Views from the boundaries

Abstract

This article explores how Norwegian record label managers understand their current positions and future possibilities in a market that is increasingly driven by on-demand subscription-based streaming. It adds to a growing body of research by adopting a qualitative approach, seeking to describe issues at a personal or company level, and provide nuance and dynamics in a discourse that is often described in dichotomies and on aggregate levels. The article argues that stakeholders have more varied attitudes than simply being for or against the innovation, the new economic models and their eff ects on their own business, and the market in general. It also demonstrates that perceptions change as markets develop, and stakeholders and their businesses adjust. The article uses four in-depth interviews to assess a 2013 government-initiated project, and provides insights into differing positions and changes over time.

Affective Landscapes, Scenes, and Arrangements

“…Social-media appearance and playlist optimization condition artists' reach (Baym 2018, Morgan 2022, Prey 2021. Even agents who are resolutely local in their interests and engagements may feel pressured by platformization and other digital-distributive logics (Nordgård 2021). Ample research documents these developments in terms of shifting commercial and mediational conditions in the 'new music industries' (Hughes et al 2016, Morris 2015, Wikström 2020) and other areas of music culture (Johansson et al 2017, Nowak and Bennett 2022, Prior 2018.…”