Open and informal online communities as forums of collaborative musical activities and learning

Abstract

Distributing one's music and discussing music-related topics at dedicated web sites have become a common practice for today's young musicians. Technological advances allow both easy production of music at computer-based home studios and free distribution even at a global level. An online survey was conducted to shed light on the reasons for participating in an online music community. The results indicate that although social reasons existed, musical reasons were the most important motives for taking part in the community. The participants were on average fairly active musicians, but only a minority of them had formal musical training.