[Commlist] "Network & Music" Session @ Sunbelt25 | Call for Abstracts

We are excited to welcome your contributions for

Sunbelt Conference 2025 <https://sunbelt2025.org/>:

“Network and Music : Empirical Approaches” Session

Abstract Deadline: 20th Feb. 2025

Conference: June 23rd - 29th 2025

More Details: (link 
<https://sunbelt2025.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Paris-Sunbelt-2025-List-of-Accepted-Organised-Sessions-02Jan2025.pdf#page=18>)



Musical practicesare fundamentally networked, from collaborative 
production processes to interconnected consumption behaviours. Network 
analysis helps examine these complex dynamics: in music production, 
creation involves a dense web of individual and institutional actors 
(e.g., artists, producers, labels, media channels, government agencies), 
embedded within specific locations and supported by infrastructures like 
studios, venues, and offices. In music consumption, engagement follows 
networked logics, from promotion to social recommendations and 
algorithmic suggestions. Individualised digital consumption traces from 
streaming platforms and other websites provide insights into collective 
patterns via advanced network analysis, revealing relationships between 
listeners, songs, and artists. Additionally, embeddings commonly 
utilised by personalised recommender systems are built upon intricate 
networks of item co-occurrences, and potentially introduce biases that 
can significantly shape listening behaviours.


Mapping the connections between artists, industry players, places, 
audiences and musical objects using network analysis techniques provides 
a deeper insight into the social, spatial, economic and algorithmic 
forces shaping the music landscape. This session takes an 
interdisciplinary approach, integrating perspectives from geography, 
sociology, economics, media studies, cultural studies, and computer 
science. We are interested in a vast array of empirical material, from 
surveys to web-generated data. We aim to empirically address questions 
such as:


  *

    How do networks facilitate innovation and influence the success of
    artists and songs?

  *

    How do physical location and mobility affect the network position of
    actors?

  *

    What insights can network analysis provide about the global flows
    and the local dynamics of music?

  *

    How do musical networks evolve over time?

  *

    What do musical networks unveil about power and inequality in the
    music industry?

  *

    Can network analysis offer a better understanding of music
    collectivities from digital consumption traces?

  *

    Can network analysis help us understand the effects of recommender
    systems and information representation (e.g. embeddings) in music?


By engaging with these themes, this session seeks to push the boundaries 
of network analysis in music research, presenting new empirical 
material, methodologies and insights that resonate across multiple 
disciplines. Please submit your abstract (max 250 words) on the Sunbelt 
2025 submission page <https://sunbelt2025.org/deadlines/> beforeFebruary 
20th 2025 for an oral presentation. Both in-person and online 
presentation are accepted, though in-person is preferred.


Session organisers

Myriam BOUALAMI

(myriam.boualami /at/ parisgeo.cnrs.fr) <mailto:(myriam.boualami /at/ parisgeo.cnrs.fr)>


Dougal SHAKESPEARE

(dougal.shakespeare /at/ cmb.hu-berlin.de) 
<mailto:(dougal.shakespeare /at/ cmb.hu-berlin.de)>

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