Robert Prey
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View article: The Labor Process of Relational Labor: The Case of the K-pop Fan Platform “Bubble”
The Labor Process of Relational Labor: The Case of the K-pop Fan Platform “Bubble” Open
This study employs labor process theory to examine the influence of the fan platform Bubble on the commodification of music artists’ relational labor. We argue that the emergence of fan platforms has given rise to a novel form of commodifi…
View article: Sounding out voice biometrics: Comparing and contrasting how the state and the private sector determine identity through voice
Sounding out voice biometrics: Comparing and contrasting how the state and the private sector determine identity through voice Open
The voice biometrics industry is promised today as a new center of digital innovation. Tech companies and state agencies are massively investing in speech recognition and analysis systems, pushed by the belief that the acoustics of voice c…
View article: A global approach to studying platforms and cultural production
A global approach to studying platforms and cultural production Open
There is a major blindspot regarding our understanding of different structural models of platformization beyond the dominant Anglo-American markets. This article develops a typology of political economic models of platformization by using …
View article: The algorithmic network imaginary: How music artists understand and experience their algorithmically constructed networks
The algorithmic network imaginary: How music artists understand and experience their algorithmically constructed networks Open
In this article we develop the concept of “algorithmic network imaginary” to understand how musicians imagine and relate to the networks of “related artists” they are algorithmically sorted into on Spotify. To address this question, we col…
View article: Review: <i>Music by Numbers: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in the Music Industries</i>, by Richard Osborne and Dave Laing
Review: <i>Music by Numbers: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in the Music Industries</i>, by Richard Osborne and Dave Laing Open
Book Review| December 01 2021 Review: Music by Numbers: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in the Music Industries, by Richard Osborne and Dave Laing Richard Osborne and Dave Laing. Music by Numbers: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in the Mus…
View article: Engineering culture: logics of optimization in music, games, and apps
Engineering culture: logics of optimization in music, games, and apps Open
This article investigates the ways content producers, marketers, and other promotional stakeholders work to optimize cultural goods and services for platform-dependent production, distribution, and monetization. We are particularly interes…
View article: Platform pop: disentangling Spotify’s intermediary role in the music industry
Platform pop: disentangling Spotify’s intermediary role in the music industry Open
It has been widely recognized that platforms utilize their editorial capacity to transform the industries they intermediate. In this paper, we examine the intermediary role of the leading audio streaming platform – Spotify – on the recorde…
View article: Locating Power in Platformization: Music Streaming Playlists and Curatorial Power
Locating Power in Platformization: Music Streaming Playlists and Curatorial Power Open
Where does the “power” of platformization reside? As is widely recognized, platforms are matchmakers which interface between different markets or “sides.” This article analyzes platform power dynamics through three of the most important ma…
View article: Performing Numbers:Musicians and their Metrics
Performing Numbers:Musicians and their Metrics Open
This chapter explores the implications of performance metrics as a source of self-knowledge and self-presentation. It does so through the figure of the contemporary musician. As performers on-stage and online, musicians are constantly asse…
View article: Background by Design: Listening in the Age of Streaming
Background by Design: Listening in the Age of Streaming Open
By first revisiting the design of Amsterdam's famed 'Concertgebouw', this article reflects on the implications of streaming services on current and future cultures of listening, and on the agency and autonomy of practicing musicians.
View article: Nothing personal: algorithmic individuation on music streaming platforms
Nothing personal: algorithmic individuation on music streaming platforms Open
Raymond Williams once wrote, ‘… there are in fact no masses, but only ways of seeing people as masses’. In an age of personalized media, the word ‘masses’ seems like an anachronism. Nevertheless, if Williams were to study contemporary onli…
View article: Henri Lefebvre and the Production of Music Streaming Spaces
Henri Lefebvre and the Production of Music Streaming Spaces Open
This paper demonstrates how Henri Lefebvre's influential theory of the "production of space" can help generate a more critical understanding of transformations in digital music, and in particular, the emergence of data-driven and cloud-bas…
View article: Musica Analytica: The Datafication of Listening
Musica Analytica: The Datafication of Listening Open
In this chapter, Robert Prey explores what he calls the datafication of listening. On contemporary music streaming services, every song we listen to, every song we skip, every thumb up or thumb down, is tracked and fed into an algorithm. P…