CfP: Clouds, Streams, and Ground (Truths): Developing Methods for Studying Algorithmic Music Ecosystems Call for Papers

We are pleased to announce a Call for Papers for the conference, “Clouds, Streams, and Ground (Truths): Developing Methods for Studying Algorithmic Music Ecosystems,” which will be held at the University of California, Berkeley, March 7-8, 2026.

“Fail fast, fail forward” echoes throughout Silicon Valley. The phrase validates (and often financially rewards) companies who pursue rapid technological development over more considered approaches. But this future-oriented vision has made these systems difficult to study. Like the metaphorical “stream,” they are constantly in flux. One consequence: digital music, streaming platforms, and cloud infrastructures have been around for decades, yet scholars lack a consensus on how to study them. Access to the past is often foreclosed by relentless pursuits of digital futures.

Our aim is to bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, researchers in the music industry, and legal practitioners to discuss the challenges of studying these digital systems and develop ways to make them more knowable. We invite proposals for presentations (20 minutes + 10 minutes discussion) on related topics, such as:

– How does metaphorical language like “the cloud” shape how we perceive the affordances of different music technologies?
– What kind of knowledge can we generate using historical methods? Ethnographic ones?
– What can we learn about these systems by studying them at scale, and what can we learn from case studies?
– What can recent (or not so recent) litigation reveal about these companies or their technologies?
– What kind of musical data is publicly available, and what can we do with it?

The conference will feature keynotes by Bob Sturm (KTH Royal Technical University), Anna Huang (MIT), and Chris White (UMass, Amherst). We anticipate having some financial support available to help defray associated costs, especially for graduate students and independent scholars.

Please send proposals of 250 words to conference -at- algorithmicmusicmethods.com by August 22.