Platform Jazz

Benjamin Burkhart

ISBN 10: 3837679136 / ISBN 13: 9783837679137

Published by Transcript Verlag, DE, 2025

About this Item

At first glance, jazz and TikTok may not seem like an obvious match: Spontaneous ensemble interaction, long improvisations, and complex harmonies on a short-form video platform? Still, jazz is highly popular on TikTok, although only very specific facets of jazz culture achieve high visibility on the platform. Based on interviews with popular content creators, Benjamin Burkhart reveals that the specific representation of jazz on TikTok is highly dependent on the socio-technical interaction between the platform's affordances and the musicians' algorithmic imaginaries.

Seller Inventory # LU-9783837679137

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Platform Jazz
• Publisher: Transcript Verlag, DE
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3837679136
• ISBN 13: 9783837679137
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

TikTok is one of the world’s most popular digital platforms. Although it may seem unusual at first, many jazz musicians have large followings on this short-form video platform. Benjamin Burkhart examines how popular jazz musicians use TikTok and how jazz is represented on the platform. He investigates how the musicians deal with the platform’s affordances, tailor their content to the short-form video format, and interact with the platform’s algorithmic system. The study also examines the musicians’ expectations regarding TikTok users’ actions, and reveals which jazz-related content achieves the greatest visibility on the platform. Through interviews with popular content creators, the study shows that the socio-technical interaction between musicians and the platform leads to a very specific representation of jazz on TikTok.

About the Author

Benjamin Burkhart (Dr.) is a musicologist at Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. His research and teaching focus on the media cultures, analysis, and social history of popular music and jazz. Prior to his work in Hanover, he served as an interim professor for the history and theory of popular music at Universität Giessen, as a senior scientist at the Institute for Jazz Research at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz, and as a research associate at the Center for Popular Culture and Music at Universität Freiburg.