Sharing music in public spaces: Social insights from the Musikiosk project

We argue for a reconsideration of the role of public sharing of music and technology in urban, public settings, based on the results of research involving an interactive sound system. While current legislation in Quebec prevents the playing of amplified music in public, with the support of a Montreal borough, we developed and installed an open, free sound system (Musikiosk) allowing users to choose and play their own music into a pocket park off a busy commercial street. The park and system usage were systematically studied in an interdisciplinary research project, framed by current debates on the relationship between music, publicness and the use of interactive music technologies in public spaces. It combined observations, questionnaires and interviews with park users and residents, which are analyzed through the lens of use patterns and engagement. Results indicate that both users and non-users of the system evaluate Musikiosk as a welcome addition to the park and as a benefit to its conviviality and dynamics, by allowing users to share their music in a novel way and thus to appropriate their park acoustically. Findings further indicate that the process of shared music consumption is an essential advantage of the system, extending the range of park functions and encouraging interaction and different forms of social dynamics by also attracting new users. The positive reactions to Musikiosk show the need for a reevaluation of existing norms and regulations on public space use, particularly in relation to new forms of publicness through the sharing of music and technology.