Spotification as public service – the case example of Sveriges Radio

  • Andreas Helles Pedersen (Organiser)
  • Susanna Leijonhufvud (Invited speaker)

Activity: Participating in or organising an eventOrganisation of workshop/ seminar/ course

Description

To listen to recorded music is an activity that has migrated from employing physical media to using streaming services. This feature has not only had an impact on the private market but also on the public sphere like libraries, schools and radio. The transition is aligned with a conception where digitalized streamed music provides an increased accessibility of recorded music. However, this idea sprouts as a chimera as this transition also brings a decrease of access of recorded music in many aspects; the presence of the musical good, how to navigate and find what to listen for, contextual information and knowledge about the music, as well as various issues of how the music sounds when streamed.

With the case example of Sveriges Radio and Grammofonarkivet, I will show how digitalization of music access in fact is at risk of decreasing the audiences’ access to recorded music not only regarding the artefacts of new recorded music but also concerning archived music on various media. It further concerns a decrease of competence regarding recorded music as digitalization also have worked as a means to decrease the number of people employed at the Grammofonarkivet, which, as I will show, might lead to an erosion of the educational aspect of presenting music at Sveriges Radio – one of our country’s most prominent music educators of the public.
Period2021 Feb 23
Event typeSeminar
LocationLund, SwedenShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Free keywords

  • Musicology
  • Humanities
  • Digitization
  • Music History
  • Cultural policy