Send your proposal to musiclabcongreso@gmail.com. Conditions for submission here.
On 24 April 2025, the first edition of MusicLab. International conference on music scenes, culture, and media (MusicLab. Congreso internacional sobre escenas musicales, cultura y medios) will take place at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M). The celebration of the conference stems from the activities related to the annual celebration of the Seminar on Blues in Spain, initiated in 2022 at the School of Humanities, Communication, and Documentation of the UC3M. Both the conference and the seminar are organised by the Audiovisual Diversity research group at UC3M, with the support of the Master in Music Industry and Sound Studies (UC3M) and IASPM-Spain (Spanish branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music).
The aim of the conference is to contribute to a network on interdisciplinary studies focused on music, particularly in relation to the construction of music scenes, the cultural implications of music, and the relationships between music and the media: press, radio, cinema, television, video-on-demand services, podcast, video clips, etc. To this end, we invite members of the academic community (from professors to emerging researchers and students), as well as experts in the field, to participate in this space for presentation and dialogue around music.
The concept of music scenes, developed in popular music studies since the 1990s, has become a central notion for the situated and contextual study of popular music. Broad and flexible, often linked to fieldwork, this concept is the starting point of the conference and it is combined with the interest in music as culture and as a multidimensional expression linked to media and media representations. Proposals from different perspectives and disciplines, including communication studies, cultural studies, sociology, musicology, anthropology and economics, among others, are welcome.
The following research lines are proposed:
– Ethnography of music scenes.
– Historiographical studies on music scenes.
– Cartography of music scenes.
– Music scenes and music industry (record companies, live music…).
– Crisis, nostalgia and memory of music scenes.
– Political economy of music scenes.
– Music and diversity.
– Live music and urban culture.
– Music, culture and territory.
– Mediatisation of music.
– Audiovisual representations of music scenes.
– Music and cinema.
– Music press.
– Music radio.
– Music and television.
– Music and video-on-demand.
– Music and podcast.
– Music, culture and streaming.
– Analysis of music videos.
– Analysis of musical discourse.
Proposals for the conference should be sent to the following email address: musiclabcongreso@gmail.com.
The deadline for the submission of proposals is 14 March 2025. Each proposal will have a maximum of 250 words and will be accompanied by five keywords. Institutional affiliation and a short biography (max. 100 words) should also be included. Acceptance of proposals will be conditioned by their suitability to the proposed research lines and to the availability of time and space at the conference. Proposals received after the deadline will not be accepted.
The conference will be held in person at the Faculty of Humanities, Communication and Documentation of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Getafe Campus). The languages of the conference will be Spanish, English and Portuguese.
Academic Director
Dr. Josep Pedro (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Comunicación)
Scientific Committee
Dr. Luis A. Albornoz (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Comunicación)
Dr. David Álvarez García (IE University, Humanities)
Dr. Pedro Cravinho (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire / Birmingham City University, United Kingdom)
Dr. J. Ignacio Gallego (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Comunicación)
Dr. Nicholas Gebhardt (Birmingham City University, Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research, United Kingdom)
Dra. Paula Guerra (Universidade do Porto, Portugal)
Dra. Begoña Gutiérrez Martínez (UNIR, Comunicación)
Dr. Ádám Havas (Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen, Germany)
Dra. Marta Mangado (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Dpto. de Comunicación Audiovisual y Publicidad)
Dr. Leonardo De Marchi (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Dra. Rebeca Muñoz García (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Ciencias Sociales)
Dr. Josep Pedro (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Comunicación)
Dra. Sarah Raine (University College Dublin, Irland)
Dra. Laura Sanz García (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Humanidades: historia, geografía y arte)
Dr. Fernán del Val (UNED, Dpto. de Sociología I)
Organising Committee
Gemma Camáñez García (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Comunicación)
Juan Ignacio Fernández Herruzo (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Comunicación)
Dr. J. Ignacio Gallego (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Comunicación)
Pedro Gallo (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Comunicación)
Marylin Luis Grillo (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Comunicación)
Dra. Rebeca Muñoz García (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Ciencias Sociales)
Dr. Josep Pedro (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Comunicación)
Dra. Laura Sanz García (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Dpto. de Humanidades: historia, geografía y arte)
