What does this research mean for the field?

Musical genre functions as a regulatory infrastructure governed by institutional and platform-driven mechanisms, such as algorithms and metadata, rather than merely serving as a neutral descriptor. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.ESTABLISHES_NEW_DIRECTION.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To reconceptualize musical genre from a descriptive aesthetic category into a regulatory platform infrastructure governed by institutional power and algorithmic classification.

August 27, 2026Convergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

Genre as infrastructure: Power, platforms, and the governance of musical classification

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Authors

AAAlfred Patrick AddaquayUniversity of Ghana

Discussion

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Overview

Theoretical analysis uncovers how streaming platforms and institutional classification govern musical genres, highlighting the reductive metricization of diverse African musical ecologies.

Key Points

To reconceptualize musical genre from a descriptive aesthetic category into a regulatory platform infrastructure governed by institutional power and algorithmic classification.
Synthesized theoretical frameworks across genre theory, cultural sociology, infrastructure studies, and platform studies.
Analyzed classification mechanisms within streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, focusing on metadata, recommendation algorithms, behavioral clustering, and audio modeling.
Examined the structural impacts of platform taxonomies on African musical ecologies, including highlife, Afrobeats, Ghanaian art music, and Pentecostal worship music.
Demonstrated that digital streaming platforms govern genres through retrospective canonization, metric-driven playlist curation, and algorithmic recommendation rather than organic categorization.
Showed that global platform classification systems systematically oversimplify complex local musical traditions into broad, reductive labels like 'world' or 'African.'
Formulated the Layered Stabilisation Model, integrating historical core, institutional codification, and adaptive circulation to explain genre governance.

Cite This Study

Alfred Patrick Addaquay (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8fe98110c91c1e926211af https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565261481977

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August 27, 2026Convergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

Genre as infrastructure: Power, platforms, and the governance of musical classification

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

AAAlfred Patrick AddaquayUniversity of Ghana

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Theoretical analysis uncovers how streaming platforms and institutional classification govern musical genres, highlighting the reductive metricization of diverse African musical ecologies.

Key Points

To reconceptualize musical genre from a descriptive aesthetic category into a regulatory platform infrastructure governed by institutional power and algorithmic classification.
Synthesized theoretical frameworks across genre theory, cultural sociology, infrastructure studies, and platform studies.
Analyzed classification mechanisms within streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, focusing on metadata, recommendation algorithms, behavioral clustering, and audio modeling.
Examined the structural impacts of platform taxonomies on African musical ecologies, including highlife, Afrobeats, Ghanaian art music, and Pentecostal worship music.
Demonstrated that digital streaming platforms govern genres through retrospective canonization, metric-driven playlist curation, and algorithmic recommendation rather than organic categorization.
Showed that global platform classification systems systematically oversimplify complex local musical traditions into broad, reductive labels like 'world' or 'African.'
Formulated the Layered Stabilisation Model, integrating historical core, institutional codification, and adaptive circulation to explain genre governance.

Cite This Study

Alfred Patrick Addaquay (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8fe98110c91c1e926211af https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565261481977

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