Why does everyone listen to ambient music? It dawned on me early last year that a number of very different people, from very different backgrounds and of very different ages and social classes, are surprisingly united these days by their love of listening to at least one genre of ambient music. Whether at work or during yoga, while commuting or relaxing at the weekend or in the evening, as temporary calming agent to horrific ecocide and societies slipping mindlessly into fascism, or simply as a wholesome listening experience: ambient music seems to be one of the hidden champions these days.

I asked myself: Why does this genre have a kind of ubiquitous majority appeal in the 2020s? How do all the ways of producing, distributing and consuming ambient music relate to each other? Are new practices of production, distribution and consumption emerging? Which of these practices are particularly relevant across the planet, especially in the global south?

Together with Ulrik Schmidt, who has written a fascinating “Philosophy of Ambient Sound” (2023), we invite all practitioners and researchers, composers and scholars, producers and thinkers to join us in this endeavour to understand better how the genre of ambient music actually functions in this century?

With a deadline of June 1st, 2025, 12pm CEST we ask you to propose a presentation that could address, for example, one of the following areas

• local ambient music scenes all around the planet

• ambient music and digital streaming platforms

• the distribution of ambient music

• technologies for ambient music 

• mood regulation and affective control

• subgenres and hybrids (such as Dark Ambient, Lowercase Ambient, Witch House, Isolationist Ambient, Goblincore or?)

• ambient uses of music in architecture, art, design and film

• ambient music in social media and audiovisual media

You can propose either a research paper, an audio paper or an ambient music presentation.

From the 15th to the 17th of September 2026, the conference will be hosted by our partner, the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen.

Please see our full Call for Paper for details of presentation formats, deadlines and contact details:

THE AMBIENT MUSIC CONFERENCE — September 15-17, 2026 in Copenhagen.