From November 7–9, 2024, the University of Zurich hosted the 6th IASPM D-A-CH Conference, titled Metadata, Meta Information: Popular Music and its Metamorphoses. This biennial gathering, organized by the German-speaking branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, brings together scholars, artists, and practitioners to explore contemporary developments in popular music studies. With a focus on “metadata” and the broader concept of “meta,” the 2024 conference aimed to investigate the socio-technical systems shaping popular music, particularly through the lens of digital systems and cultural interpretation. Metadata, originally an IT concept, now permeates discussions in popular music, especially with the rise of streaming platforms and recommendation algorithms.

The conference was also attended by Jernej Kaluža, a member of the MEMPOP team, who presented research conducted with Robert Bobnič, titled The Structure of Mainstream on Slovenian Radio Stations (and Digital Platforms). In his presentation, based on data analysis of radio playlists collected by the Slovenian collective organizations SAZAS and IPF (representing copyright holders), Kaluža emphasized, among other things, the role of the memorial dimension of regional popular music and its nostalgic function in the everyday lives of audiences.

Of even greater significance to our project was the presentation of an initiative for a new branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, introduced by Jernej Kaluža and Bernhard Steinbrecher, a popular music scholar at the University of Innsbruck. This new branch will cover the broader regions of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe and will be registered in Slovenia, with our team (Natalija Majsova, Robert Bobnič, Peter Stanković, and Jasmina Šepetavc) playing an instrumental role in its establishment.

One of the origins of this new branch initiative can be linked to the conference How Does “Your” Music Sound? Belonging, Communities, and Identities in Popular Music across Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, organized in Ljubljana in November 2023 by the Centre for Cultural and Religious Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences. This event was co-funded by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS) as part of the basic research project “Slovenian Folk-Pop as Politics: Perceptions, Receptions, and Identities” (led by Peter Stanković).

The conference represented a milestone for the IASPM network in Central and Eastern Europe, marking a new chapter in efforts to establish a dedicated branch for the region—a goal that has seen multiple attempts and setbacks over recent years. The conference hosted a roundtable titled Popular Music Studies in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe: Key Themes, Methodological Approaches, Institutional Problems, and Good Practices, which provided scholars with an opportunity to exchange perspectives on popular music’s evolving role in the region and explore ways in which IASPM could strengthen transnational collaborations.

This roundtable was one of the (many) steps that led to the successful launch of the new IASPM CESE (IASPM Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe) branch in February 2024, providing an essential platform for scholars to connect across borders and engage in collaborative research projects. The executive board members of the branch include Maciej Smołka from Poland (President), Aleš Opekar from the Czech Republic (Secretary), Bojana Radovanović from Serbia (Social Media and Website Manager), and Jernej Kaluža (Treasurer).

The first international conference of the branch is set to take place in September 2025 in Krakow, Poland—stay tuned for more details!