Singing and playing music through mobile applications: Smule, a new music experience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54103/2465-0137/16877Keywords:
Internet, mobile applications, remote music performances, karaokeAbstract
Mobile phones and the Internet combined have led to the creation of applications that allow their users to perform music using only their Smartphones. With the Smule applications that we analyze in this paper, people can sing karaoke together with other singers from all over the world, or play a tune with their fingertips tapping on a phone’s screen. Besides providing new entertainment activities, the Smule applications and their multiple options regarding audio and video editing can bring about new musical practices and musical artifacts. Smule users can sing duets remotely, without actually singing on the same time – a virtual collective performance. Singing karaoke becomes a solitary practice where togetherness is contrived but not achieved. Video recordings can be edited and shared on a built-in social network, thus being endorsed with a new function: to create bonds within a social network. Analyzing the discourses of Smule creators and developers, we also show that the applications do not achieve what they are promised to do, namely providing social and authentic practices.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
The author(s) grants De Musica the right to publish the work for the first time and the perpetual right to distribute it free of charge to the public through the Journal's Web site.
The author(s) retains the right to create derivative works and to reproduce, distribute, perform, or publicly display his or her work in lectures, conferences, or presentations, or other scholarly works and professional activities making explicit publication in De Musica.
The author(s) retain(s) the right to disseminate with open access, through their own website or through an institutional or disciplinary repository, the work from the time of its publication in De Musica.
The author(s) waive, in agreement with the Publisher, any form of remuneration, if any, granted by current national legislation to authors and publishers for nonprofit reprography and library lending rights.