Call | Networked Creativity: Musicking in the Social Media Era

Journal of Sound, Silence, Image and Technology

Number 9 (monographic): Networked Creativity: Musicking in the Social Media Era

Issue editor: Juan Bermúdez (University of Music and Performing Arts Graz)

Deadline for submissions: 4 July 2025

Call for Papers (open call)

Journal of Sound, Silence, Image and Technology (JoSSIT) is an open-access, peer-reviewed electronic journal published annually. Since 2018, it has been edited within the SSIT research group, linked to the TecnoCampus university center, affiliated with Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF). The journal focuses on academic debate and scientific research concerning the broad relationship between sound and audiovisual contexts.

JoSSIT’s ninth issue, coordinated by Juan Bermúdez (University of Music and Performing Arts Graz), will explore the practice and experience of music in short audiovisual formats on digital platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. This issue will gather multidisciplinary research to understand how digital platforms and contexts influence the practice and experience of music and dance.

The rise of social media has transformed how music and dance are created, shared, and experienced, fostering new dynamics between musicians and their audiences. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram offer intimate glimpses into musicians’ lives while enabling audiences to actively participate in music-making through comments, remixes, challenges, and virtual interactions. This interconnected creativity and practice are central to the issue’s theme.

This issue aims to explore the relationships and processes of interconnection between musicians and audiences, focusing on dynamics that extend beyond the platforms themselves. It seeks to examine the complexities of connection and intimacy in the social media era, analyzing how musicians and audiences navigate these evolving relationships. The intimate labor of connection cultivated during musical practices through these digital platforms, approached from various analytical perspectives, is a critical focus for this issue.

We invite contributions from scholars interested in examining musical practices on and through social media from diverse analytical approaches. Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

1. Social Media as a Performance Space:

What role does social media play in shaping musical performances?
How are forms of sonic and visual creativity created and disseminated on social media?
How do users engage in producing and circulating content?

2. Audience Participation and Co-Creation:

How do platforms like TikTok enable audiences to collaborate with artists?
What are the implications for authorship and ownership?
How are networked audiovisual amateur music and dance performances, such as challenges and trends, performed and experienced?

3. Multimedia Communities:

How do online communities influence the experience of music and dance?
- How do they redefine fandom and fan engagement?
- How do connection infrastructures shape multimedia creativity, circulation, and experience of music and dance?
- How are these practices embedded in participants’ daily lives?
How has social media facilitated cross-cultural musical exchanges?

4. Digital Personacraft:

How do musicians craft their online personas to foster intimacy and connection?
- How are cultural imaginaries and musical identities created and negotiated in multimedia contexts?
How are networked glocal aesthetics, including those of gender, class, and race, performed, negotiated, and experienced?

5. The Intimacy Paradox and Emotional Labor:

How do musicians balance vulnerability and authenticity with branding and content creation demands?
- What psychological and emotional challenges arise in maintaining an online presence?
- How does this affect their creative processes?
- What ethical issues arise when musicians share personal lives online?
How do audiences navigate boundaries in their relationships with artists?

We strongly encourage participation from women, Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), young researchers, individuals from the Global South, and members of underrepresented sociopolitical groups.

Submission Guidelines

JoSSIT accepts only original articles not previously published elsewhere or under simultaneous review. All submissions undergo a double-blind peer review process.

Articles may be submitted in Spanish, Catalan, or English and should include:

Title
- Author details (name, academic/professional affiliation, postal address, and email). These will be anonymized during the review process.
- Abstract (200–300 words) summarizing the research’s key aspects and findings.
- 4–6 keywords.
- Article body, structured into sections and subsections.
References and bibliography (following APA style).

Submissions should range between 6,000 and 8,000 words, including footnotes, references, and image captions. Footnotes should appear at the bottom of the page.

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word, RTF, or Open Office format via the RACO platform, where authors must create an account to submit their work. The platform also allows tracking of the submission’s status and progress through the editorial process. For a complete list of submission guidelines and to submit articles, please visit RACO’s website: https://raco.cat/index.php/JoSSIT/about/submissions

Articles and any questions or queries should be sent to: jossit@tecnocampus.cat, or directly to the issue editor: juan.bermudez@univie.ac.at