Conceptualizing curation in the age of abundance: The case of recorded music

Abstract

The contemporary marketplace for cultural products, such as music, fashion and film, features an abundance of goods, services and experiences. While producers struggle to differentiate and monetize their offerings, some consumers are overwhelmed by the amount of choice and information available to them. As a result, many consumers are turning to a range of intermediaries who help them make sense of the marketplace. While intermediation is nothing new, its value is increasing and there has been a shift in relative importance from those who create products to those who curate products. As curation remains a ‘fuzzy concept’ – with definitions and connotations that vary by industry and occupation – this paper aims to contribute to existing conceptualizations by focusing on the case of recorded music. Based on interviews and observation with a subset of curators, including record shops and music writers, the paper provides a typology of curation-related activities and highlights the range of economic and non-economic rewards that motivate different actors to perform curation. It also interrogates the importance and role of space by identifying physical, temporary and virtual spaces where curation is performed and relationships between specific spatial dynamics and curation-related processes.