Sociomusicology

9/1/25

AI vs. IP in Music: An Issue for Ethnomusicology

I eagerly look forward to co-hosting the 2025 SEM Historical Ethnomusicology Section meetings with its current Chair, Otto Stuparitz, and to giving the following presentation at the 70^th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology.

AI vs. IP: Who Owns the World’s Music Today?

David G. Hebert (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences)

Abstract:

At the 2025 Paris AI Summit, VPOTUS Vance declared to world leaders that “excessive regulation” harms the AI industry and will not be tolerated by the USA. His position contrasts with another VP, that of the world’s largest music company (Universal), who denounced AI’s “wholesale hijacking of the intellectual property of the entire creative community.” Indeed, as Suchir Balaji showed, the “fair use” doctrine cannot reasonably apply to the “training” of AI, whether in the form of text, images, or music, since the resulting synthetic products are designed to compete commercially with human-made creations. Law has arguably not kept pace with new technologies, including music AI, which flagrantly violates the spirit of copyright. How are ethnomusicologists to respond to AI in ways consistent with our values? Currently, the US, China, and Europe are the main centers of AI innovation, and of these the EU most explicitly protects privacy and AI safety (e.g. GDPR, EU AI Act). The US is also one of the only major countries that is not a signatory to major international agreements for safe AI development. Since SEM is a US-based organization, its members must consider the impact these US policies will ultimately have on music ownership and music creation worldwide. Based on a decolonial approach to IP in the context of international law, this presentation will identify established ethnomusicological values, then outline the legal arguments (and counterarguments) for regulating AI to protect musicians, promote cultural survival, and even ensure the future of human personal identity.

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This theme is also related to the work that our new postdoctoral researcher, Karan Choudhary, will pursue over the next few years, and who I hope may join me in future SEM conferences. His earlier work appears in the book Ethnomusicology and Cultural Diplomacy as well as various law journals.

Image source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta#/media/File:Atlanta_Skyline_-_Piedmont_Park.png

8/31/25

Invited Lecture in Taiwan

National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) is the most international university in Taiwan, and among the highest ranked in Asia for teacher education and educational research. With a history of more than 100 years, it was founded during the Japanese occupation, known then as Taihoku College.

The College of Music at NTNU is also the most prominent Music institution in Taiwan.

I look forward to the opportunity to give an invited lecture there in Autumn 2025, during which I will share insights gained from the Global Competence Partnership project.

8/20/25

Decolonization of Musical Arts Education

It was a pleasure to learn just a few days ago that an article co-authored with my PhD student Erisa Walubo has been accepted by the journal Philosophy of Music Education Review. We expect it to be published sometime in the next six months.

The article offers a novel philosophical analysis of differing views on the notion of decolonization and how it can be applied to music education, or what is called “musical arts” education in much of Africa (since there it often entails the integration of singing, drumming, dancing, story-telling, and other practices).

Erisa Walubo is now revising what promises to be a strong PhD dissertation on Indigenous music and dance practices in Ugandan education, and has other interesting research articles in various stages of writing. Our collaboration, and Erisa’s doctoral studies, are sponsored by the CABUTE project, which also has many other publications under development, including by our postdoctoral researchers in music education James Isabirye and Milton Wabyona.

We eagerly look forward to seeing what the entire team will accomplish through the CABUTE project and the long-term impacts that their work will have for the improvement of education in Uganda.

Congratulations to Erisa and the entire CABUTE team!

8/10/25

Keynote Speech in China

I look forward to giving a keynote speech on Music Diplomacy for a major event in September 2025 at the Hong Kong Palace Museum. Some of my favorite music scholars will be there.

Click HERE for details.

8/6/25

Fieldwork Begins in Sapmi

It is exciting to be visiting Sapmi, the Sami homeland in the far north of the Nordic countries, for research on the Sami joik and singing practices. The Sapmi Singing Map project is probably the largest research project ever on Sami singing, involving a team of researchers (interdisciplinary, both Sami and non-Sami) across the next four years, with the purpose of not only documenting the joik but also developing research-based and culturally appropriate educational resources.

As part of the first phase of fieldwork, the team is visiting Kautokeino, Maze, and Øksfjord to interview and film notable joikers from diverse localities and generations. Yesterday we also crossed the Finnish border, filming the local nature and wildlife to help show the context of this heritage. There will be several more visits across the coming years, in different seasons, to help us better understand how to meaningfully describe this remarkable land and its unique people.

7/27/25

Hong Kong Summer School 2025

Five PhD students and postdoctoral researchers are now accompanying me to participate in the 2025 International Postgraduate Roundtable cum Summer School (IPRRFSS) hosted by the Graduate School, Education University of Hong Kong.

Established in 2011, the IPRRFSS offers an array of interdisciplinary research presentations in various formats. This is my second time to participate.

The 2025 theme is “Interdisciplinary Frontiers: Exploring Mind, Language and Environment for a Sustainable Future” and keynote speakers include psychologist Tatia Lee, linguist Xiaofei Lu, social psychologist Ying-yi Hong, educationist Marcus Pietsch, and other renowned scholars. I will be performing some music for the event's Gala Dinner along with EdUHK pianist Philbert Li (links to some of our previous performances are HERE and HERE).

We look forward to seeing the outcomes from this exciting event which is likely to inspire the young scholars who come to IPRRFSS from many different countries.

Below is a video from the 2024 IPRRFSS …

Image source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong#/media/File:Kowloon_Panorama_by_Ryan_Cheng_2010.jpg

More recordings are available HERE.

7/21/25

ISME Board in Montreal

Montreal is one of the largest cities in North America, with a diverse and vibrant arts scene. Above is a photo of downtown Montreal that I took shortly after arriving here.

It is a pleasure to be visiting Montreal for a board meeting of the International Society for Music Education (ISME), held here since we plan to hold the 37^th ISME World Conference in Montreal in one year: 26-31 July 2026.

The deadline to propose presentations for ISME 2026 is coming very soon!

Here is the conference website: https://www.ismeworldconference.org/isme26

Welcome to Sociomusicology

For nearly 20 years (since 2007), this website has offered musings on contemporary society and its music by David G. Hebert, PhD. He is a sociomusicologist specializing in global music education who has held academic positions with universities on five continents. Dr. Hebert is now a tenured full Professor with Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen. There he leads the Grieg Academy Music Education (GAME) research group and manages the multinational government-funded Nordic Network for Music Education, which organizes annual intensive Master courses and exchange of teachers and students across eight countries. He is also an Affiliated Professor with both University of the Faroe Islands and Kyambogo University (Uganda), and an Honorary Professor in China with the Education University of Hong Kong.

Professor Hebert's research applies an international-comparative perspective to issues of pluralism, identity, and cultural relevance in music education, as well as processes by which new music traditions emerge and change - both sonically and socially - as they are adopted into institutions. Born in the 1970s, he is among the most widely-published and globally-active music scholars of his generation (h-index:21), with professional activities in an average of 8 countries per year across the past decade (2008-2020).