of their own? By conducting interviews with top executives, and mapping trends in key indicators of diversity and innovation across Billboard charts, viral charts, human-curated Spotify charts, algorithmic recommendations, and record label rosters, I examine the impact of digitized tastemaking on popular music. In my interviews, I found that music executives unanimously sense a loss of power, but are conflicted about the effect of streaming platforms on diversity and innovation. They remain skeptical of streaming as a democratic tool, fearing that streaming statistics can be manipulated, and that online platforms may advantage certain artists and consumers over others. In my statistical analysis, I find mixed results: increased representation for specific demographics (Asian men, Scandinavian bands, and openly gay performers), but decreased representation for others (African-American, Hispanic, and Female performers). Biases within Internet communities, curators, and algorithms, have created barriers, rather than eliminated them, for certain artists. Most notably for Female artists, representation appears to decrease significantly as labels rely more on streaming and social media statistics. Innovation—measured by number of genres represented, as well as standard deviation of tempo and chord structures—has increased in the 2010’s, but has yet to fully recover from massive declines in the 2000’s, which are likely linked to risk-averse scouting required by dramatic declines in music revenues. Meanwhile, the types of innovation most rewarded by the Internet, including shock-value and aggressive self-meming, are considered by some to be a step backward in product quality.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | 2017 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Geronimus, Charlie |
|---|---|
| Primary advisor | Christin, Angèle |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University. Department of Science, Technology and Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Music |
|---|---|
| Subject | Diversity |
| Subject | Innovation |
| Subject | Stanford |
| Subject | Science Technology & Society |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Geronimus, Charlie (2017). Digitized Cultural Production and its Effects on Diversity and Innovation in Popular Music. Unpublished Honors Thesis. Stanford University, Stanford CA.
Collection
Stanford University, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Honors Theses
View other items in this collection in SearchWorksContact information
- Contact
- cgeronimus@gmail.com
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...