Using online networks to analyse the value of electronic music

If evaluating how creative a program or an artefact is, a key factor to consider is the value inherent in that program or artefact. Our research investigates the process by which cultural products may be accorded a form of specifically cultural value independent of market value, focusing in particular on how that process has been transformed through mediation by online networks. To do this, we are studying a specific artform, i.e. music, and evidence from a specific website, i.e. SoundCloud, making a case study of a specific genre with a special association with that website: electronic music. Quantitative analysis ranges across all genres of music represented on the website, with social network graphs being constructed from relational data and corpus analysis being carried out on textual data. Interviews and observational research are being carried out with electronic music performers in order both to explore what interaction on the site means to them on a qualitative level and to study how the production and circulation of value on the site relates to the production and circulation of value in offline environments. This project will make available a methodology and supporting software for measuring creative value through relevant network analysis.