[Air-L] new article on platform interface analysis

[David Hesmondhalgh]

Dear colleagues, here's a link to an open access article, just published in International Journal of Communication, on critical analysis of platform interfaces, using music streaming platforms as a case study. Details and an abstract are below; I hope it's of interest to some of you.
Kind regards, Dave Hesmondhalgh, University of Leeds

https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/21989

Critically Analyzing Platform Interfaces: How Music-Streaming Platforms Frame Musical Experience
David Hesmondhalgh, Raquel Campos Valverde, D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye, Zhongwei Li
This article identifies and contributes to a small but growing body of research that critically analyzes the user interfaces of digital platforms and apps. By examining how the interfaces of music-streaming platforms (MSPs) frame musical experience, we test claims that such platforms encourage "functional" and "mood-based" uses of music linked to problematic forms of power and subjectivity. While such framings are indeed evident in MSP interfaces, so too are other, rather different constructions of engagement with music. We argue that one significant power of MSPs is to incorporate diverse forms of musical experience into pervasive hybrids. Our approach advances interface analysis and research on the platformization of culture by illustrating the benefits of critical platform interface analysis through intra-domain platform interface analysis, and by offering general and music-specific taxonomies of digital platform interfaces.