[Air-L] Symposium on Changing Mediations of Music, Audio and Sound: New Systems Across the World, 12 June

[David Hesmondhalgh]

Hello everyone, below are details of a one-day symposium, to be held at the University of Denver (Colorado, USA), 9am to 5pm, on Thursday 12 June 2025, right before the start of the International Communication Association conference. It's free to attend, lunch and coffee will be provided, and everyone is welcome if you register by Thursday 15 May here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/changing-mediations-of-music-audio-and-sound-new-systems-across-the-world-tickets-1259331427199

Details of topic and names of speakers are below. We're sorry, but the event won't be available online.

Kind regards, Dave Hesmondhalgh



Changing Mediations of Music, Audio and Sound: New Systems Across the World



Audio streaming, social media and short video platforms are transforming the systems by which sound media are configured internationally. Platformisation, datafication and automated recommendation have been central to such transformations, and now generative AI is bringing about further changes. These developments have generated great controversy, for example concerning effects on musicians, on local music production, and on the way that music is experienced in everyday life. These changes also have significant implications, via the rise of podcasting and other related developments, for the fate of radio, even if radio remains resilient in many territories. Arguably such transformations require a major rethinking of the politics of sound in everyday life.



This symposium brings together scholars engaged in high-quality research on these and related topics from across the world. The symposium is organised by the MUSICSTREAM<https://musicstreamproject.com/> project team at the University of Leeds (David Hesmondhalgh, D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye, Raquel Campos Valverde and Zhongwei Li), in conjunction with colleagues from the University of Denver (Carlos Jimenez and Runchao Liu).



Speakers are (in no particular order): Thomas Hodgson, Rodrigo Gómez, Vanessa Valiati, Ignacio Siles, David Hesmondhalgh, Shuwen (Stella) Qu, Peng Will Wu, Cemal Ataş, Laura Jordán González, Sumanth Gopinath, Thomas Michel, Darci Sprengel, Jana Costas, Zhongwei (Mabu) Li, Laura Glitsos, Mattia Zanotti, Francis Galang, Raquel Campos Valverde & D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye.



Some contributions to the symposium will draw on chapters in a collection, Music Streaming Around the World, edited by David Hesmondhalgh, to be published by University of California Press in October 2025. The symposium is organised by the MUSICSTREAM<https://musicstreamproject.com/> project team at the University of Leeds (David Hesmondhalgh, D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye, Raquel Campos Valverde and Zhongwei Li), and colleagues from the University of Denver (Carlos Jimenez and Runchao Liu).



While not an official pre-conference of the ICA, the symposium has been scheduled in such a way to allow those who have registered to attend the ICA conference to make their way to the conference in time for the opening plenary and reception.



Please send any enquiries concerning the event to musicstreamproject at gmail.com<mailto:musicstreamproject at gmail.com>





David Hesmondhalgh<https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/media/staff/297/professor-david-hesmondhalgh> (he/him)

Professor of Media, Music and Culture, University of Leeds

Links to recent publications: https://linktr.ee/davidhesmondhalgh

Principal Investigator, MUSICSTREAM: Music Culture in the Age of Streaming, funded by European Research Council, 2021 to 2026:

https://musicstreamproject.com/




David Hesmondhalgh<https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/media/staff/297/professor-david-hesmondhalgh> (he/him)
Professor of Media, Music and Culture, University of Leeds

Links to recent publications: https://linktr.ee/davidhesmondhalgh

Principal Investigator, MUSICSTREAM: Music Culture in the Age of Streaming, funded by European Research Council, 2021 to 2026:
https://musicstreamproject.com/