Platform-mediated live musical performance in China: New social practices and urban cultural spaces

This paper provides a non-Anglo-American geographical discussion of digitally mediated cultural activities. Taking China's live music industry as an entry point, we seek to theoretically and empirically understand the complex roles of digital technologies that influence contemporary cultural practices. We argue that digital platforms have reshaped the production and consumption patterns of Chinese live musical performance. Focusing on the ShowStart platform as a case study, we measured the role of the platform by collecting and analysing its performance records over a two-year period and observed the rising influence of independent small labels and small-scale performance venues in China's live music industry. Live houses, a special type of small venues that used to be niche subcultural spaces dominated by underground musicians, have become popular urban cultural consumption spaces in this platform era, expanding rapidly in large cities and expected to gradually penetrate lower-level cities. Furthermore, with the increasing commercialization of the live music market under platformization, we point out that the state's digital surveillance of the industry is also increasing, and the state's urban resource allocation for live music venues may be misplaced.