Jim Kroezen | PlatforMuse
Jim Kroezen | PlatforMuse | University of Groningen, Centre for Media and Journalism Studies | Supervisor & promoter: dr. Robert Prey and prof. dr. Marianne Franklin | September 2023 – August 2028 | j.kroezen@rug.nl
PlatforMuse aims to investigate how online platforms shape—and are being shaped by—the
work of music artists. The project involves ethnographic fieldwork on the music industries of
three countries: The Netherlands, South Korea, and Nigeria. Digital platforms have become a
central part of contemporary capitalism and changed the way in which we produce and
consume culture. However, we still do not know much about how platforms change the actual
work conditions and creative practices of cultural producers. Different platforms vary in their
affordances and are embedded in varied and changing cultural, political, and economic
contexts. In focussing on the specificities and generalities of the three case studies we aim to
develop a truly global theory of the platformisation of music. My fieldwork will be on the
Dutch music landscape. The Netherlands has a high penetration rate of platforms. All major
platforms are foreign and owned by global tech companies, while most of the music content is
owned by record companies that are largely independent from the tech industry. Besides a
strong presence of the major record labels, there are many successful indie labels as well as
artists that release their music themselves, using a wide range of platforms to distribute their
work and connect with fans. By combining a wide range of methods, including participant
observation, interviews, walk-throughs, diary studies, and digital ethnography, the goal will
be to closely follow artists in a selected set of genres over time to investigate the challenges
and opportunities they face in a platformised music landscape; their work conditions and how
they vary for different groups of artists; and to trace the identities and platform practices that
emerge in their daily work as artists.
