DescriptionThis dissertation explores digital music experiences through the defunct website What.CD, a former BitTorrent tracker and associated online community. A large amount of musical activity has yet to be researched or taken into consideration by the recording industry because of its illegal status. However, the findings here, that are the result of quantitative analysis of the BitTorrent data and qualitative analysis of interview data, suggest that What.CD was a vibrant, dedicated group of individuals who avidly listened to music. Furthermore, the activity of users on What.CD should be integrated into current understandings of how music functions societally, especially in digital contexts.
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThis work has been licensed by the rightsholder under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).