Marketplace – Consumption tribes and collective performance

The identity construction is also shaped by the social context where individuals construct themselves; thus, self-presentation, as “the performance of an identity project in a social context,” is part of the definition of identity provided by Arnould and Thompson (2005). Social psychological approaches suggest that music has a fundamentally social function in the lives of individuals, arguing that music is essentially a social activity, something that we do and share with others (Macdonald et al., 2002). Setting aside the digital means to share music with others as a social activity, the consumption of live music still being one of the most significant parts of the music business nowadays. The assistance to concerts, festivals, operas, and in short, the participation in live music gatherings are a musical activity that remains booming. Music as a social activity in every day of individuals’ lives allows them to present and show part of their self-identities, creating bonds with others and feeling part of a community.

CCT studies address the Marketplace dimension providing research about the producer nature of the consumers, their interaction within cultural collectives, and their impact on the marketplace´s transformation. It can be assumed that streaming platforms are marketplace´s resources that allow the consumer to transform the music industry into a consumer-produced market. In that sense, Spotify or Youtube would work as another example of “a platform company supporting a community where producers and consumers collaborated to create value through complex interactions between commercial and social interests.” (Karababa & Scaraboto, 2018, p.158).

There is also interaction within a collective group. The user´s action of sharing music through the streaming platform could also be identified as a cultural collective (a group of people that share the same interest for music) where the individual would develop their identity.

31 3.2.2.1. Consumption tribes, sub-cultures, and scenes

CCT researches about marketplace cultures aim to understand the consumer motivations of creating

“cultural worlds” sharing consumption interests with others (Arnould and Thompson, 2012). In this process of shared consumption, consumers perform socio-cultural practices in which create value through the interaction with others. Consumers cannot be considered as individual actors of the consumption process but as social actors that performs consumption activities within a community.

One of the terms used to define these consumption communities is consumer tribes: “·a co-consuming, heterogeneous group (in terms of demographic characteristics) of people, inter-linked by the same subjectivity, the same passion, and capable of taking collective action, often short-lived but intense.”

(Arnould & Thompson, 2012, p.120-121). From a postmodern sociology perspective, people tend to structure their social life participating in different social micro-groups through which people can share common passions and experience emotional bonds. Individuals can belong to different tribes at the same time, and usually, the relevance of belonging to a tribe or another change according to different stages in individuals’ lives.

The term subculture tends to be also used to associate music and youth consumption, as explained by Bennet (1999). According to this author, the use of the term sub-culture, even if still being used by sociologist researches, leads to the imposition of rigidities and implies belonging to a dominant culture (Bennet, 1999). For that reason, he adopts the term neo-tribe, arguing that represents better the fluidity of the younger consumer cultures.

Furthermore, the term scene has increasingly been used in popular music studies, replacing the term subculture (Hesmondhalgh, 2005). The scene term refers to “contexts in which clusters of producers, musicians, and fans collectively share their common musical tastes and collectively distinguish themselves from others” (Bennett & Peterson, 2004, p. 3). In this case, there is a spatial connotation; when we talk about a musical scene, we refer to a particular location where the phenomenon is happening.

The development of these sociological concepts (tribes, subculture, and scene) reflects the interest to understand how music gathers people together. However, according to Hesmondhalgh (2005), some of these terms are more useful than others. For example, he mentions the term genre as a concept to be

32 considered when theorizing the relationship between social groups and musical styles, but the genre can not define by itself the social experience of the musical community.

Some of these concepts have been used to explain the commonalities of social groups gathered around a musical genre. These commonalities go beyond the characteristics of the genre, being social elements that identify that community, e.g., the clothes that they are wearing, their behavior, their attitude, their background. That makes relevant the concept of fandom to define the recognition of positive, personal, relatively deep, emotional connection with a mediated element of popular culture (Duffet, 2013, p. 2). These concepts are being used in social-cultural studies referring to popular culture and define phenomena more related to collective performance rather than the identification with the characteristics of a music style.

What about classical music then, does exist a neo-tribe or subculture in the same way that pop or rock culture?

3.2.2.2. The role of spaces: online vs. offline

The marketplace works as spaces where people can perform their identity projects. Identifying what the role of these spaces is, it would provide a better understanding of the construction of consumer identity.

The change in ways of consumption has led to a change in these spaces. If before big malls with hundreds of shops were trendy, nowadays, the digital spaces have gained ground in the performance of collective consumption practices (Arnould & Thompson, 2012)

In music consumption, there are different spaces where music consumers can develop their identities. In terms of offline spaces for the collective performance, spaces as concert halls, music venues, music festivals, live music bars, or discotheques are examples of places where people gather to share their music interests and perform their musical identities. For instance, some studies have highlighted the relevance of festivals as “spaces for the articulation, performance, and rediscovery of identity (Aitchison and Pritchard, 2007)”

(Bennett and Woodward, 2014, p. 11). These spaces allow experimentation with the identity beyond the more restricted framework of everyday life moments. Other spaces as musical venues, discos, or bars, are more involved in everyday life consumption but still offering a specific place where develop identities collectively. These statements are supported by Hesmondhalgh (2013), who points out that “gigs

33 themselves are important collective experiences, where people go to share the same aesthetic experiences together” (p.106). Classical music consumers make use of spaces like concert halls or theatres to experience their passion for classical music collectively.

It can be argued that, on the contrary, online spaces are more linked to everyday life moments.

Technological innovations, like the arrival of the Internet and social media platforms, have improved the interaction between consumers anytime and anywhere (Arnould & Thompson, 2012). According to Cova and Shankar (2012) online spaces are now tools that facilitate the individuals' participation in collective performance, no matter the geographic location: “As a result, tribes and other consumption collectives assume an even greater role in people’s lives and the digital domain becomes central for the process of learning about, and socialization and participation into, tribes.” (Arnould & Thompson, 2012, p. 120). As mentioned before, Belk (2013) argues that online spaces offer tools that facilitate sharing activities and the co-construction of identity with others. However, what makes a difference with offline spaces is the involvement that consumers have made of technological means in their everyday life consumption moments.