Uploaded July 2019 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
How far can STS help to reconsider the valuation of music in the age of the Internet?
Loïc Riom - PHD candidate at Centre de Sociologie de l’Innovation, Mines-ParisTech, PSL University
Email: loic.riom@mines-paristech.fr
/// ABSTRACT
As emphasised by Howard S. Becker (1982), a large part of art worlds’ activities are oriented towards the production of judgments, hierarchies, and reputations. However, the production of value – or what concretely listeners do to know whether music is good – remains an under addressed question in Popular Music Studies. In Science and Technological Studies (STS), however, scholars have fruitfully developed the idea of valuation as a collective and equipped activity based on research into different topics including music (see Hennion 2017).
Drawing on this conceptual framework as well as ongoing fieldwork, this paper investigates contemporary forms of music valuation. Taking examples from different practices of “online listening” (streaming platforms, YouTube, etc.), the first part of the paper describes the heterogeneous elements that inform listeners’ behaviour. By doing so, it emphasizes the prescriptions of the different agencies through which music is valued. In the light of these empirical results, the second part of the paper aims at re-assessing past contributions of STS to the sociology of music. During the last few decades, music worlds have undergone great changes in terms of technology, economy, and practices. Such transformations require us to reconsider our understanding of both amateurism and listening to grasp contemporary forms of music valuation.
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
How far can STS help to reconsider the valuation of music in the age of the Internet?
Loïc Riom - PHD candidate at Centre de Sociologie de l’Innovation, Mines-ParisTech, PSL University
Email: loic.riom@mines-paristech.fr
/// ABSTRACT
As emphasised by Howard S. Becker (1982), a large part of art worlds’ activities are oriented towards the production of judgments, hierarchies, and reputations. However, the production of value – or what concretely listeners do to know whether music is good – remains an under addressed question in Popular Music Studies. In Science and Technological Studies (STS), however, scholars have fruitfully developed the idea of valuation as a collective and equipped activity based on research into different topics including music (see Hennion 2017).
Drawing on this conceptual framework as well as ongoing fieldwork, this paper investigates contemporary forms of music valuation. Taking examples from different practices of “online listening” (streaming platforms, YouTube, etc.), the first part of the paper describes the heterogeneous elements that inform listeners’ behaviour. By doing so, it emphasizes the prescriptions of the different agencies through which music is valued. In the light of these empirical results, the second part of the paper aims at re-assessing past contributions of STS to the sociology of music. During the last few decades, music worlds have undergone great changes in terms of technology, economy, and practices. Such transformations require us to reconsider our understanding of both amateurism and listening to grasp contemporary forms of music valuation.
