Scott Hewitt Presentations

Abstract

Post the advent of the MP3 format, legal online music stores, YouTube and other legal streaming services the prioritisation and sale of the album has become signicantly reduced. This has presented artist with diculty in both presenting their creative labour within the appropriate sonic context and the placing of individual tracks within a great narrative. The perceived demise in the album has obviously also had finical implications. However, seeking to view this as an opportunity rather than a loss we propose The Locative Album System for combining tracks into a contextualised, location driven package. In proposing the Locative Album System we consider the possibilities presented free from the hardware and contextual limitations of the past. Choosing to focus on the use of mobile devices for consumption, we consider the opportunities proposed by a location aware, sensor laden and feature rich album ob ject playback device with data connectivity, the smart phone/tablet. In doing so we present the The Locative Album System in which audio may be presented for consumption while contextualised within physical locations and augmented and modified as the artist intended. Additionally we consider commercial opportunities and possibilities for both content creators and license owners to enhance the musical ob ject offered by the Locative Album System. Finally due to physical practicalities we will provide a video demonstration of the Locative Album System in use and suggest possible methods of use of the system to enrich the listening experience and the artistic vocabulary available to the artist.