Music today operates within digital infrastructures that shape how culture is produced, distributed, and valued. This course approaches music as a socio-technical system, examining how platforms, algorithms, data architectures, and regulatory frameworks interact. Focusing on Berlin, students analyze how streaming services, AI-generated music, and copyright regimes influence visibility, authorship, and revenue. Particular attention is given to European regulatory approaches and how they differ from U.S. platform models. Berlin's music and media ecosystems provide a site for field-based study through engagement with artists, cultural institutions, and policy actors. The course is particularly suited for students interested in technology, data systems, and digital governance, and develops tools to analyze how technical infrastructures and institutional contexts jointly shape contemporary cultural production.
3 units · Letter (ABCD/NP)
Music today operates within digital infrastructures that shape how culture is produced, distributed, and valued. This course approaches music as a socio-technical system, examining how platforms, algorithms, data architectures, and regulatory frameworks interact. Focusing on Berlin, students analyze how streaming services, AI-generated music, and copyright regimes influence visibility, authorship, and revenue. Particular attention is given to European regulatory approaches and how they differ from U.S. platform models. Berlin's music and media ecosystems provide a site for field-based study through engagement with artists, cultural institutions, and policy actors. The course is particularly suited for students interested in technology, data systems, and digital governance, and develops tools to analyze how technical infrastructures and institutional contexts jointly shape contemporary cultural production.
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.