New Media M.A. Research Blog | Media Studies, University of Amsterdam

The Political Ecology of Spotify: How Streaming Takes A Toll On The Environment

Digital music does not just appear out of thin air. While ostensibly immaterial, the energy used to transmit and stream music has a tangible, detrimental impact on the environment. In order to understand Spotify's role in eco-pollution and e-waste,...

By on 09/28/20 Comments Off

The Music Industry’s Latest Anti Capital-ist Movement: A New Form of Communicating Vulnerability and Authenticity

Minimalist typography has been an ongoing trend in online communities for many years, however, as shown by the recent incline in female artists releasing all-lowercase song titles, it has also been adopted into the music industry. The reasons for...

By Alejandra O'Connor on 09/27/20 Comments Off

Musical Horizons: Spotify the Secret Nudger

We aim to investigate whether Spotify is impacting our musical horizons by comparing our perceived music taste to Spotify’s suggestions curated by their recommender engines over time. For these purposes, we used data from our four Discover Weekly, Yearly...

By Angélique Jutand on 10/24/19 Comments Off

Old Town Road to Success: How Music Becomes Popular on Spotify

Spotify has become an established phenomenon in our daily routines. How do songs become successful on the platform? Follow us as we explore the (Old Town) road to success.

By Tamar Hellinga on 10/24/19 Comments Off

CAN MUSIIO BURST THE SPOTIFYBUBBLE?

In the ever-changing music industry offering the best discovery tools is key. A small start-up from Singapore called Musiio could be a serious rival to big player Spotify.

By on 09/22/19 Comments Off

– Great song, who’s that? – AI.

“Music that listens to you” (AI music) ‚ “We’re developing musical artificial intelligence to build tools for creative people” (Jukedeck). „AI music composer – create the prefect soundtrack for your VR game” (Amper). These are different start-ups’ slogans, but...

By Maria Swierblewska on 09/24/18 Comments Off

Shiver Me Timbers: Did Streaming Inadvertently Pave the Way For a New Kind of Piracy?

Some time in the mid-2000s, the popular peer-to-peer downloading program E-mule once made me wait for a whole year to download the discography of an Irish blues musician – a hefty file in .rar format, which was owned by...

By Ayse B. Tosun on 09/23/17 Comments Off

Stream, and put some money in the tip jar

Are streaming services musicians’ friends or foes? Startup ‘Whitestone’ aims for industry revolution and introduces ‘the music of the future’ in a new, independent music experience platform. Could this be a step towards a brighter future for music online? Over...

By Lisanne Buijze on 09/14/15 Comments Off

Apple’s and U2’s unsolicited music release: gift or spam?

On the 9th of September Apple published a press release titled ‘Apple & U2 Release “Songs of Innocence” Exclusively for iTunes Store Customers’. In this press release Apple announced that together with the famous rock band U2 they will release U2’s new album...

By Richelle Werners on 09/18/14 Comments Off

On the Road Trip Mixtape

I grew up listening to albums from beginning to end. Each of my CDs had a character of its own, presented as a cohesive piece over the course of a half hour or more. Songs flowed in a narrative bound by mutual...

By Max Kortlander on 09/09/14 Comments Off

8tracks and web-radios: the contemporary music consumption is personal and social

Since the growth of the Internet and its collection of interactive platforms and social networks, the cultural industry has turned a critical corner. This statement is especially true for the music industry in term of music creation and consumption,...

By V Weydert on 10/31/13 Comments Off

Invading Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect and the Ecology of Fear

Sonic Warfare: Sound. Affect and the Ecology of Fear is a book written by Dr. Steve Goodman, who has a PhD in Philosophy, but to a whole group of people he might be better known under his alias: Kode9,...

By Vincent Sloof on 10/31/13 Comments Off

Duffy on Bowie – Foam

Review – Christoph Rauch & Gustavo López New album recently released, almost 50 years on the road. Simultaneous exhibitions sold-out over the world. 2013 is definitely David Bowie’s year. The chameleon artist, keeps surprising his fans and critics with...

By Christoph Rauch on 10/05/13 Comments Off

The Digitization of DJing: From Analog Vinyl Records to Time-code Systems and Video Plug-ins

“The personal and social consequences of any medium -that is, of any extension of ourselves- result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology” (McLuhan, 1964, p.203)....

By Sotirios Sideris on 09/09/13 Comments Off

Audio Streaming Aesthetics: Who Cares?

After more than a century of constantly re-inventing audio recording and playback, plenty of disagreement exists about which methods are the best. The invention of portable playback devices has certainly not made it easier to take your own pick....

By Jan Zuilhof on 09/09/13 2

Open Knowledge and Visual Information

Open knowledge takes root What exactly is at stake with the advent of open knowledge and widely shared information? Let’s take ourselves back just over a decade to a time in which information and especially creative information was being...

By Geoff Kim on 03/11/13 Comments Off

The effect of new media in teaching music

A thirteen-year-old child walks into the music classroom and recommends the guitar teacher a song of an independent, French punk band. The teacher listens to the song on YouTube and concludes that it is a bit too fast. The...

By Jeroen Rademakers on 09/13/12 Comments Off

Soundcheck: Independent Bands in the Age of Online Music Marketing

Ever since “digitization” took over “globalization” as the biggest phenomenon in the modern world, there’s very little that remains inaccessible – art, dance, films, world news, sports, music and what will you – everything is usually not more than...

By Audrika Rakshit on 09/09/12 Comments Off

Interview with Arkadiy Kukarkin, developer at the Hype Machine

How about an introduction: *Scroll down for the interview! The Hype Machine is a website that keeps track of what music bloggers post on their blogs. A selection of blogs are selected by the makers of the website. The...

By Clément Adam on 11/02/11 Comments Off

Interview with The Find Magazine

The Find Magazine is a global collective of music lovers dedicated to promoting the diffusion of hip hop, jazz, funk, soul, and related genres. We are inspired by the culture of ‘crate digging’ and thus constantly scour the dusty...

By Aurelie Ghalim on 11/01/11 Comments Off

First-ever online collaborative orchestra

The creation of a truly global orchestra, bringing together people from around the world and enableing, using new media, creative and enthusiastic cooperation of recognized musicians and emerging talents. This is YouTube Symphony Orchestra. YouTube Symphony Orchestra is a...

By Natalia Miszczak on 10/31/11 1

New Media in Brazil: An interview with the curator of FILE

FILE stands for International Festival of Electronic Language and is the biggest festival of new media in Brazil. The event happens annually in São Paulo and eventually in other cities of Brazil and holds projects, installations, screenings and presentations...

By Juliana Paiva on 10/29/11 Comments Off

Do you remember the first time? Music and the rise of the ‘scented candle’

I grew up listening to Pulp. I vividly remember lying outside my older sisters’ bedroom as she played Different Class from her multi-CD changer Hi-Fi, while I pushed myself up against her door, devouring Jarvis’ every word. Outside, unbeknown...

By Jamie Franklin on 10/18/11 Comments Off

Challenging Time: Google Plus and Facebook Timeline

‘The most fun thing about going out is when you run into friends unexpectedly. With Hangouts, this sort of meeting becomes possible on the internet for the first time. Let your friends know you’re available and find out who...

By Stijnie Thuijs on 10/04/11 Comments Off