This thesis examines the meanings that individuals ascribe to music disseminated via digitally compressed audio files (e.g. MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC). Digitally compressed music is ubiquitous in the West. However, there is little sociological analysis concerning listeners’ engagement with these files. In particular, the subjects’ meaning-making processes have received little attention in sociological analysis. Existing accounts (see Sterne, 2012) afford too much weight to the object (i.e. technology), whilst neglecting the role of the subject (i.e. individuals). This lacuna requires further investigation, especially if we are to understand experience as playing a central part in people’s everyday interaction with digital music.
My thesis adopts a Weberian (Weber, 2012 [1914]) framework and situates meaning
ascription at the heart of experience. I conducted an inquiry into how such music is received and interpreted by listeners. Rather than deriving meaning directly from the object, it is important to explore how people discuss their relationships with digitally compressed music and the meaning people ascribe to it in their everyday lives. To explore these relationships in more detail, I argue that we ought to consider the aesthetic, social and political dimensions of digitally compressed technology. Doing so enables us to understand how musical experience is linked to multiple facets of everyday life.
I deployed qualitative methods to build rich understandings of social action through conducting four online album listening parties and online follow-up focus groups involving a total of 36 participants. I organised, participated in and observed four online album listening parties, using these as stimuli to provoke further discussions regarding music’s dissemination and the listeners’ experience. I conducted seven focus groups following these parties and used them to collect data on participants’ discussions of their everyday encounters with digitally compressed music. My data was organised and coded electronically on NVIVO, and analysis was conducted thematically. The substantive contributions of this thesis are presented in three chapters.
Chapter 4 explores the role of sound quality in my participants’ reception and interpretation of music disseminated from digitally compressed audio files. The meanings they ascribe to sound quality are complex and multifarious, and whilst participants valued good sound quality, they frequently struggled to understand what I meant by digitally compressed audio and instead discussed meaning in relation to a different perspective of the debates surrounding analogue versus digital technology. Overall, I found that, whilst participants valued good sound quality, they often attributed this to the equipment rather than the format.
Chapter 5 frames listening as a practice and explores the ways in which my participants
engage with music through the lens of attention and distraction. They reported that mostly they were doing something else whilst listening. My analysis focuses primarily on two activities: music listening during work and listening during studying. My participants’ accounts allowed me to examine how music enables them to ‘get into action’ (De Nora, 2000). But whilst the format enables them to go about their daily activities with relative ease, it also creates problematic conditions, ultimately functioning in the interest of capitalist production.
In chapter 6, I argue that notions related to the ‘possession’ of my participants’ music libraries and how they attributed ‘control’ were important for how they ascribed meaning to digitally compressed music. People’s interpretation of music was often related to the tangible properties of formats. They were fond of physical artefacts due to the physical relationship that they had with them. Regarding control, my analysis focuses primarily on my participants’ critique of, and adherence to, corporate power in the current climate of music streaming. I found that their consumption of digitised music was characterised by both elation and frustration.
Overall, this thesis contributes towards a deeper sociological understanding of the social and cultural significance of digitally compressed music. I challenge technologically deterministic accounts of digital music consumption, demonstrating that meaning is not inherent in the format itself, but rather emerges from individuals’ lived experiences and social practices. In so doing, I demonstrate that we ought to emphasise the agency of the listener in actively shaping their musical experiences.
