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PN 064
Music Distribution in Kenya and Ghana: Mobile Money and Mobile Music
C. de Beukelaer
1
, A.J. Eisenberg
2
1
University of Melbourne, Culture and Communication, Melbourne, Australia
4
NYU Abu Dhabi, Music, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
This paper explores the role of mobile telecommunication and technology firms (MTTs) in the distribution of recorded music in Ghana and Kenya. These
countries both have vibrant music markets with weak formal distribution networks. The limited enforcement of copyright regimes in tandem with weak
regulation of the market creates a context in which entrepreneurs of different kinds experiment with new business models. On the one hand, there are
‘pirates’of different sorts, who creatively and effectively deliver content to audiences at competitive prices. On the other hand, there are telecom operators,
who sell music through their networks to their vast client bases. While there is an emerging body of literature on ‘media infrastructures’ in ‘developing
countries’ (Larkin 2008) and on the ‘postcolonial’ understanding of media piracy (Eckstein and Schwarz 2014, Liang 2005, Skinner 2015), there has been
very little empirical attention to the activities of mobile telecommunication and technology firms (MTTs) in the music economy. This paper builds on our
respective research in Ghana and Kenya and sheds light on the activities of these MTTs, which form a new kind of transnational players in the music markets
that caters to the majority of the world’s population that does not have easy access to platforms such as iTunes or Spotify. Our aims are to take stock of why
and how MTTs have entered into the business of recorded music distribution in Ghana and Kenya. We thus aim to assess the ramifications of their entry for
the recorded music industries in these countries as part of broader global shifts in the music industries.
PN 065
Discovering or Collecting/Archiving in Music-Streaming Services
A. Nylund Hagen
1
, M. Lüders
2
1
University of Oslo, Music, Oslo, Norway
2
SINTEF, Oslo, Norway
One of the core elements of the value proposition of music-streaming services is the abundance of available music. This appears to have instigated efforts to
help people navigate and discover music, perhaps at the expense of people's need to make sense of their own personal music history and collection. Algo‑
rithms to provide recommendations based on music preferences and previously played music, and social features enabling people discover music through
peers, contacts, experts and opinion-leaders, are probably the two most prominent ways music-streaming services attempt to assist people navigating
vast music libraries. This paper examines music-streaming services as technologically inclined to provide discovery functions, and aligns this analysis with
qualitative data frommusic streaming lead-users on how they assess the experienced need for discovery versus the need for functions helping them archive
and make sense of their music collections. The theory of affordances, as the ‘ecological approach’to how individuals perceive and act within their environ‑
ments (Gibson, 1986) is used to frame the user-technology encounter. Discovery above archiving as a preferred user pattern from a providers' perspective
also resembles the business model of online subscription services operating according to platforms principles (Gillespie, 2010; van Dijck, 2013), constantly
tweaked in response to users’ needs and platform owners’ objectives (Feenberg, 2009). This study is designed as an explanatory study: we "investigate
a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life contexts", we rely on multiple sources of evidence, and build upon previous research and
theoretical propositions that have guided data collection and analysis (Yin, 2009: 18). 23 focus group interviews with a total of 121 users of Spotify and
WiMP/Tidal (aged 18–59) have been conducted between 2010 and 2013. Also, 12 users wrote music-streaming diaries for two months (2013). Alongside,
their online (music) activity was observed and logged before individual in-depth interviews were conducted. We find that discovery is an important part
of the music-streaming experience, aligning the user patterns afforded by the technology. The need for guidance amidst abundance is genuine nonetheless
the relevance of algorithms and social peers as trusted recommendation systems is variously assessed. As music-streaming services afford discovery above
archiving among the technology's automated features, personal patterns of collecting/archiving (to recall and retrieve) music are developed in the par‑
ticipatory features, e.g. in playlist making. However, the cultural experiences of contemporary music audiences encounter new challenges in the music
abundance of streaming services, which here will be highlighted in connection with the power-dynamics of providers and the afforded interactions be‑
tween the users and the technology. References Feenberg, A. (2009). Critical Theory of Communication Technology: Introduction to the Special Section.
The Information Society 25(2), 77–83. Gibson, J. J. (1986). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. London: Psychology Press. Gillespie, T. (2010).
The politics of ‘platforms’. New Media & Society 12, 347–364. Van Dijck, J. (2013). The Culture of Connectivity. A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press. Yin R. K. (2009). Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.