Music Making Under Platformization

With the rise of streaming platforms, increasing algorithmic governance and novel forms of data-driven distribution, the music industry's' economical and organizational structure is profoundly disrupted. While academia has focused on the macro-level effects of platformization, fewer studies have explored how these transformations are experienced at the micro-level, by independent artists, specifically in less popular music scenes. This thesis aims to address this gab by asking How does the platformization of the music industry impact the cultural production process of independent artists? To answer this, we followed qualitative methods grounded in media and cultural studies, based on semi-structured interviews. Twelve independent artists from Lille were interviewed, and their narratives thematically analysed. The theoretical framework draws on scholarship on platform capitalism, algorithmic governance, and cultural labour, offering a critical lens in order to examine the tensions between autonomy, creativity, and economic precarity in the digital music economy. Five key themes were uncovered from the data: 1. independence as a double-edged condition; 2. algorithmic logics and strategic navigation; 3. varied creative practices shaped by both solitude and collaboration; 4. affective and psychological pressures; and 5. the continuing importance of locality and regional infrastructures. The findings highlight that platformization not only democratizes access to cultural production, but also reconfigures artistic and creative labour, embedding them in systems of visibility, datafication, entrepreneurship and exploitation. While artists develop creative and strategic tactics to cope and survive, their agency and autonomy remains limited or constrained by broader logics of platform capitalism. This study underscores the need for better structural support, more inclusive policies, increased dialogues between creative workers and industry stakeholders, as well as future research into underexplored aspects such as the mental health impacts of independent music making under a platformized music industry.