Finding a way to tie technology, aesthetics and dramaturgy together in terms of experimental sound-based music

Not many years ago, I gave a keynote at the SPEEC Conference at Oxford University entitled, 'music Technology, Music technology or Music Technology?' (Contemporary Music Review. 32/5: 459–471, 2013) and have continued to investigate the subjects that arose in that talk both as a scholar and as a composer, issues that align strongly with many themes included in this conference's Call for Papers. Suffice to say that some tension was discovered between the two words in that discussion. This conference's food for thought keynote talk (modified in the form of the current article) focuses on questions including: Where do we stand in terms of art for art's sake in today's world? How has this influenced our understanding of what aesthetics currently signifies? Who are our communities of listeners? And, with this in mind, what roles do or should communication and dramaturgy play in terms of music making? In consequence are the tensions between the words music and technology in any way getting resolved? As fellow keynote speaker, John Richards1 and I are currently involved with writing a book dealing with many of these very issues, one of the book's themes, sampling culture, will be used as this article's case study.