The impact of digital economy on Christian sacred musicology in Nigeria

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine how the prevailing digital economy has affected Christian sacred musicology in Nigeria in terms of pedagogy, research opportunities, methodology, administration, quality, publishing and marketing, with a view to assessing the impact and determine its implications. While the application of digital economy, occasioned by digital technology, has become global in the academia, its positive and negative impact on Christian sacred musicology as a field is yet to given adequate attention. Hinged on the Continuity and Change Theory, the paper relied on, bibliographic data, the Internet and insiders’ observation, all subjected to content analytical methods for determination and drawing of inferences. Findings revealed that digital economy is ambivalent to Christian sacred musicology; being a blessing on the one hand, and a curse on the other; as a substantial portion of today's Christian music pedagogy and research is digitalized and ‘internetted’. In addition, Christian music researchers on the digital space have to adjust to a new condition, as they are unable to capture the rural areas during fieldworks, especially due to paucity of funds and limitations in online transfer of funds. Consequently, Christian sacred musicological research faces some challenges because of the digital trends. It was also discovered that digital economy has further widened the already existing gap between the elite and non-elite, the rich and the poor, and between the Christians who reside in urban and the rural spaces such that the researcher of Christian music faces the need to master different digital spaces vis-à-vis the appropriate methods. The paper concluded that digital economy is more of a curse than a blessing to Christian sacred musicology and recommended a mitigation with analogue economy for all-inclusiveness and reliability purposes.