In Dubious Battle
If we make a specific observation of DR DJ through the lens of imaginary media, we can sense the not-yet-actualized state of the application scattered around the current functionalities of the digital music platform /Diskoteket. The sophistication of this platform’s interrelated metadata, which results in an accumulation of information crossing the primary entities of the database, is to an extent the result of the conceptual development of DR DJ. The hyperlinked metadata create a vibrant interface that fertilizes /Diskoteket with non-actualized capacities that are fully real in their potentialities. In terms of user interface, /Diskoteket accentuates infrastructural workings meant for DR DJ. Regarded as imaginary media, DR DJ co-constituted /Diskoteket, just as /Diskoteket constitutes DR DJ as an imaginary presence of the digital music archive. As such, DR DJ is very much a part of the material practices of /Diskoteket.
The Department of the Music Archive continually implements elements that were to be the driving forces of the deserted concept of DR DJ, which, in my reading, works as a critique of the visions and choices put forth by the institutional structure of DR. To an extent, the digital music archive is the result of an institutional force field that strives for optimization and standardization, but its current manifestation is as much a result of dissatisfaction with the institutional line of music communication that submerged a potentially fruitful project. DR DJ offers a glimpse into a “what-if” situation of Danish music media culture, in which DR stretches its music archive into a continuum of a broadcasting-supporting role and a record collection reimagined. But, what if the “what-if” situation is actualized? As a service, DR DJ employs contemporary digital solutions in order to engage with alternative histories of recorded music. It stands out due to its public service purpose of accentuating alternative storylines and reimagining DR’s music archive for times of convenience and user-friendliness. It finds, as Zielinski says, something new in the old. It repurposes the epistemology of the music archive. It wants to tell lost stories hidden on dusty shelves, and it wants to shed light on marginalized histories within the collection.