The iTunization of pop

Abstract

This article explores the cultural consequences of music on iPhone, iPad and iPod, a context in which youth today use the same digital and online iTunes platform to download, play, store and organize music. iTunes, coupled with smartphones (either iPhones or Android phones) and the availability of other social network sites (e.g. Facebook, YouTube) constitute a set of ready-made tools for young people to connect themselves with music, which serves as a common interest for networking under the context of a new internet culture. In other words, former massmediated music choices are being replaced by the selective choices of peers, who can now use the available platforms and new music technologies to locate their own musical tastes. Based on systematic in-depth interviews and analysis of lists of songs provided by interviewees, the article argues for a process of iTunization—a term describing the cultural phenomenon in which youth of the same cohort store and share much the same music resources, with these resources being quite stable over time.