While the literature on music digital platforms has focused mainly on the consequences of production and consumption, few works have looked at platformization from the perspective of companies active in the music business. Drawing on an ethnographic inquiry of Sofar Sounds—a London-based company that organizes intimate and secret concerts in unconventional spaces—I introduce platform work to explore the kinds of practices in which platforms engage. I identify three operations in Sofar Sounds’ platform work: the incorporation of Sofar Sounds concerts into digital devices; its financing by venture capital (VCs) funds; and the activation and generification of its global community. In conclusion, I argue that being a platform involves organizational practices and that studying these practices shifts our attention beyond a few limited successful companies. I propose that light-tech capitalism accounts for this mundane and unsophisticated aspect of platform work.

中文翻译：

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成为“全球音乐平台”：轻科技资本主义中的平台工作


虽然有关音乐数字平台的文献主要关注生产和消费的后果，但很少有著作从活跃于音乐业务的公司的角度来看待平台化。根据对 Sofar Sounds（一家总部位于伦敦的公司，在非传统空间组织私密和秘密音乐会）的人种学调查，我介绍了平台工作，以探索平台参与的实践类型。我确定了Sofar Sounds平台工作中的三项操作：将Sofar Sounds音乐会纳入数字设备；通过风险投资（VC）基金进行融资；以及全球社区的激活和泛化。总之，我认为作为一个平台涉及组织实践，研究这些实践将我们的注意力转移到少数有限的成功公司之外。我认为轻科技资本主义解释了平台工作的这一平凡且简单的方面。