Slow and fast music media: comparing values of cassettes and playlists

Abstract

This paper examines speed in relation to music media. It compares values and common practices surrounding two specific cultural artifacts/media: the cassette tape and the digital playlist. The aim is to explore if and how our understanding of a now marginalized medium and its surrounding practices can co-inform our understanding of digital media objects (and their surrounding practices). Comparisons are made in relation to a theoretical framework of values; appropriated from gift-giving research, where values are grouped into use values, exchange values and social bonding values. The current focus on technical development and use values is tightly connected to increasing speed. It is thus hypothesized that a remediation of social bonding values is specifically important in helping users slow down both the creation and consumption of meaningful experiences in the hyper-abundant cultural media object range of today.