Musical Taste and the Creation of Place-Dependent Capital: Manchester and the Indie Music Field

Abstract

Drawing on qualitative interviews with indie music fans in Manchester, UK, we explore how experiences in the indie music field inform spatial and place-specific understandings of musical taste. Inspired by Bourdieu’s sociology of taste, the concept of place-dependent capital incorporates the interplay of the experiential dimensions of taste, and the overall structures in which they are embedded. We develop our findings into three themes, which allow us to highlight the diversity of ways in which our participants create place-dependent capital: exploring the taste of place; dwelling in place; and creating a sense of place. We propose the usefulness of place-dependent capital as an alternative theoretical tool, which acknowledges both structural and experiential dimensions of musical taste, allowing us to demonstrate the situatedness of indie music fans’ tastes.

The Möbius strip of market spatiality: mobilizing transdisciplinary dialogues between CCT and the marketing mainstream

“…Skandalis et al (2018) explored similar dynamics in their multi-sited ethnography of how places contribute to the formation of taste in relation to music consumption. Comparing classical music venues with indie festivals, their study demonstrates how music consumers emplace themselves by discerning the implicit rules of the musical places and acting appropriately (see also Skandalis et al, 2017;Skandalis et al, 2020). To provide another example from the CCT literature, Hoeslcher and Chatzidakis (2020) note how digital technologies now allow ethical consumers to escape physical restraints and expand their activities, but also stress how face-to-face activities continue to add value and vitality to their communities, necessitating regular emplacements of ethical consumption.…”

Spatial taste formation as a place marketing tool: the case of live music consumption

“…For example, Connell and Gibson (2003) have previously explored the interrelationships between music, identity and place and aimed to uncover the diverse meanings of music in a wide range of local contexts, scenes, and places. Such places can be approached and understood as platforms of action upon which musical tastes are shared and performed (Hennion, 2001;Thornton, 1996;Skandalis et al, 2016c).…”

“…Accordingly, the strong and diverse musical heritage of certain cities such as Liverpool or Manchester can be utilised in order to orchestrate the design of urban landscapes which will be aesthetically oriented towards specific music fields and tastes. A good example is Manchester's Northern Quarter, a thriving cultural and creative hub in the city centre, which is aligned with the independent music industry and the indie music field (Skandalis et al, 2016c). Manchester has recently received more than £200m in cultural investment to fund the development of initiatives such as the HOME centre for international contemporary art or the Factory arts centre, yet large investments such as these can often be at the expense of smaller locally oriented arts projects (Walmsley, 2017).…”

“…Research could potentially explore how aesthetic value is cocreated in musical spaces and may inform the development of effective place marketing strategies. For example, in an ongoing study we aim to capture how individuals accumulate place-dependent capital in the indie music field via their aesthetic experiences in a diverse range of musical spaces in Manchester (Skandalis et al, 2016c). The spatial attractiveness of various live music venues in Manchester is ultimately grounded in the historical antecedents of the indie music field in Manchester (see Robb 2009); from the early sounds of bands such as Joy Division, New Order, and The Smiths to the tunes of the Madchester era and the existence of local record labels and live music venues such as Factory Records and The Haçienda nightclub (Halfacree and Kitchin, 1996).…”

“…For example, Connell and Gibson (2003) have previously explored the interrelationships between music, identity and place and aimed to uncover the diverse meanings of music in a wide range of local contexts, scenes and places. Such places can be approached and understood as platforms of action upon which musical tastes are shared and performed (Hennion, 2001; Thornton, 1996; Skandalis et al ., 2016c). We argue that the study of the interrelationships between place and taste has the potential to shape and orchestrate future place marketing strategies; we illustrate this through the development of several examples in the following section.…”