Make Music Matter

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

How is live music being reshaped in a platform-driven economy?

This book explores the transformation of concerts through the rise of Sofar Sounds, a global startup staging intimate "secret shows" in more than 400 cities worldwide.

Drawing on ethnographic research in Paris, Geneva and London, Riom takes readers behind the scenes of a rapidly changing cultural industry. He shows how live music is being recomposed through new forms of performance, audience curation, monetization and cultural labour, emerge from platform logics and venture capital investment.

Bringing together insights from market studies, STS and cultural sociology, this book reveals how digitalization is not only technological but also organizational, remaking how music is produced, experienced and valued.