Transformation. Music Mediation as a Game Changer

Abstract

With the fourth issue of the International Journal of Music Mediation (IJMM), we turn our attention to a topic that has gained increasing urgency in recent years: transformation. Across societal, cultural, technological, and political domains, profound changes are reshaping not only the ways in which music is created, performed, and experienced, but also the roles of musicians, institutions, and audiences. Against this backdrop, music mediation is increasingly discussed as a practice that does not merely accompany change, but actively contributes to it on artistic, organizational, and societal levels. The contributions in this issue are rooted in the international conference Transformation – Music Mediation as a Game Changer, held in 2025 at the Bruckner University in Linz (Austria), complemented by further submissions responding to the open call. Together, they explore transformation as an open-ended process that unfolds across micro, meso, and macro levels, connecting individual artistic experiences with structural developments in cultural institutions. Rather than approaching transformation as a goal-oriented or measurable outcome, the contributions emphasize its contingent, emergent character and the role of collaborative practices in enabling change.