Editors’ Introduction

Abstract

In the editors’ introduction to Networked Music Cultures, Nowak and Whelan present an overview of the collection and its contents, and situate the volume with respect to the existing field of research on music online. Emphasising the theoretical and methodological range contained within the collection, they argue for diversity and plurality of analyses, suggesting that all singular approaches are subject to shortcomings in dealing with such a complex phenomenon as digital music. The authors rather suggest that because networked music is always articulated across specific contexts and scales, forms of analysis and conceptualisation reflect this. Analogously, the variety of approaches to the field is also indicative of how particular disciplinary approaches shed light in particular ways.