Event: Independent Music in Latin America: Scenes, Labels, Connections and Infrastructures, IASPM International Research Seminar Series, 22.09.2026
Independent Music in Latin America: Scenes, Labels, Connections and Infrastructures
Tuesday, 22 September 2026, 9pm UTC
Approx. 90 minutes
Language: English, with translated captions
About the session
Much of the established literature on independent music has been shaped by Anglo-American scenes. This round table asks how well those models travel when applied to Latin American contexts, where the institutional, economic and infrastructural conditions of music-making may differ considerably.
Bringing together researchers working on Argentina, Colombia and Chile, the discussion will consider how independent music is sustained through labels, archives, platforms and informal networks, as well as the material pressures and forms of labour involved in maintaining these scenes.
Format
This session will take the form of an online round table. The moderator will introduce a series of questions, and the panellists will respond to one another, develop points collectively and, where useful, disagree.
The discussion will move through three broad themes:
Independence as an imported concept — examining where dominant Anglo-American models of independent music begin to break down when applied to Latin American cases.
Infrastructures — asking how labels, venues, archives, platforms and other infrastructures are built and sustained within Latin American independent music scenes.
The cost of independence — examining unpaid labour, financial precarity, displacement and other material costs associated with independent music-making.
Audience questions will be included in the final part of the session.
The main language of the round table will be English, although panellists may occasionally respond in Spanish where appropriate. IASPM will provide live translated captions, allowing audience members to select subtitle translation on their own Zoom client.
Panellists
Agustina Checa
Assistant Professor of Music, Lehman College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York
Nathaly Gómez Gómez
Postdoctoral Researcher, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Xochimilco
Ornela Boix
CONICET and Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Sebastián Muñoz-Tapia
Sociologist and PhD in Anthropology, Universidad Alberto Hurtado and Núcleo Milenio CMUS
Moderator: Luiz Alberto Moura
Independent researcher based in Lisbon, working on precarity, sustainability and professionalisation in Latin American independent music scenes
Time
Tuesday, 22 September 2026
9:00 PM UTC
10:00 PM Lisbon (WEST)
6:00 PM Argentina (ART)
5:00 PM New York (EDT) / Chile (CLT)
3:00 PM Mexico City (CDT) / Colombia (COT)
How to Join
The seminar is free and open to the global academic community and public.
Meeting ID: 814 6885 6881
Passcode: 950338