Fashion and accessories are considered symbols of status and identity by many. Your hairstyle, your shoes, or the type of car you drive, all represent part of who you are. While these aspects of identity are still relevant, new media platforms, namely the iPod and online music communities like 8tracks and Last fm have become increasingly popular as tools of self expression.
Leong (2011) explains that one’s personal music playlist functions as a “rich, personal narrative”, and impacts upon an individuals’ “social, cultural and political capital”.
Levy (2006) expands upon this theory in his discussion of iPod wars, whereby an individual bombards another with the song they are currently playing on their iPod, and compares it to the song playing on the other persons’ iPod. Because playlists have become representative of identity, iPod wars function as a type of status battle, one that can be humiliating (Levy, 2006).
(Image accessed: http://chicagoist.com/attachments/jakeguidry/2010_05_07_ipod.jpg)
Indeed, it seems many people are willing to alter their musical playlist in order to better their social, cultural capital, a process Levy calls impression management (2006). This concept is not unlike the careful, but sometimes augmented construction of identity practiced by many online users, as outlined by Amie in her blog My-Take.
While some may view impression management as a negative pressure upon ones’ true self, it is clearly a process we have long practiced. New media has simply expanded our opportunity for self expression.
REFERENCE LIST
Leong, S. KCB206 Media, Internet, Self and Beyond: Week 3 Lecture notes. Accessed March 16, 2011. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au.
Levy, Steven. 2006. “Identity”. In The perfect thing: How the iPod shuffles commerce, culture and coolness, 21-41. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks. Accessed March 15, 2011. https://cmd.library.qut.edu.au/KCB201/KCB201_BK_272671.pdf.
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