Mobile phones have become ubiquitous devices that are capable of much more than phone calls due to increasing processing power, storage, and apps. While many music apps simply replicate desktop instruments on mobile screens, there is potential for mobile phones to enable truly new forms of musical expression and cultural practices if certain conditions are met. For mobile music performance to become widespread, the interface would need to be intuitive, mobile music would need to play a natural role in socializing, and the practice would need to be seen as cool rather than gimmicky with support from companies and grassroots movements online. Historical examples show how industries like piano and recording transformed music when they disrupted existing cultural norms and business models.

1. ICMC | SMC 2014 Conference
Presentation
Can making music with mobile phones
become a ubiquitous cultural practice?
Nathan Bowen, PhD
Moorpark College
nbowen@vcccd.edu
David Reeder
Mobile Sound
davidreeder@mobilesound.org

2. What is a mobile phone, really?
• a small, networked computer
– ever increasing storage capacity and processing
power
• combination of several devices
– phone, alarm clock, flashlight, camera,
‘walkman’, video player, crossword puzzle…
– the ‘app’ marketplace continually redefines what
the device is.

3. How are mobile phones being used?
• first, they are ubiquitous
• they are deeply imbedded in our lives
• they are networked, always on, always close
at hand
– smart phones have changed the way we think
about touch screens, sensors, what phones can
do.
– We assume certain things when we hold a phone
(affordances).

4. How do you hold a phone?

5. How do you hold a phone?
(It really depends upon function.)

6. How do you hold a phone when
making music?

7. How do you hold a phone when
making music?

8. How do you hold a phone when
making music?

9. What is the landscape of mobile music
today?
T. Kell & M.Wanderley, ICMC | SMC 2014 poster

11. What does this survey tell us?
• “The world is a very boring place”
• Most ‘music’ apps do not engage user as primary
music maker
• Most music app instruments are ‘pocket’ versions
of existing instruments
• Emphasis of mobility and novelty
• Still, significant sector that leverage unique
qualities of mobile phones (network!)
• Potential is there for truly new forms of
expression
(Gimmicky?)

12. Can mobile phone performance
become a cultural phenomenon?
• There exists a compelling body of artistic
output and achievement
• There exists a steady repertoire of works, in a
range of difficulties
• Performance virtuosity is rewarded with social
status and provides inspiration
• Educated listeners are able to tell when a
performer messes up
Yes, if...

13. Can mobile phone performance
become a cultural phenomenon?
• Interface of instrument(s) immediately
recognizable and intuitive
• Performance practice, at any level of
expertise, plays a natural role in community
building
• Instrument is easy to futz with but
challenging to master
Yes, if...

14. What would it take to get there?
• General public needs to be convinced of the
virtues of mobile musical performance
• It must be cool, not gimmicky
• Internet opens possibility for new mobile
music making to be a grass roots / viral
movement
• Mobile music likely needs heavy propaganda
and marketing from corporations

15. Historical precedents for sea change
in music making
• Piano industry (and printed scores) during
Industrial Revolution

16. Historical precedents for sea change
in music making
• Recording industry disrupted the music
industry.

17. Challenges for mobile music
• Mobile phones are disposable. We typically
associate instruments as valuable and precious
(heirlooms)
• Just because everyone has a mobile phone
doesn’t mean they’re interested in making music
– (not all people like to use their voices to sing)
• Sound quality: amplification, timbre
• Instrument needs to be carved out from a device
normally associated with phone calls
• Mobile phones are rapidly evolving. Will phones
of future even be physical handheld devices?

18. What’s next?
• Build interoperability – allow apps to co-
communicate with one another, share data
– Examples already exist in recommendation tools
• Your friend’s playlist suggestions in Spotify
– Distributed performance
• Networked apps need to be easily configurable
(zeroconfig)
• We propose changes to OSC to lay groundwork
for community-based mobile music making

19. N. Bowen & D. Reeder,
ICMC | SMC 2014 poster