The Digital Music Revolution

New Listening Spaces Book Explores Music, Technology and Culture

In a matter of decades, the way we listen to, produce, consume and share music has shifted rapidly. Gone are the days of poring over liner notes, analyzing cover art and curating mixtapes. But even as technology evolves, music remains an important cultural touchstone for many people.

Through Listening Spaces, a project under Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for the Arts in Society’s (CAS) Media Initiative, Richard Purcell and Richard Randall explored the ethical, political and cultural significance of the digital music revolution.

They did this by hosting a series of lectures and workshops with sound artists, music archivists, ethnomusicologists and labor historians to explore the role of digital music in the 21st century. A new book, “21st Century Perspectives on Music, Technology, and Culture,” expands on the project, examining musical engagement through the lens of “musicking” — a term coined by music scholar Christopher Smalls that defines music as a process, rather than an object.

Learn more about “21st Century Perspectives on Music, Technology, and Culture."