To Örebro University

Before twentieth century, in the times when coffee houses were spaces of public debates in which political decisions were being discussed as Habermas tells it, writing about music was under the monopoly of scholars of prestigious magazines and the debates on music that were being carried on were realized mainly in academic terms. Later, in the age of artwork’s mechanical reproducibility, the mediums for the transfer of information about music were changed, and as Adorno argues, the power of control passed into the hands of music industry and mass media. Finally, in the Internet age, the passive audiences of the past became able to demand autonomy on commenting on music, and their dreams turned into reality with the emergence of social media. In this environment, collaborative music databases have become online spheres of public discussions on musical matters. Therefore, in a sense, Benjamin’s vision on the democratization of art appreciation has come into reality. But, what would Bourdieu think of it?

Drawing on recent debates on the notions of online deliberation and cyberspace, and with reference to the recently developed concept of digital labor, this paper aims to realize a Habermasian analysis and a post-Habermasian critique of popular collaborative music rating and reviewing websites.

In the analysis, I argue that those websites can be considered as spaces of debate for deciding on matters like which music is better, and for determining new meanings for certain music types through attaching classifications to them. Ratings and reviews result in decisions through communicative action, and with the support of popular search engines, decisions obtain political character. On the other hand, in the critique, at first, I question the autonomy of audiences through explaining the coexistence of political authorities like admins and sponsors. Secondly, with regard to Bourdieuan theory of class distinction, I discuss that many subcultural spheres are created within those public spheres through exposition of cultural capital by audiences with different tastes, and in this sense, those spheres’ public character becomes questionable.