Philosophy of Media Sounds

Media opened music to sound, and made it universally available material for multiple collages. At the same time media puts music in the state of a constant murmuring drone, an incessant flowing. Music in the age of technical media continues to move between these two polarities. The outcome depends upon our creativity, and our competence, in both music and media.
"Philosophy of Media Sounds, edited and introduced by Michael Schmidt, contains texts of Richard Wagner, Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, Theodor W. Adorno, Marshall McLuhan, John Cage, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. The Reader reflects philosophically the clashes and resonances between music and media.


Michael Schmidt, Ph.D. (University of Freiburg): John Cage-Chair at European Graduate School, studied piano and did his doctoral work in musicology. He is currently Coordinator of Classical Music Online with Bavarian Radio and teaches "Strategies for the Media Future of Music" at the Ludwigs Maximilian Universität and at the Universities of Music in Munich and Karlsruhe. Author and editor of "Ekstase als musikalisches Symbol", "Hat Musik ein Geschlecht?", "Zukunftsmusik für Kulturwellen" and "Capriccio für Siegfried Palm". Member of the selection committee of the Friedrich Ebert-Foundation, Berlin and head of the board of trustees of the Georg von Vollmar-Academy, Munich.