ANALYSIS OF ISLAMIC CONTENT BEING STREAMED ON DIGITAL MUSIC PLATFORMS


Thesis Type: Doctorate

Institution Of The Thesis: Marmara University, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Islamic History and Arts, Turkey

Approval Date: 2022

Thesis Language: Turkish

Student: AGAH TERZİ

Supervisor: Mehmet Safa Yeprem

Abstract:

This research has been conducted to gain detailed information about islamic music pieces being streamed on digital music platforms. With this study, we aim that listeners gain access to more qualitative works by helping music creators to make more noteworthy pieces reaching larger masses. 1,000 pieces performed by a total of 200 performers, 100 of which are from Turkey and 100 from abroad, were selected as samples. Along with Spotify and YouTube data of these pieces, other information (demographic data, lyrics, etc.) was obtained from the web. The collected findings were transferred to an Excel worksheet and analyzed and compared. The results are as follows: It has been observed that the most common type of performance in Turkish and foreign performers is solo performances, and foreign performers prefer solo performances more than Turkish-origin performers. These results were evaluated as foreign-origin performers did not favor the use of instruments. It was determined that the common universal language in the pieces we examined, other than the local language, is Arabic and Arabic lyrics are used more in the pieces of foreign performers than in the pieces of performers from Turkey. In the sector, only one firm that is a producer in the global sense has been identified, and it has been determined that the producers generally carry out regional and local works. In addition, it has been observed that direct sharing of music pieces by the performers without a producer on digital platforms has become widespread. According to the listening and viewing figures, YouTube was seen to be used much more than Spotify, and this was interpreted as the fact that visual sharing was preferred more alongside the music. In YouTube videos, it has been seen that foreign performers usually share video clips, while performers from Turkey share photos (album cover, performer photo, etc.).