Output details

Soundstream: The Introduction of Commercial Digital Recording Technologies in the United States

This research was published in the Journal on the Art of Record Production and provides the first published academic study of the operations of Soundstream, the original commercial digital audio recording company in the United States. Like my work on the 'smooth jazz' radio format, this was developed from work undertaken during my PhD on the American jazz label GRP Records, which was an early adopter of digital audio recording technology developed by Soundstream. The goal of this work was to give a historical account of the complex political, cultural and economic territory surrounding new digital recording in the 1970s, and to critically analyse the reasons behind industry take-up of these new technologies, as well as resistance to them. Prior to publication I presented this research in December 2010 at the Art of Record Production conference, held at Leeds Metropolitan University. In both the publication and the conference paper I consider ideas related to political economy, entrepreneurship, and digital culture, all key themes within BCMCR. Taking the themes of technology and enterprise, and looking in particular at the disruptive nature of the advances made by the entrepreneurial activities of Soundstream, there are parallels here with the work of my colleagues Professors Andrew Dubber and Tim Wall, who have looked at the way in which organisations operating within the present day music industries are negotiating the importance of internet technologies. I have drawn on this work and that of my colleagues in my recent knowledge exchange project with Edition Records, where I looked at the manner in which this independent UK jazz record label engages with audiences via social media.