Abstract
This article presents an interrogation of streamification, a concept that addresses the influence of streaming software on cultural artifacts and uses. I argue that the streamification builds on an underlying tangle of transcodes. I base this on empirical findings from a qualitative study of digital online music uses and the technologies that operate beyond the interface of streaming media. I map the typical online path of music files and exemplify the tangle of transcodes with three empirical cases and detail their meaning-making processes: 1) The most informal and tangled, when a listener is stream-ripping from YouTube. 2) The re-appropriation of informal YouTube material by a musician. 3) The more formal transcoding performed by a distributor. By drawing on metaphor theory and software studies, I discuss cultural transcoding and metaphor as central to streamification and discuss how a focus on ease-of-use inevitably hides the tangle of transcodes.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
---|---|
Tidsskrift | Popular Communication |
Vol/bind | 19 |
Udgave nummer | 1 |
Sider (fra-til) | 42-56 |
Antal sider | 15 |
ISSN | 1540-5702 |
DOI | |
Status | Udgivet - 2021 |
Udgivet eksternt | Ja |