Curation by code: Infomediaries and the data mining of taste

European Journal of Cultural Studies

Volumn 18, Issue 4-5, 2015, Pages 446-463

  Morris, Jeremy Wade ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON   (United States)

Author keywords

Algorithms; big data; cultural industries; cultural intermediaries; curation; digitization; infomediaries; recommendation engines; The Echo Nest

Indexed keywords

EID: 84931342608     PISSN: 13675494     EISSN: 14603551     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1367549415577387     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. AndersonCW (2012) The materiality of algorithms. Culture Digitally. Available at: http://culturedigitally.org/2012/11/the-materiality-of-algorithms/
2. Andrejevic MThe Audience Commodity in a Digital Age: Revisiting a Critical Theory of Commercial Media. Manzerolle VMcGuigan L, ed. New York: Peter Lang; 2013:25-30.
3. Anonymous (2013) The Echo Nest and TargetSpot partner to bring smarter advertising to online radio. PR Newswire, 21November. Available at: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-echo-nest-and-targetspot-partner-to-bring-smarter-advertising-to-online-radio-232825671.html
4. BarocasSHoodSZiewitzM (2013) Governing algorithms: A provocation piece. Governing Algorithms. Available at: http://governingalgorithms.org/
5. Beats (2014) We are Beats music. Available at: http://www.beatsmusic.com/about
6. Beer D.Power through the algorithm? Participatory web cultures and the technological unconscious.New Media & Society. 2009;11:985-1002
7. Bourdieu PDistinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1984:
8. Bucher T.Want to be on the top? Algorithmic power and the threat of invisibility on Facebook.New Media & Society. 2012;14:1164-1180
9. Childress CC.Decision-making, market logic and the rating mindset: Negotiating BookScan in the field of US trade publishing.European Journal of Cultural Studies. 2012;15:604-620
10. CrawfordK (2013) The hidden biases in Big Data. Harvard Business Review, 1April. Available at: https://hbr.org/2013/04/the-hidden-biases-in-big-data
11. D’onfroJ (2014) This man makes $23,000 posting music spam on Spotify and iTunes. Business Insider. Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/matt-farley-makes-23k-posting-music-spam-on-spotify-2014-1
12. Echo Nest (2014a) Applications built on our platform. Available at: http://the.echonest.com/showcase/
13. Echo Nest (2014b) Dynamic music data. Available at: http://the.echonest.com/solutions/musicdata/
14. Echo Nest (2014c) Music audience understanding. Available at: http://corpcdn.echonest.com.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_private/2014/01/27/audience_understanding_finalx.pdf
15. Echo Nest (2014d) Our company. Available at: http://the.echonest.com/company/
16. FaraoneC (2011) The most important music company on earth. The Boston Phoenix, 22April, 18–19. Available at: http://thephoenix.com/boston/music/119592-echo-nest-is-ready-to-fly/
17. Featherstone M.Lifestyle and consumer culture.Theory, Culture & Society. 1987;4:55-70
18. FlanagaA (2014) Spotify’s Ken Parks on an IPO, the Echo Nest Purchase (Q&A). Billboard. Available at: http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/5930388/spotifys-ken-parks-on-an-ipo-the-echo-nest-purchase-qa
19. Frere-JonesS (2010) You, the D.J.: Online music moves to the cloud. The New Yorker, 14June. Available at: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/06/14/you-the-d-j
20. Gillespie T.The politics of ‘Platforms’.New Media & Society. 2010;12:347-364
21. Gillespie TMedia Technologies: Essays on Communication, Materiality, and Society. Gillespie TBoczkowski PFoot K, ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2014:167-193.
22. Hagel J,Singer M.Private lives.McKinsey Quarterly. 1999;1:7-15
23. HarveyE (2014) Station to station: The past, present and future of streaming music. Pitchfork. Available at: http://pitchfork.com/features/cover-story/9383-station-to-station-the-past-present-and-future-of-streaming-music/6/
24. HearnA (2010) Structuring feeling: Web 2.0, online ranking and rating, and the digital ‘Reputation’ economy. Ephemera10(3/4): 421–438. Available at: http://www.ephemerajournal.org/contribution/structuring-feeling-web-20-online-ranking-and-rating-and-digital-%E2%80%98reputation%E2%80%99-economy
25. Hennion A.An intermediary between production and consumption: The producer of popular music.Science, Technology & Human Value. 1989;14:400-424
26. Hesmondhalgh D.Bourdieu, the media and cultural production.Media, Culture & Society. 2006;28:211-231
27. JacobsonK (2013) How we resolve artists on the Internet. Available at: http://blog.echonest.com/post/52159005051/how-we-resolve-artists-on-the-internet
28. Jehan T,Lamere P,Whitman B.Music retrieval from everything.Proceedings of the international conference on multimedia information retrieval (MIR’10); 2010Philadelphia, PA, USA; 2010.
29. Katz MCapturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music. Berkeley, CA; London: University of California Press; 2004:
30. Kuipers G.The cosmopolitan tribe of television buyers: Professional ethos, personal taste and cosmopolitan capital in transnational cultural mediation.European Journal of Cultural Studies. 2012;15:581-603
31. LamereP (2009) Paul’s music Wreckommender. Personal Blog. Available at: http://musicmachinery.com/2009/11/22/pauls-music-wreckommender/
32. Latour B.Mixing humans and nonhumans together: The sociology of a door-closer.Social Problems. 1988;35:298-310
33. LevyS (2010) How Google’s algorithms rule the web. Wired. Available at: http://www.wired.com/2010/02/how-googles-algorithm-rules-the-web/
34. McCourt T,Rothenbuhler EW.Soundscan and the consolidation of control.Media, Culture & Society. 1997;19:201-218
35. MadrigalAC (2014) How Netflix reverse engineered Hollywood. The Atlantic. Available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/how-netflix-reverse-engineered-hollywood/282679/
36. Miege B.The cultural commodity.Media, Culture & Society. 1979;1:297-311
37. Moor L.Beyond cultural intermediaries? A socio-technical perspective on the market for social interventions.European Journal of Cultural Studies. 2012;15:563-580
38. Morris JW.Making music behave: Metadata and the digital music commodity.New Media & Society. 2012;14:850-866
39. Morris JW.Anti-market research: Piracy, new media metrics, and commodity communities.Popular Communication. 2015;13:32-44
40. Napoli PM.The algorithm as institution: Toward a theoretical framework for automated media production and consumption.Media in transition 8 conference; 2013Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; 2013.
41. Negus K.The work of cultural intermediaries and the enduring distance between production and consumption.Cultural Studies. 2002;16:501-515
42. Nixon S,Gay PD.Who needs cultural intermediaries?.Cultural Studies. 2002;16:495-500
43. Ocejo RE.At your service: The meanings and practices of contemporary bartenders.European Journal of Cultural Studies. 2012;15:642-658
44. Peters JD.The oldness of new media.22nd Annual B: Aubrey Fisher Memorial Lecture; 2008Department of Communication, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; 2008.
45. PlatoniK (2006) Pandora’s Box: Can a company’s musicological data mining breathe new life into the music industry?East Bay Express, 11January. Available at: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/pandoras-box/Content?oid=1080116
46. Powers D.Lost in the shuffle: Technology, history, and the idea of musical randomness.Critical Studies in Media Communication. 2014;31:244-264
47. Powers DThe Sage Handbook of Popular Music. Bennett AWaksman S, ed. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications Ltd; 2015:120-134.
48. Razlagova ERadio’s New Wave: Global Sound in the Digital Era. Loviglio JHilmes M, ed. New York: Routledge; 2013:62-76.
49. Seaver N.Knowing algorithms. In:.Media in transition 8 conference; 2013Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; 2013.
50. Skov L.Hong Kong fashion designers as cultural intermediaries: Out of global garment production.Cultural Studies. 2002;16:553-569
51. Smith Maguire J,Matthews J.Are we all cultural intermediaries now? An introduction to cultural intermediaries in context.European Journal of Cultural Studies. 2012;15:551-562
52. Smythe DWMedia and Cultural Studies: Keyworks. Durham MGKellner D, ed. Oxford: Blackwell; 1981 2001:253-279.
53. Soar M.The first things first manifesto and the politics of culture jamming: towards a cultural economy of graphic design and advertising.Cultural Studies. 2002;16:570-592
54. Steiner CAutomate This: How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World. New York: Penguin; 2012:
55. StriphasT (2012) What is an Algorithm?Culture Digitally. Available at: http://culturedigitally.org/2012/02/what-is-an-algorithm/
56. Uricchio W.The algorithmic turn: Photosynth, augmented reality and the changing implications of the image.Visual Studies. 2011;26:25-35
57. WhitmanB (2012) How well does music predict your politics?Personal Blog. Available at: http://notes.variogr.am/post/26869688460/how-well-does-music-predict-your-politics