Mobile Safe Spaces and Preset Emotions: Making Music with Apps as a Digital Technology of the Self

Apps for making music on smartphones and tablets are widely used by professional and amateur musicians alike. Based on a qualitative study, this article describes how making music with apps affects users’ sense of self and emotion regulation in everyday life. It demonstrates that music apps are used in “technologies of the self,” that they shape musicians’ self-constitution and allow a complex interplay between music, place, and the self. It argues that music production with apps can promote practices of self-government, but also serve as a tool of self-empowerment and critique.