Monetizing Amateurs. Artistic Critique, New Online Record Production and Neoliberal Conjuncture

• Main Author: Juho Tuomas Kaitajärvi-Tiekso
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Linköping University Electronic Press 2020-11-01
• Series: Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research
• Subjects: new music economy, conjunctural analysis, micro-labels, artistic critique, neoliberalism.
• Online Access: https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/894

This article examines the “new amateur music economy” as an emerging academic discourse. This represents amateur musicians and producers—with access to new digital production and communication tools—as entrepreneurial, aspiring professionals. The article then connects the discourse with its political, economic, and social context—or the neoliberal conjuncture. From the critical standpoint of conjunctural analysis it takes note of the albeit uneven nature of this neoliberalisation when it comes to the case of “independent micro-labels” in Finland who are seen to be maintaining the artistic critique of capitalism, as outlined by Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello. While the latter suggest that this critique has been, for all intents and purposes, assimilated into capitalism; the case of Finnish micro-labels would seem to repudiate the prevailing neoliberal notions of utilitarian music-making in the new amateur music economy discourse. This being said, the article does consider that it might be necessary for them to revise aspects of their critique if they want it to remain relevant in the new digital communication environment.