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Conceptualizing curation in the age of abundance: the case of recorded music

Conceptualizing curation in the age of abundance: the case of recorded music
Conceptualizing curation in the age of abundance: the case of recorded music
The contemporary marketplace for cultural products, such as music, fashion and film, features an abundance of goods, services and experiences. While producers struggle to differentiate and monetize their offerings, some consumers are overwhelmed by the amount of choice and information available to them. As a result, many consumers are turning to a range of intermediaries who help them make sense of the marketplace. While intermediation is nothing new, its value is increasing and there has been a shift in relative importance from those who create products to those who curate products. As curation remains a ‘fuzzy concept’ – with definitions and connotations that vary by industry and occupation – this paper aims to contribute to existing conceptualisations by focussing on the case of recorded music. Based on interviews and observation with a subset of curators, including record shops and music writers, the paper provides a typology of curation-related activities and highlights the range of economic and non-economic rewards that motivate different actors to perform curation. It also interrogates the importance and role of space by identifying physical, temporary and virtual spaces where curation is performed and relationships between specific spatial dynamics and curation-related processes.
Curation; Music; Spatial Dynamics; Motivations; Sweden
0308-518X
1602-1625
Jansson, Johan
28ce95a2-c64f-4fae-8115-6a0c80dd4eec
Hracs, Brian
ab1df99d-bb99-4770-9ea1-b9d654a284dc
Jansson, Johan
28ce95a2-c64f-4fae-8115-6a0c80dd4eec
Hracs, Brian
ab1df99d-bb99-4770-9ea1-b9d654a284dc

Jansson, Johan and Hracs, Brian (2018) Conceptualizing curation in the age of abundance: the case of recorded music. Environment and Planning A, 50 (8), 1602-1625. (doi:10.1177/0308518X18777497).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The contemporary marketplace for cultural products, such as music, fashion and film, features an abundance of goods, services and experiences. While producers struggle to differentiate and monetize their offerings, some consumers are overwhelmed by the amount of choice and information available to them. As a result, many consumers are turning to a range of intermediaries who help them make sense of the marketplace. While intermediation is nothing new, its value is increasing and there has been a shift in relative importance from those who create products to those who curate products. As curation remains a ‘fuzzy concept’ – with definitions and connotations that vary by industry and occupation – this paper aims to contribute to existing conceptualisations by focussing on the case of recorded music. Based on interviews and observation with a subset of curators, including record shops and music writers, the paper provides a typology of curation-related activities and highlights the range of economic and non-economic rewards that motivate different actors to perform curation. It also interrogates the importance and role of space by identifying physical, temporary and virtual spaces where curation is performed and relationships between specific spatial dynamics and curation-related processes.

Text
Conceptualising curation in the age of abundance - the case or recorded music (Accepted manuscript) - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 24 March 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 21 June 2018
Published date: 1 November 2018
Keywords: Curation; Music; Spatial Dynamics; Motivations; Sweden

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 420170
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/420170
ISSN: 0308-518X
PURE UUID: 64335804-aedf-42e5-8e0e-50fccc14cb6f
ORCID for Brian Hracs: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1001-6877

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Date deposited: 30 Apr 2018 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:19

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Contributors

Author: Johan Jansson
Author: Brian Hracs ORCID iD

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