‘Press play for pride’: The cultural logics of LGBTQ-themed playlists on Spotify

Abstract

This article explores the cultural practice of creating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ)-themed playlists on music streaming services. It aims to understand how LGBTQ identities and cultures are represented and negotiated through the use of, and shaped by, digital media platforms. Through the textual analysis of 37 LGBTQ-themed Spotify playlists, we identified four cultural logics that structure the practice of playlist curation, each of which demonstrates the significance of music consumption to individual identity work and collective belonging. We conclude that the practice of playlist curation engages with LGBTQ culture in three productive ways: first, the curators contribute to a library of libraries by sharing their diverse perspectives on what constitutes LGBTQ music culture; second, the Spotify platform engages in community-building through enabling the sharing of tastes, pleasures, and experiences; and third, the curation of playlists brings diverse identity politics to the table, resulting in playlists that are politically queer, heteronormative, or ideologically ambiguous.

Identities and Intimacies on Social Media

“…Regardless of their curational origins, through the playlists, "Spotify not only co-constructs individual tastes, but also -given its widespread cultural influence -arguably contributes to the reshaping or invention of musical canons for particular styles and genres" (Dhaenens & Burgess, 2019, p. 1195. When users make use of the Spotify search bar or the many preselected genre and mood categories to get acquainted with new genres (e.g., 'deep house', 'pride'), and listen to the playlists presented, the music included will naturally come to represent and define these genres.…”

“…Since social media algorithms "measure popularity at the same time and by the same means as [they try] to influence or manipulate these rankings" (Van Dijck & Poell, 2013, p. 7), this means that a dominant interpretation might be presented more prominently, and thus become increasingly dominant. With respect to LGBTQ music cultures, Dhaenens and Burgess (2019) found that Spotify is "returning the user inexorably time and again to -and thereby reinforcing -a canon of Western-centric LGBTQ music culture" (p. 1208).…”

Liking as taste making: Social media practices as generators of aesthetic valuation and distinction

“…Bourdieu’s analysis of taste and distinction has since become one of the most-applied concepts for analyzing digital cultures and observing media practices, such as the production and circulation of Internet memes as means of social distinction (Gal et al, 2016; Katz and Shifman, 2017; Literat and Van Den Berg, 2019; Milner, 2016; Nissenbaum and Shifman, 2017; Segev et al, 2015; Vickery, 2014). While some studies highlight that existing social stratifications are transferred and sometimes reinforced on social media (Lindell, 2018; Mihelj et al, 2019; Reiss and Tsvetkova, 2019), others point out that novel artifacts of distinction are created through social media platforms (Dhaenens and Burgess, 2019; Nissenbaum and Shifman, 2017). A third perspective shows that social media users might develop appraisals that differ substantially from given cultural hierarchies (Alexander et al, 2018).…”

“…Recent studies of social media revolve around issues of taste online (cf. Dhaenens and Burgess, 2019; Literat and Van Den Berg, 2019; Schonig, 2020). We think this is no coincidence and that it points to the importance of taste as a social and aesthetic phenomenon that is central for social media practices in general.…”

An Undetectable Work-Ethic: Design Activism’s Detour into Subcultures of Queer Disability and Innovation.

“…When connecting back into the context of LGBTQ youth, digital spaces become arena and site for engaged consumer discourse, LGBTQ youth are discovering themselves and their politics in digital spaces (Gray, 2009;Middaugh, Bowyer, & Kahne, 2017) and in some cases, through music playlists and pornography (Harper et al, 2016;Dhaenens & Burgess, 2018;Aronoff & Gilboa, 2015). Digital spaces become an important form of access because they allow communities to grow, connect and discover one another.…”