Precarious Work and Cultural Production in the Portland, Oregon Music Scene

• In Event: 365 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Music and Taste

Abstract

The way in which cities attract cultural industries, according to the Rise of the Creative Class (Florida, 2002), is via creating the conditions conducive to the symbolic economy that “creatives” crave – namely art, indie music and culture, with their requisite modes of nostalgia, handicraft and enlightened urbanism. Only this hasn’t “worked” in the sense of a comprehensive economic engine; in Portland notably GDP per capita has risen successfully but Per Capita Income hasn’t; precarious contingent labor that produces rock, craft and cool, has driven growth and cutting edge consumption during the recent “jobless recovery.”
The type of capital indie producers accrue is social wealth, a currency transferrable in to deeper network ties, cooperation and use in the DIY mode of production. This grass roots practice carries the aura of authenticity, in both the identity of the actors doing it (Fine, 2003) and in the way in which history and geography are attended to, even if there is some ‘inventedness’ in the history(s) (Zukin, 2011). Importantly this valorization regime of culture is exceedingly becoming a model for cities to make claims about their candidacy as an aspirant city. In the city of Portland, in the wake of Portlandia, the hit TV show parodying the city, and the politically correct, well-informed consumers of the scene, how does a music scene survive the theming of its collective space? In addition, what is the agency potential for local music production in the new creative city?

Author

• Jeffrey R London, City University of New York-Graduate Center