PRODUCTION OF MUSIC STREAMING SPACES- A

LEFEBVREIAN APPROACH
PRODUCTION OF MUSIC |
CAPITALISM | SPACE
• CAPITALISM; PRODUCTION OF SPACE, PRODUCING ITS
OWN SPACES, IN ORDER TO REPRODUCE SPACES.
• EMERGENCE OF INTERNET, MUSIC- CONTEMPORARY,
VIRTUAL MANIFESTATION OF THE EXPLOSION OF SPACES
• PRODUCTION OF SPACE- A DYNAMIC SET OF RELATIONS,
ACTIVELY PRODUCED THROUGH SOCIALITY
• MUSIC STREAMING SPACE; AN ABSTRACT SPACE-
EMERGING OUT OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PRACTICES OF
THE CAPITALIST CLASS AND STATE, MANIPULATED SPACE
• MUSIC, AS AN ABSTRACT AS WELL AS SOCIAL SPACE
 LEFEBVREIAN AND MARXIST PERSPECTIVE
• LEFEBVRE BELIEVED MARXIST POLITICAL ECONOMY NEGLECTED THE MATERIAL ASPECT OF
PRODUCTION, THE WORLD OF COMMODITIES EXISTING IN SPACE AS WELL AS TIME
• DIALECTIC WAS SPATIAL AS WELL AS TEMPORAL
• LEFEBVRE WENT FOR MATERIAL DIMENSIONS OF DIALECTICS
• PRODUCTION ACTIVITY OF CAPITALISM, RESULTED IN A SPACE MATERIALITY
• SPACE A MATERIAL PRODUCT OF SOCIAL RELATIONS (CONCRETE) * MANIFESTATION OF
RELATIONS- THE RELATION ITSELF (ABSTRACT)
• INTRODUCED TRIALECTICS: SPACE ENTERING SOCIAL RELATIONS AT ALL LEVELS
Conceived Space of Music Streaming Services, a
hierarchically organized and segmented abstract space of
consumer categories.
Lefebvre: “Abstact space is alienated space”
Marx: Alienation of factory workers of 19th century,
Production of alien products by abstract labor.
Music Streaming Spaces Also a production of Abstract
Spaces by feeding of data into algorithms no one has actual
control over.
• SPACE PRODUCED, NOT SIMPLY EXISTS.
• SPACE PRODUCED BY, AND PRODUCTIVE OF A DYNAMIC
INTERPLAY OF MATERIAL, CONCEPTUAL AND EXPERIENTIAL
PROCESS
• SPATIAL PRACTICES- SPACE PERCEIVED, REPRESETATION
OF SPACES- SPACES AS CONCEIVED, REPRESENTATIONL
SPACES- SPACE AS LIVED
PERCEIVED SPACE
• SPATIAL PRODUCTION REFERS TO ASPECTS OF SPACE THAT CAN BE GRASPED BY THE SENSES
• PERCEPTION NOT ONLY TAKES PLACE IN THE MIND BUT IS BASED ON A CONCRETE, PRODUCED MATERIALITY
• HOW WE PERCEIVE THE INTERFACE; WHICH IS WHERE IMMATERIAL DATA IS MATERIALIZED AND INTERPRETED
BY THE USER, ALSO HOW THIS CONTRIBUTES TO THE PRODUCTION OF ABSTRACT SPACE
• MUSIC STREAMING SERVICES CAN BE DIVIDED INTO TWO PHASES;
1. THE ONE DESIGNED FOR THE PERSONAL COMPUTERS; IN WHICH PERCEIVED SPACE WAS HEAVILY BIASED
TOWARDS VISUAL PERCEPTION. THE CONCEPT ON LEAN-FORWARD AND LEAN-BACK THROUGH WHICH WE
CAN DETECT A PARTICULAR ‘CONCEIVED SPACE’
• MUSIC STREAMING SERVICES CAN BE DIVIDED INTO TWO PHASES;
1. THE ONE DESIGNED FOR THE PERSONAL COMPUTERS; IN WHICH PERCEIVED SPACE WAS HEAVILY BIASED
TOWARDS VISUAL PERCEPTION. THE CONCEPT ON LEAN-FORWARD AND LEAN-BACK THROUGH WHICH WE
CAN DETECT A PARTICULAR ‘CONCEIVED SPACE’
2. THE PERCEIVED SPACE OF STREAMING SERVICES, SHIFTED FROM A VISUAL TO AN AURAL BIAS. THE EXAMPLE
OF MOODAGENT WHICH DELIVERS MOOD-BASED PLAYLISTS. ALGORITHMS HELP ‘PERCEIVED SPACE’ ADAPT
ITSELF TO ‘LIVED SPACE’ IN ORDER TO PRODUCE ABSTRACT SPACE
 LIVED SPACES
• 1) LIVED SPACE, AS MICHAEL GARDINER EXPLAINS, IS WHERE ESSENTIAL HUMAN DESIRES,
POWERS, AND POTENTIALITIES ARE INITIALLY FORMULATED, DEVELOPED AND REALIZED
CONCRETELY. THIS IMPLIES THAT THE CONSUMERS CAN ACTIVELY MAKE THEIR OWN PLAYLISTS,
SHARE THEIR MUSIC ON DIFFERENT SOCIAL MEDIA APPLICATIONS, TAG ORGANIZE AND PROVIDE
FEEDBACK HENCE ACTIVELY CONTRIBUTING TO THE CREATED SPACE.

2) THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF MUSIC:

THE MUSIC WE LISTEN TO AND THE MUSIC WE TELL OUR FRIENDS WE LISTEN TO. THIS CREATES
A PERCEPTION THAT WE HAND OUT TO SOCIETY OF WHAT WE WANT TO BE PORTRAYED AS. ALSO
PROVIDING THE CONSUMER SOME FORM OF CONTROL.
• 3) A CLASH BETWEEN ABSTRACT AND
SOCIAL SPACE. ABSTRACT SPACE BEING
MEASURABLE ( THROUGH INPUTS AND
OUTPUTS) CLASHES WITH THE CONCEPT
OF THE QUALITATIVE SIDE OF ABSTRACT
SPACE ( RELAXATION , REST, ADVENTURE)
CONCEIVED SPACES
• DOMINANT “REPRESENTATIONS OF SPACE” THAT “SECRETE” SOCIETY’S SPACES.
• “A WIDESPREAD BELIEF IN THE OBJECTIVE QUANTIFICATION AND POTENTIAL TRACKING OF ALL KINDS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND SOCIALITY THROUGH ONLINE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES” –JOSE VAN DIJICK REFERRING
TO DATAISM
• EXAMPLE OF THE ECHO NEST
• THE CONCEIVED SPACE OF MUSIC STREAMING SERVICES IS A HIERARCHICALLY ORGANIZED AND SEGMENTED
ABSTRACT SPACE OF CONSUMER CATEGORIES. FOR LEFEBVRE, ABSTRACT SPACE IS ALIENATED SPACE
• FOR LEFEBVRE, ABSTRACT SPACE IS
ALIENATED SPACE
• MARX DESCRIBED THE ALIENATION
EXPERIENCED BY FACTORY
WORKERS CONFRONTED BY THE
ALIEN PRODUCTS OF THEIR
ABSTRACT LABOR
• THE DIGITAL SPACE THAT WE
CONTRIBUTE TO PRODUCING
CONFRONTS US AS AN ALIEN FORCE.
DATA-DRIVEN, ALGORITHM-ENABLED
MUSIC STREAMING SERVICES ARE
BUT ONE EXAMPLE OF THIS
 LINKING THE ABOVE SPACIAL TRIALECTICS

• SPACE IS ALWAYS PRODUCED TRIALECTICALLY, NOT ONLY THROUGH LIVED, BUT ALSO THROUGH PERCEIVED AND
CONCEIVED PROCESSES.
• LIVED PRACTICES GREATLY CONTRIBUTE IN SHAPING THE SPACES OF MUSIC STREAMING, BUT THESE SPACES ARE
AT THE SAME TIME PRODUCED BY SPATIAL PERCEPTIONS AND CONCEPTIONS

• THIS CONFRONTATION BETWEEN ABSTRACT AND SOCIAL SPACE IS THE “ESSENTIAL SPATIAL CONTRADICTION OF
SOCIETY”
• DIGITAL SPACE IS ALWAYS WHERE ABSTRACT SPACE AND SOCIAL SPACE COLLIDE AND THIS CONFRONTATION IS THE
“ESSENTIAL SPATIAL CONTRADICTION OF SOCIETY”
• BY PLACING ABSTRACT SPACE, WITH SOCIAL SPACE INSTEAD OF PRIVATE SPACE, LEFEBVRE ATTEMPTS TO
REINFORCE THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL RELATIONS AND NOTIONS OF THE COLLECTIVE SUBJECT
 CONCLUSION

• LEFEBVRE’S THEORETICAL MODEL PROVIDES AN ENTRY POINT THROUGH WHICH WE CAN BEGIN TO SEE HOW, LIKE
ALL SPACES, MUSIC STREAMING SPACES ARE PRODUCED AT THE INTERSECTION OF FORM, CONCEPT AND PRACTICE.
• HIS MODEL FOCUSES ON THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN CONCEPTIONS, EVERYDAY PRACTICES, AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE
ARRAY OF MATERIAL ENABLEMENTS AND CONSTRAINTS AFFORDED BY THE MEDIUM

• BY GIVING CAREFUL ATTENTION TO THE PERCEIVED, THE CONCEIVED, AND THE LIVED, LEFEBVRE’S TRIALECTICAL
MODEL CAN HIGHLIGHT THE DIFFERENT WAYS MUSIC STREAMING SERVICES PRODUCE NEW ABSTRACT SPACES OF
MUSIC CONSUMPTION