Streams of music, identity, and diversity
Exploring identity-related practices on music streaming services (01/10/2019 - 01/10/2023)
Researcher(s) (CIMS)
Supervisors (CIMS)
Funded by
Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds (BOF)
Presentation
Music has historically been of considerable importance in people’s identity. Not only can music be a site of profound emotion and memory, it can also serve as a tool to make sense of one’s own identity, and as a site to articulate a musical and social identity. Music streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, …) offer users the possibility to discover and consume music, collect and curate favorite music, and develop and present a music taste and identity through playlists, a profile, etc.
Historically and socially, music has claimed a particularly important space in the personal lives, the social lives, and the political struggles of people with LGBTQ+ identities. How do the specific affordances of music streaming services –now for many the primary way of music consumption– inform and mediate this complex relation between music and LGBTQ+ identities?
This project aims to explore and interpret the identity-related practices that music streaming services and their users engage in to mediate LGBTQ+ identities, identity politics, and music cultures. We want to examine and map the role of music streaming services within the diverse identity projects of people with LGBTQ+ identities. To this end, multiple methods are used: we will conduct a textual analysis of playlists, an app walkthrough of Spotify, interviews with users, and focus groups with users.