Over the course of the last twenty years, cultural industries, including live music, have gained importance within urban development policies with the rise of the concepts of the creative city and the creative class. Nonetheless, during this period, more and more small live music venues have been gradually descending into precariousness with gentrification, tightening noise regulations and other reasons forcing many of them to close down. This research aims to connect the study of live music to a broader creative city development discussion by investigating the importance of small live music venues and events for networking of music industry practitioners. By studying this issue, this research strives to highlight the vital role that small live music venues and events play in the cultural life of cities. The study was conducted in Rotterdam in the spring of 2020 using the means of semi-structured in-depth interviews. Drawing on the notion of social capital of Pierre Bourdieu and James Coleman and the concept of Live Music Ecology of Frith et. al this research investigates the mechanisms of social capital formation and the importance of this resource for bookers and musicians in Rotterdam. As this study shows, both groups consider networking as a crucial practice to succeed in the industry. However, due to the hierarchical structure of the live music field, where event organisers have the power to decide who, where and when gets to play, it appeared to be easier to mobilize and utilize social capital for bookers, rather than for musicians. It leaves musicians in a subordinate position, who, consequently, still rely mainly on self-promotion and not on their networks to advance their careers. Nonetheless, small venues and events play a crucial role in the formation of networks and milieus of the live music industry practitioners. These milieus, in turn, allow for more collaborations to happen and for more events to be organised, which contributes to the cultural output of the city further enhancing the development of Rotterdam as a creative hub.

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Euwe, J.
hdl.handle.net/2105/54479
Global Markets, Local Creativities (GLOCAL)
Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication

Shapiro, Efim. (2020, August 30). Small Venues as Networking Nodes: Live Music in the Context of Creative City Development. Global Markets, Local Creativities (GLOCAL). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2105/54479