into a successful book, think about the review process in a productive way, and the unanticipated problems of second and subsequent books. This year, I also want to talk about the worrisome situation for scholarly publishing. Never financially solid, the situation has taken a sudden turn for ... 2/

My latest on social media platforms and logics of knowledge production in East Asian independent music, out in Convergence now:

doi.org/10.1177/1354...

Special thanks to @qianhuang.bsky.social for helping bring this out into the world!

AI promises expertise without experts: « We all know it’s not going to work. But the fantasy compels risk-averse universities […] because it promises the power to control what learning does without paying the cost for how real learning happens”: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/29/o...

One of a few, growing, Do-It-Together initiatives in the HK indie scene: “There are more people putting on shows, there’s more music, the bands are more active and more ambitious.” zolimacitymag.com/un-tomorrow-...

Here's a more fulsome post from the Press. So sad.
Farewell to Jonathan Sterne dukeupress.wordpress.com/2025/03/21/f...

RIP Jonathan Sterne, a trail blazer and an inspiration to so many, in so many ways. I learned so much from him and his partner Carrie in my time McGill on how to become the kind of academic, and person, I want to be. I will continue to practice and share what he taught me.

Earlier today, a group of students received word that Jonathan Sterne entered hospice care yesterday following his ongoing battle with cancer. I think there's a few of his colleagues and former students that follow me on here (he's also currently my phd advisor), more info will be coming soon

The old major/indie labels divide that keeps on giving up. Some interesting contemporary takes on it in this podcast episode: open.substack.com/pub/notagspo...

PopCon and popular music studies would like to have a WORD with this premise. Popular music criticism thrives outside the university and has for a long time, even as music journalism has too collapsed. The only thing we're missing is prestige and big salaries (oh is that what they mean by 'survive')

For those with interest in South East Asian/Asian popular music, deadline is on March 15th!: iaspm-sea.org/conference-2...

AFTER PROTOCOLS, the last issue of Revue Espace art Actuel # 139 is out!

Co-directed by @ncasemajor.bsky.social and myself, the bilingual issue (French-English) discuss all things related to art & blockchain.
Enjoy!
espaceartactuel.com/en/produit/1...

Cover image: @isthisa.bsky.social

✨My contribution to the platform/platformization debate 🫣

Being a “Global Music Platform”: Platform Work in Light-Tech Capitalism

Out in Social media + Society

📚 Check it out here:

👇

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

#PlatformEconomy #TechCapitalism #DigitalLabor #PlatformStudies

From 2021 and missing some key artists/groups, but pleased to say a majority of those important bands are still active in the Hong Kong underground: daily.bandcamp.com/lists/hong-k...

Worried about how long your favorite art, stories, videos, and other media will remain online? You can do something about it. Archive it, put it on a flash drive, share it. Digital things are fragile, but you don't need serious tech skills to protect the digital things you care about. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

Happy to be involved in this MASSIVE collection, with a chapter on the role of distribution infrastructures, afrological improvisation and whiteness in the Québec ‘Musique actuelle’ scene: www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

A nice little primer of notable activity in the ever under-the-radar Hong Kong indie music scenes (across multiple genres & community): open.substack.com/pub/passingn...

📚New year, new publication out in a #continuum special issue on Popular Music’s revival and renewal edited by the fantastic Lauren Istvandity, Mengyu Luo and John Tebutt.📚

In this article, I take on the annually regurgitated ‘cassette revival’ or ‘cassette comeback’.