David Arditi

Abstract

Before the digital era, music consumption was limited to purchasing LPs, tapes and CDs, or attending concerts. With digitization and mobile technologies in tow, the consumption of music exploded. Music is now literally everywhere—but none of it is actually free. Our consumption of it on television and cable, through games on our computers and our phones, through subscriptions or sites with built-in never-ending streams of advertising always has a price. Music is everywhere, but how did this happen? How has digital distribution and production changed the recording industry? What are the consequences of ubiquitous music? In this article, I argue that the digital music trap is an outgrowth of digital capitalism that commodifies our everyday existence.

Keywords

Big data, commodified music, digital capitalism, digital music, expansion of the means of consumption, streaming, subscriptions, synchronization licenses, video game music

From: Critical Sociology 2019 45 (4-5)

Editor: Wang Yi