Aram Sinnreich
author | musician | professor
Dr. Aram Sinnreich is a media professor, author, and musician. Originally from Brooklyn NYC, he currently lives with his wife and musical partner Dunia Best in the Washington, DC area.
Sinnreich is a Full Professor at American University's School of Communication, where he currently serves as Graduate Director. His work there focuses on the intersection of technology, law, and culture, with an emphasis on subjects such as music, data surveillance, and copyright.
As an author, Sinnreich has published four nonfiction books on themes related to his research, including music, law, and technology. As a novelist, he collaborates with his sister, Rachel Hope Cleves, using the shared pseudonym R.A. Sinn. He has also written articles for outlets including The New York Times, Wired, Billboard, The Daily Beast, Time Magazine, and Rolling Stone.
As a musician, Sinnreich plays bass, percussion, and guitar. As a composer in styles such as jazz, reggae, and soul, he has been a finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition and for the Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Award. His song "It's Never Easy, Si," performed with his group Dunia & Aram, reached #2 on the World Independent Music radio charts in 2023.
I have published five books and more than a hundred articles for a range of academic, trade, and popular presses. For a full list of my scholarly works, see my Google Scholar profile.
Music
I have been a professional bassist, guitarist, songwriter, and producer since the 1990s, collaborating with notable artists across a range of styles including Ari-Up, Vivien Goldman, Cheick Hamala Diabate, Hans Nieswandt, The Specialized Project, and Dunia Best, as well as co-founding my own groups Brave New Girl, Dubistry, and Dunia & Aram, and producing recent community-based music projects Out of Our Shells and Out of Our Cells.
