[Commlist] ECREA Radio and Sound Conference Section

7th ECREA Radio and Sound Conference Section
“Radio and Sound Ecosystems in the Platform Age”
Barcelona, 6-8 September 2023

Call For Papers

The next conference of the Radio and Sound Section (RSS) of the European 
Communication and Research Association (ECREA) will be hosted by the 
Catalan Radio Observatory (GRISS-UAB) and the Department of Audio-visual 
Communication and Advertising of the Autonomous University of Barcelona 
(Spain), from 6 to 8 September 2023. This year's theme is /Radio and 
Sound Ecosystems in the Platform Age. /The Conference venue will be the 
Casa de la Convalescència, a landmark building of the art nouveau 
architecture located in downtown Barcelona.

The Topic

The rise of digital platforms has transformed the media landscape, and 
radio and sound ecosystems have not been immune to these changes. The 
production, distribution, consumption and monetization of audio content 
through digital platforms have become a key element in this new digital 
scenario that affects current cultural industries. Traditional media 
such as radio or sound recordings on physical media, as well as 
streaming music services, audiobook catalogues or podcasts, among 
others, are immersed in these new disruptive logics that are 
transforming the way sound content is produced in this era dominated by 
platforms. And all this also entails profound changes in how they 
interact with their audiences and the roles they want to play in today's 
sound landscape. A connected, but increasingly fragmented audience, with 
listeners consuming content across multiple platforms and devices.

Sound consumption habits have beenthe cornerstone of the transformation 
of the sound ecosystem in the last decade. A key factor has been the 
evolution in the use of the smartphone, which has gone from being a mere 
communication tool to becoming a personal space from which to manage a 
large part of users’ digital lives and, therefore, also to manage their 
entertainment. In addition, the smartphone has combined the mobility and 
intimate listening of the old radio transistor with the endless choice 
found on Internet platforms. This has facilitated the emergence of audio 
content exploiting binaural listening characteristics to create 
immersive sound experiences and even experiment with interactivity. This 
type of action highlights the warmth and intimacy of sound communication 
in any of its formats.

In the search for user loyalty, platforms have proliferated whose main 
offer is music and sound, and which present applications to facilitate 
access to these contents. The interest in dominating this market, which 
for the major brands is already beginning to be profitable, has become a 
constant that has led to the expansion of business lines such as, for 
example, the incorporation of podcasts into their catalogues.

If music platforms and peer-to-peer file sharing technologies generated 
uncertainty for music radio stations and record companies by 
facilitating the location, sharing and consumption of online music among 
users outside traditional channels, the rise of sound platforms has put 
the radio industry in check. While it is true that synergies have been 
created between the static analogue programming and the online offer, 
nourished in large part by content from the airwaves, radio broadcasters 
are beginning to produce native podcasts as a strategy to increase the 
value of their brand in the new digital environment. An action that some 
radio stations are developing as part of a broader vision that is 
materialising in the expansion of their digital audio perimeter, the set 
of content, services and forms of contact that radio producers have at 
their disposal to bring sound content closer to their audiences.

In these new scenarios brought about by the emergence of digital 
platforms, the advent of artificial intelligence and machine learning 
algorithms play a major role not only in the opportunities and 
challenges they present to the traditional models of radio and sound 
production, distribution and consumption, but also to the new audio 
experiences that are generated. For radio and sound producers, AI allows 
them to analyse audience behaviour, preferences, habits and curate 
content that is tailored to their needs, offering a more personalised 
listening experience while automating and optimising radio production, 
scheduling and advertising. It also allows them to generate new and 
original content.

However, the adoption of digital platforms and AI in radio and sound 
ecosystems has alsoraised important questions such as the future of 
traditional radio formats, the role of public broadcasting and the 
impact on diversity and plurality of voices, among others. In this 
context, the upcoming RSS ECREA Conference “Radio and Sound Ecosystems 
in the Platform Age” aims to provide a forum for scholars, 
practitioners, and industry experts to reflect on the changes and 
explore the challenges and opportunities they present.

The conference will feature keynote speeches, panel discussions, and 
paper presentations that address the following themes:

- Making radio and sound content in the Platform Age

- Audio digital platforms

- Audio and music streaming platforms

- Radio and sound content curation versus algorithmic curation

- Music radio programming vs. music platforms programming

- Radio, music platforms and the listener’s agency

- Podcasting and podcasting industry

- Radio as an app

- Radio innovation and multi-platform delivery

- Web and mobile platform content

- Mobile sound listening practices

- Sound and Artificial Intelligence

- Interactive and immersive Audio experiences

- Political economy of digital music and audio streaming platforms

- Regulation and policies affecting radio, sound and audio platforms

We are looking forward to receiving proposals that could deal also with 
the following topics:

- Radio and Sound AS research fields

- Theories of radio and sound studies

- Political economy of the radio

- Radio and gender studies

- Sound and gender studies

- Radio genres, sound content and formats

- Audio narrative and acoustic language

- Radio art

- Sound art

- Methodological approaches to sound research

- Aural culture and cultural aural expressions

- Politics of listening

- Poetics of listening

- Philosophy of listening

- History of listening

- Listening as a cultural practice

- Audio vs. Radio

- Production practices and studies

- Reception and Production ethnographies

- Digital ethnography

- Digital Methods

- Network analysis

- Radio history

- Radio journalism

- Radio and the music industry

- Transnational radio

- Hybrid radio

- DAB, streaming or LTE broadcasting

- Audio broadcasting

- Smarts speakers and audio listening

- Ownership, regulation and governance of radio

- Radio AS public media

- Public service radio and innovation

- Radio and cultural diversity

- Radio and the public sphere

- Radio AS/AND social media

- Radio and sound content in the age of social media (Facebook, 
Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat…)

- Datification of listening

- Networked listeners

- Social media for radio: between exploitation and participation

- “Haptically-mediated” radio listening

- Radio AND identity

- Community/civic/free/pirate/alternative/radical/DIY not-for-profit radio

- Radio and the diaspora

- Radio and migration

- Gendered productions and perspectives in sound and radio

The conference will try to situate radio and sound studies within the 
broader contemporary media landscape and aim to start a dialogue with, 
and accept contributions from platform studies, Internet studies, sound 
studies, social media studies, critical political economy of the media, 
media history, digital media management, cultural studies, production 
studies, ethnography, and social sciences.

Important Dates:

DEADLINE for Abstract Submissions: 30th APRIL 2023 (21:00 hours 
Greenwich Mean Time)

NOTIFICATION of Acceptance: 15th MAY 2023

EARLY REGISTRATION: until 15th JUNE 2023

CONFERENCE DATES: 6-8th SEPTEMBER 2023

Submission Guidelines:

Proposals for individual papers and panels can be submitted until 30th 
April 30 2023 through the conference website’s platform 
(https://radioandsoundconference2023.com/ 
<https://radioandsoundconference2023.com/>).

The submission system will be available from early March 2023.

Abstracts should be written in English and contain a clear outline of 
the argument, theoretical framework, and, where applicable, methodology 
and results. Individual abstracts and Panel proposals should be between 
300 and 500 words. In the case of the Panel,  proposals should contain 
a short summary of the panel and include the 4 or 5 individual 
contributions (with the title and author’s names of each contribution 
composing the panel.

SPECIAL ISSUE of the /RADIO JOURNAL: International Studies in Broadcast 
& Audio Media (Journal)/

We will invite delegates of the Conference to submit their full papers 
no later than February 2024 to be selected for a special issue of the 
/Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media 
(Journal)/, edited by Intellect, to be published in the second issue of 
2024.

www.intellectbooks.com/radio-journal-international-studies-in-broadcast-audio-media 
<http://www.intellectbooks.com/radio-journal-international-studies-in-broadcast-audio-media>


For further information contact the local organizing committee

radioandsoundconference /at/ gmail.com <http://gmail.com>


**

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