{"id":6432,"date":"2025-10-16T14:46:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.popularmusikforschung.de\/?p=6432"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:55:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:55:23","slug":"cfp-conference-2026-music-under-observation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.popularmusikforschung.de\/?p=6432","title":{"rendered":"CfP: Con\u00adfe\u00adrence 2026: Music under Observation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Call for Papers
Music Under Obser\u00adva\u00adtion:
Agency Bet\u00adween Con\u00adtrol and Expres\u00adsion<\/strong>
36th Annual Con\u00adfe\u00adrence of the German Society for Popular Music Stu\u00addies
Leu\u00adphana Uni\u00adver\u00adsity L\u00fcne\u00adburg
October 16\u201318, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obser\u00adva\u00adtion is a con\u00adstant con\u00addi\u00adtion for popular music. From the watchful eye of a state
censor to the ana\u00adly\u00adtical gaze of a record label\u2019s A&R depart\u00adment, and from the peer
review of an online fan com\u00admu\u00adnity to the auto\u00admated tracking of a strea\u00adming plat\u00adform,
music is con\u00adti\u00adnu\u00adally shaped by being seen and heard. While such obser\u00adva\u00adtion often
imposes limits, it also creates new pos\u00adsi\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adties for action. This con\u00adfe\u00adrence asks: What
do musi\u00adcians, indus\u00adtries, and audi\u00adences do under obser\u00adva\u00adtion?

We aim to explore the spaces for agency, the Hand\u00adlungs\u00adr\u00e4ume<\/em>, that emerge bet\u00adween
the pres\u00adsures of con\u00adtrol and the drive for expres\u00adsion. Recent deve\u00adlo\u00adp\u00adments in the USA,
for ins\u00adtance, argu\u00adably sharpen global trends of cen\u00adsor\u00adship and cancel cul\u00adture in
pre\u00adviously unpre\u00addic\u00adtable ways. Con\u00adtrol can mani\u00adfest as overt cen\u00adsor\u00adship, the subtle
nudges of algo\u00adrithms, the eco\u00adnomic disci\u00adpline of the market, or the social poli\u00adcing of
authen\u00adti\u00adcity within a scene. Yet, in response, new forms of crea\u00adti\u00advity, resis\u00adtance,
sub\u00adver\u00adsion, and iden\u00adtity play con\u00adsis\u00adt\u00adently appear. However, fur\u00adther responses to
obser\u00adva\u00adtions of prac\u00adtices and hier\u00adar\u00adchies can also include the crea\u00adtion of safe spaces,
awa\u00adre\u00adness acti\u00advi\u00adties, and crea\u00adtive spaces for action with oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adties for reflec\u00adtion and
self-deter\u00admi\u00adna\u00adtion. This con\u00adfe\u00adrence invites con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtions that examine this dynamic
ten\u00adsion across dif\u00adfe\u00adrent his\u00adto\u00adrical, cul\u00adtural, social, eco\u00adnomic, and tech\u00adno\u00adlo\u00adgical con\u00adtexts.

We encou\u00adrage pro\u00adpo\u00adsals that address, but are not limited to, the fol\u00adlo\u00adwing questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n