Hip-hop music producers’ labour in the digital music economy: Self-promotion, social media and platform gatekeeping

Abstract

There has been much debate concerning the changing nature of cultural production and distribution in the digital creative economy. Music production work has been especially affected by promotional conventions established by social media and music streaming platforms. This article critically builds atop perspectives on the platformisation of cultural production to investigate how independent hip-hop music producers develop their careers in the era of digital media platforms. It examines how traditional media and digital platform gatekeepers affect producers’ abilities to professionalise, promote creative work to audiences and manage precarious conditions for their labour. Insights from interviews with 15 producers from 8 countries are analysed and discussed to provide a nuanced view of the conditions for music production careers in the platform era of the digital creative industries.