Renegade Refrains

Abstract

Debate over the ethics of MP3 file sharing has overshadowed intellectual inquiry into the reasons why music has been such a sought after commodity for downloading. This paper proposes a Deleuze/Guattarian inspired conceptualisation of affect to ascertain the drive behind the phenomenon we call the 'MP3 revolution'. The claim is that music has been responsible for the internet's transition from static to dynamic medium as the affective allure of the MP3 codec solicits territorial production through reception. Ritual, rhythms and refrains order our way through the chaos of the web and this paper proposes that MP3 offers temporal potentialities and existential 'becoming' that provide new affective dimensions to the previously static nature of the web. With such a proliferation of writing on MP3 and peer-to-peer networking, this article is concerned with why music is worth downloading and finally, how capital has sought to commodify this territory that MP3 users created.