Introduction to Public Radio and Music in the Streaming Era Symposium Music in the Public Service: Public Radio and Music in the Streaming Era

摘要

The current moment is a productive time to examine the relationship between public media and music due to the massive changes that these sectors have experienced in recent decades. These changes often involve interconnected technological, socio-cultural, economic, and generational factors, as well as dramatic transformations in production, distribution, and reception. In the public media field, efforts to conceptualize "Public Media 2.0" (Clark & Aufderheide, 2009) and the shift in terminology from "public service broadcasting" to "public service media" and "public service communicators" (Bardoel & Lowe, 2007) are emblematic of attempts to reconceptualize the field for an era of interactive media and near-constant connectivity. Several of the essays in this symposium grapple with the myriad opportunities and challenges associated with these changes for public media practitioners and their institutions. In the music field, the rise of digital technologies has led to fundamental changes in the various music industries (Sterne, 2014); Perhaps most notably, we are currently seeing a progression from material commodities to digital commodities and now toward music as a service in the streaming era (Anderson, 2015; Wikstrom, 2013). With networked digital media having ushered in a new paradigm for audiences and content producers, it is necessary to question the persistence of public service mandates, missions, and aspirations, as well as how these are reflected in the production and distribution of music. These factors make this a particularly auspicious time to renew our scholarly focus on music's place in public media and public media's role in supporting music industries and cultures.