Abstract
In this paper, we take three researchers from different parts of the globe and experiment with long-distance songwriting through a sociological and organizational lens. During this process, we combine production expertise and facilities into a networked recording studio environment with expanded toolsets centred on songwriting production. We investigate a new flow concept that we name transnational flow (TNF). This flow state exists as a form of non-synchronic group flow somewhere between Csikszentmihalyi’s (1995) individualist flow theory and Sawyer’s (2007) group flow theory. The paper investigates the difficulties of managing multiple flow states in a complex organizational network between Australia and North America. We use Karl Weick’s Sensemaking (1995) and Jazz metaphor (1998) theories to form an organizational framework that enables the creative flow process to occur over a complex network with a time difference of seven hours.
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