Algorithms that listen for us. A brief history of the sound object and its stormy digital becoming

Abstract

This text presents a brief history of the technological tools that allowed sound to be captured and manipulated, until it culminated in its contemporary digital becoming. The objective of this essay is to expose some of the most important repercussions that have occurred in musical environments from the transformation of music and sound into digital objects. For this, we will expose some of the most striking phenomena that have arisen from the organization and homogenization trends that prevail in contemporary digital tools and in streaming platforms managed by corporations. Finally, some lines of flight are outlined that, in my opinion, allow us to think of routes of musical imaginaries that experiment from other perspectives with the digital becoming of music and sound.