The meanings of music sharing in tween life

Abstract

The effects of digitalization for music sharing have been debated vastly. However, the new practices of making widely available music meaningful for those who share it remain largely uncovered. We set out to study this through exploring how the tweens of early 2010's face this challenge. In a qualitative exploration with Finnish children aged 10-13 years, we identified practices of making digital music meaningful: socially considerate sharing, modification and associations outside music, and consideration for the difficulties of infrastructure. We find that the content gains value in the socio-technical network of sharing practices. This observation challenges the notions of digital music as a ""mass"" format lacking personal or social value.