Sound as a Luxury Product

• Audiophile Culture & Exclusivity: The fetishization of high-end gear (vinyl, tube amps, lossless audio).
• Spatial Audio & Immersive Experiences: Apple Music’s Dolby Atmos vs. experimental sound art installations.
• Sound Sculptures as Status Symbols: Artists like Harry Bertoia or Pan Sonic creating sound objects for elite collectors.

‘Holly+’, Holly Herndon

Holly Herndon Launches DAO-Controlled Vocal Deepfake Platform ‘Holly+’, an online instrument that channels audio files through a digital model of her own voice.

Upload a file, and a glitched-out version of Herndon will sing it back to you. In a statement, Herndon has described the project as a kind of vocal deepfake.

‘Bourdieu’s Distinction’, Pierre Bourdieu

In the course of everyday life we constantly choose between what we find aesthetically pleasing, and what we consider tacky, merely trendy, or ugly. Taste is not pure. Bourdieu demonstrates that our different aesthetic choices are all distinctions – that is, choices made in opposition to those made by other classes.

The Absurd & Satirical Sound Art

• Anti-Functional Sound