From K Road to iTunes: Social and cultural changes in New Zealand recorded music communities

Abstract

This article explores how recent technological changes have affected the social and cultural practices of New Zealand communities that are based on recorded music. It considers the shrinking number of brick-and-mortar record shops in the wider context of discussing how now widespread Internet usage has forever changed the music producer-distributor-consumer relationship, as well as the relationship audience members have with one another. The account tracks the history of the record retail space in 20th Century New Zealand, before drawing on conversations with 30 highly-engaged music consumers in order to explore the relevance of the record shops that remain today. Participants also discuss the impact Internet access has had on New Zealand-based music aficionados. The central theme that emerges during these conversations is that though ‘something’ is lost with increasingly less physical community spaces to congregate, the Internet provides a potentially more inclusive and expansive platform for a greater cross-section of audience members to feel involved.