On How Music Changed YouTube

Guillaume Heuguet and Elsa Marshall, in conversation

Abstract

The effects of the Internet on the relationships between musicians and audiences, as well as on what music becomes popular and how, are frequently at the forefront of popular music journalism. While evaluating one viral sensation or trend may seem feasible, analysing the constant changes of Internet platforms overall is a daunting challenge. As both a history and recent study of such phenomena, Guillaume Heuguet’s How Music Changed YouTube stands out as a must-read investigation of the relations between songwriting, music industries, technological businesses, and Internet platforms. It concisely explains how YouTube’s development has been intertwined with the music business on matters including talent acquisition and development, star curation, audience attraction and retention, copyright, and dissemination. Heuguet investigates how these elements of popular music creation have changed (or not) in the process, questioning the accuracy of describing YouTube as solely a “hosting” site and connecting the directions of influences between platform, industry, creators, and audience. He thereby provides the tools and information by which scholars can more critically question constructions of value and popularity around and within today’s popular music. In the following conversation with screen music scholar, Elsa Marshall, Heuguet provides insight into how and why he wrote How Music Changed YouTube and its continued relevance (edited transcript of interview conducted November 2024).