Beyond the Beats

The nightlife of a city is often a very important contribution to the economy, tourism, social connection, and business climate. Previous studies have examined how value is created in (live) music venues in Rotterdam, therefore this research project focuses on how value is created in nightlife, by juxtaposing both experiences from frequent nightclub visitors and nightclub managers in terms of social, cultural, and economic value creation. The study examines different types of value creation and their aspects, and investigates how these forms of value are created and perceived within Rotterdam's nightlife scene. This is done by answering the research question: ‘How do club managers and frequent club visitors experience the economic and social-cultural value of the nightlife in Rotterdam?’. To answer this question, in-depth interviews with frequent visitors of nightclubs in Rotterdam and expert-interviews with club managers of nightclubs in Rotterdam were conducted, that covered aspects of the social, cultural, and economic value of nightlife. The data that was created through conducting these interviews, was properly analyzed and coded in order to extract themes that form the results of the study. The themes that emerged from the data were: cultural value, economic value, social value, inclusivity, motivations for clubbing, and innovation in nightlife. These themes extensively revealed and described what the nightlife of Rotterdam consists of, how the nightlife of Rotterdam is experienced by frequent club visitors and club managers, and what aspects of social, cultural, and economic value are important for both these units of analysis, and even more specifically, how these forms of value are created. Important findings of this study are about sub- cultures in nightlife and sub-cultures that visit certain nightclubs, the importance of development of musical taste in regard to nightclubs, how club managers think about programming and ticket pricing in relation to profit in contrast to the affordability of the nightlife for club visitors, socializing with people in nightlife, safety, inclusivity vs. exclusion, the identity development of visitors of nightlife, and the importance of governmental influences and audiences in nightlife for innovation in the nightlife sector. This study contributes to the understanding the importance of nightlife to the urban structure of the city of Rotterdam. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of nightlife to social connections, identity development, the feeling of connectedness between people, cultural development in many forms, and many more. Above all, it emphasizes how all forms of value that are examined are interconnected and therefore influence each other, both for club visitors as club managers.