Streaming, Social Media, and Stans: Music Culture in the Platform Era

Module overview

In this module, you will explore how internet platforms shape music and culture—and vice versa. Music consumption, production, promotion, and fandom have all transformed in the era of streaming and social media platforms, which host a range of everyday interactions with music culture. Furthermore, the aesthetics of the internet have themselves permeated popular music culture across a range of genres and styles. In this module, you will explore topics including received myths, hidden power dynamics, fan politics, invisible labour, and future anxieties concerning music culture in the platform era. You will also gain nuanced understanding of how individuals listen, like, share, comment, stan, and duet in the present day.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

apply a critical understanding of technology, culture, and power to online music and media artefacts
conduct independent research on music, digital media, and platformisation

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

exercise internet media literacy skills as a more informed digital citizen
effectively communicate critical ideas about online media platforms
apply advanced critical and analytical skills to artistic and cultural forms

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

theories of platformisation and platforms’ impacts on music mediation, consumption, production, promotion, and fandom
contemporary popular music genres, internet aesthetics, and audiovisual culture
the social, political, and economic impacts of online music communities and cultures
the relationships between music, media, and digital technology

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods: •Lecture segments reviewing themes from essential reading •Sharing and discussion of key examples •Supervised group discussion of topics Learning activities: •In-depth reading of texts •Study and engagement of digital media (video essays, podcasts) •Individual research •Critical writing and reflection

Study time
Type	Hours
Independent Study	126
Seminar	24
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Nancy Baym (2018). Playing to the Crowd: Musicians, Audiences, and the Intimate Work of Connection.

Steven Gamble (2024). Digital Flows: Online Hip Hop Music and Culture.

Tiziano Bonini and Paolo Magaudda (2024). Platformed! How Streaming, Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence are Shaping Music Cultures.

Holly Rogers, Joana Freitas, João Francisco Porfirio (2023). YouTube and Music: Online Culture and Everyday Life.

Carol Vernallis (2023). The Media Swirl: Politics, Audiovisuality, and Aesthetics.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Blog Portfolio and Evaluation	40%
Project	60%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Final project	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Blog Portfolio and Evaluation	40%
Final project	60%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External