Call for Proposals ODC 2015 Music for All

More info on the conference

In light of the relative failure of Digital Rights Management technology (DRM), attempts to define musical ownership in the contemporary world of digital media have become highly contentious. The ways in which we define who owns music and what it means to own music (how it can be used, re-used, and re-imagined) all have implications for our everyday musical life. It seems, though, that whenever we attempt to form such definitions, we also find them undermined by musical practice. Even long before the era of mechanical reproduction, the distinction between the original and the copy had been a tenuous one. In Western music, the practices of transcription, adaptation, and citation have been essential to the creation of music. Remix culture is not, it seems, an entirely new phenomenon. The issue becomes even more striking in interactions with primarily oral musical cultures. Without scores or recordings, without any sort of object to contain it, who owns this music? The traditional improvising musician participates in a web of musical practices, one in which she belongs. When we stop worrying about origins—about the music's historical source and its rightful owner—we face the interesting specter of music that might belong to no one, or perhaps to everyone. When these same oral traditions interact with literate musical practice, we are faced with even more radical challenges to our notions of ownership. Even the essential primacy of a score over its performance in Western music becomes problematic in light of the practice of improvising musicians. These issues have a long and varied history, one that shapes our creative lives as performers, composers, improvisers, and listeners in subtle, often tacit ways. In this conference, we meet as practitioners and researchers in music to explore ownership's connections to musical practice. Participants from primarily oral musical cultures, primarily literate musical cultures, and all the shades in-between, will engage in dialogue and discussion, both on how various conceptions of ownership affect our practice, as well as how our own practice, in turn, might affect understandings of ownership. The conference will frame the debate in a wider perspective through the keynote lectures by Prof. Martin Scherzinger, Associate Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University, and Ross Daly, professional musician.

Details of the call for presentations

Proposals are welcomed from the global pool of interested experts, ranging from artist-teachers to artistic researchers, and from students to policy makers, in order to bring practices, concepts and innovation to the floor of a two-day conference. For the benefit of everyone involved in the artistic community, the conference aims at scrutinizing all aspects of the relationship between music-making and ownership.  Applicants are encouraged but not required to welcome performances into their presentations, and there will be a concert on the evening of 18th February where performing researchers will have an opportunity to perform outside of the scope of their own presentation. Proposals should consist of an abstract of c. 300 words, providing a brief account of the presentation’s rationale, method of investigation and findings. In addition, proposals should include the title of the presentation, name and institutional affiliation of each author (when applicable), short curriculum vitae, contact information and required technical support. Please indicate whether your presentation includes live music. Presentations will be allocated 30 minutes; this includes 10 minutes for questions and discussion.

Deadline for Proposals: December 31st, 2014.

Send us your proposal through odc@orpheusinstituut.be Note: Those sending proposals are requested to submit them as MS Word files, not as PDFs. Notification of acceptance will be made by January 5, 2015.