Aesthetic Problems of Net Music

Abstract

Abstract: This paper addresses issues involved in the formation of an aesthetics of Net music. The main factors considered are: 1) the affordances of networked communications, 2) digital ontology and de-differentiation, and 3) the lack of an essential relationship between digital ontology and its medium of realization. By focusing on cognitive, affective and sensory results of the mappings (or algorithms) that link digital ontology with its medium of realization, this paper outlines an aesthetics of Net music, and suggests some strategies for the creation of Net musical works. 1 Net Music More than just downloading songs and peer-to-peer file sharing, the term “Net music ” describes a broad variety of musical activities and projects in which, according to Golo Föllmer, “the specifics of electronic networks leave considerable traces ” on