Madison Archer-Morrison started their career as pianist and pedagogue at Wheaton College but soon wondered if they could combine their love of film and video game music with higher education. Or in other words, they want to carve out a space in academia for nerdy folks to talk about the nerdy music that inspires them. After a master's ethnomusicology thesis at Arizona State University on cultural representation in collaborative film soundtracks, Madison began their doctoral career at Ohio State University in musicology. With a specific focus in ludomusicology and ethnomusicology, Madison’s doctoral work examines themes of auto-ethnography, social music vernacular, cultural memory, collaborative composition, and decolonizing music research/education in and around the video game music (VGM) scene. As Madison observed VGM communities, they noticed a unique third space of collaboration between US and Japan-based VGM communities. Niche Japanese VGM is being re-recorded in America and small international record label companies are releasing new forms of sheet music, jazz real books, and chiptune recordings. The creative potential of this third space is the central driving force of Madison’s dissertation project. Through ethnographic podcast interviews of VGM cover artists, performers, and composers in Japan and the United States, Madison is creating a multimedia archive resource that is both academically rigorous as well as accessible and inclusive of the VGM scene and non-academic creative spaces.

 

Madison’s research is a culmination of their passion for breaking down barriers between music academia and wider music creative communities. Through collaborations with local Columbus non-profits, they have helped develop music programming that connects participants to musical creativity and participation in everyday life. With Tribe for Jazz, Madison’s Pixel Labs program is an educational unit for local schools that introduces students to various career paths in VGM development through hands-on music composition and technology. Madison has also spent many years teaching piano and music courses which has also shaped their enthusiasm for bridging gaps between academic and non-academic music spaces. They have also served on various student organizations during their academic career, such as the music student committee for Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Accountability (IDEA) at ASU and the 2025–2026 Treasurer of the Japanese Grad Student Organization at OSU. Madison has also presented original research at many conferences both domestic and international, such as the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM), The Midwest Graduate Music Consortium, and the Keep It Simple/Keep It Fun (KISMIF) Conference. In addition to continuing building the VGM podcast archive after completing their dissertation, Madison aims to teach music culture courses and continue collaborating with non-profit organizations in designing programs to further bridge academic research with everyday musical creativity.

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