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Why isn’t there an Uber for live music? The digitalisation of intermediaries and the limits of the platform economy

Bibliographic Data

ID9744244
AuthorsDario Azzellini (0000-0002-1760-0067, Cornell University Ithaca New York USA), Ian Greer (0000-0002-4441-4999, Cornell University Ithaca New York USA), Charles Umney (0000-0001-5757-920X, University of Leeds Leeds UK, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume37
Issue1
Pages1-23
Publication date2022-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Technology Work and Employment (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0268-1072 • E-ISSN: 1468-005X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ntwe.12213
OpenAlexW3200545985
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited33

Online platforms have disrupted parts of the capitalist economy, but assessing the magnitude of this effect is difficult. Much is known about major platforms, but less about the conditions under which they take over—or fail to take over—a given market. Unlike explanations emphasising slow take‐up by entrepreneurs or worker resistance, we argue that historical and organisational characteristics of markets make them resistant to the platform model. In Germany and the UK, intermediaries have digitalised to varying degrees. Three market characteristics have combined to limit ‘platformisation’: (1) irreducibly qualitative assessments of value; (2) the complexity and contingencies inherent in the task that resist unbundling (3) fragmentation of the organisational field. Hence we show how the dynamics of work in live music limit the traction of the platform model. However, partial and hybrid forms of digitalisation still contribute towards intensified discipline over live music workers, threatening pay and working conditions

Business · Disintermediation · Economics · Economy · Industrial organization · Intermediary · Market economy · Music industry · Sociology · Unbundling · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Engineering · Innovation, Technology, and Society · Sharing Economy and Platforms · Marketing

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Unique citing works9
Citations per year3
Citation span2023 - 2026 (4)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 9
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