Cultural Crowdfunding Platform Capitalism, Labour And Globalization

EDITED BY VINCENT ROUZÉ

CULTURAL CROWDFUNDING

Platform Capitalism, Labour and Globalization

CDSMS

Cultural Crowdfunding: Platform Capitalism, Labour and Globalization

Edited by Vincent Rouzé

Critical, Digital and Social Media Studies

Series Editor: Christian Fuchs

The peer-reviewed book series edited by Christian Fuchs publishes books that critically study the role of the internet and digital and social media in society. Titles analyse how power structures, digital capitalism, ideology and social struggles shape and are shaped by digital and social media. They use and develop critical theory discussing the political relevance and implications of studied topics. The series is a theoretical forum for internet and social media research for books using methods and theories that challenge digital positivism; it also seeks to explore digital media ethics grounded in critical social theories and philosophy.

Editorial Board

Thomas Allmer, Mark Andrejevic, Miriyam Aouragh, Charles Brown, Eran Fisher, Peter Goodwin, Jonathan Hardy, Kylie Jarrett, Anastasia Kavada, Maria Michalis, Stefania Milan, Vincent Mosco, Jack Qiu, Jernej Amon Prodnik, Marisol Sandoval, Sebastian Sevignani, Pieter Verdegem

Published

Critical Theory of Communication: New Readings of Lukács, Adorno, Marcuse,
Honneth and Habermas in the Age of the Internet
Christian Fuchs
https://doi.org/10.16997/book1
Knowledge in the Age of Digital Capitalism: An Introduction to Cognitive
Materialism
Mariano Zukerfeld
https://doi.org/10.16997/book3
Politicizing Digital Space: Theory, the Internet, and Renewing Democracy
Trevor Garrison Smith
https://doi.org/10.16997/book5
Capital, State, Empire: The New American Way of Digital Warfare
Scott Timcke
https://doi.org/10.16997/book6
The Spectacle 2.0: Reading Debord in the Context of Digital Capitalism
Edited by Marco Briziarelli and Emiliana Armano
https://doi.org/10.16997/book11
The Big Data Agenda: Data Ethics and Critical Data Studies
Annika Richterich
https://doi.org/10.16997/book14
Social Capital Online: Alienation and Accumulation
Kane X. Faucher
https://doi.org/10.16997/book16

The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness Edited by Joan Pedro-Carañana, Daniel Broudy and Jefery Klaehn https://doi.org/10.16997/book27

Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism Edited by Jeremiah Morelock https://doi.org/10.16997/book30

Peer to Peer: The Commons Manifesto Michel Bauwens, Vasilis Kostakis, and Alex Pazaitis https://doi.org/10.16997/book33

Bubbles and Machines: Gender, Information and Financial Crises
Micky Lee
https://doi.org/10.16997/book34

Cultural Crowdfunding: Platform Capitalism, Labour and Globalization

Edited by Vincent Rouzé

W UNIVERSITYOF WESTMINSTER PRESS

University of Westminster Press www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk

Published by
University of Westminster Press
115 New Cavendish Street
London W1W 6UW
www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk

Text © The Editor and the several contributors 2019 First published 2019

Cover design: www.ketchup-productions.co.uk Series cover concept: Mina Bach (minabach.co.uk)

Print and digital versions typeset by Siliconchips Services Ltd.

ISBN (Paperback): 978–1-912656–38-7 ISBN (PDF): 978–1-912656–39-4 ISBN (EPUB): 978–1-912656–40-0 ISBN (Kindle): 978–1-912656–41-7

DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book38

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Suggested citation: Rouzé, V. 2019 (ed). Cultural Crowdfunding: Platform Capitalism, Labour and Globalization London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book38 License: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0

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Contents

1. Introduction 1

Vincent Rouzé
Participation in Words 1
Toward Financial Participation: Cultural Crowdfunding 2
A New Paradigm for Production and Cultural Value? 4
Plan of the Book 6
Research Context 8
Notes and References 9

1. Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding: The Origins

of a New System? 15
Vincent Rouzé
Crowdsourcing, Crowdfunding: One and the Same Thing? 16
Crowdfunding: A Revolution? 19
Crowdfunding: An Old Story Reinvented 20

1. A History Legitimated by the Internet 21
2. A History Legitimated by Pre-Digital Collaborative

Cultural Financing and Production 23
The Logic of Gift–Counter-Gift in Question 26
Conclusion 28
Notes and References 29

1. Far from an Alternative: Intermediation Apparatuses 35

Vincent Rouzé
Defining the Alternative 36
Apparatuses Adapted to Market Strategies 39

1. Discussing the Typology of Platforms 40
2. Generalist platforms 40
3. Niche Platforms 42
4. Local Platforms 43
5. Combined Platforms 44
6. Integrated Platforms 44

The ‘Ecosystem’ as a Stimulus for Extensive Partnerships 45
Apparatuses for Political and Legislative Action 47
Platforms as Technical Apparatuses 48
Platforms for Artists and Creation? 49
Conclusion 53
Notes and References 54

1. Participatory Cultural Platforms and Labour 59

Jacob Matthews and Vincent Rouzé
Towards Gamification, or Invisible Labour 61
Organizing and Optimizing Labour 63

1. Inside Platforms 63
2. Project Creators 64
3. The ‘Community’ 66
4. The Professional ‘Ecosystem’ 67

Train, Educate, Agitate 67

1. Promotional Discourses 68
2. The Importance of Education 70

Conclusion 73
Notes and References 75

1. Globalization and the Logics of Capitalism 79

Jacob Matthews, Stéphane Costantini and Alix Bénistant
The Diferent Categories of Players Present in the Regions 82
A Diversity of Players, a Repertoire of Common Discourses 85

1. Project Creators and Endogenous Cultural Workers 85
2. Platform Managers and Other Endogenous Entrepreneurs 87
3. Exogenous Players and International Organizations 89
4. National Public Players 91

‘Pedagogical’ Guidance and Workforce Education 93
Conclusion 95
Notes and References 97

1. General Conclusion 99

Vincent Rouzé
In the Service of Cultural Democratization? 100
Criticism of These Innovations 101
Living in Project Mode 103
References 105
The Editor and Contributors 107
Index 109

vi

Contents

Contents vii

Introduction

Vincent Rouzé

Participation in Words

The early years of the twenty-first century saw the emergence of the idea of a ‘collaborative’ web, a Web 2.0 where Internet users would actively participate in producing content and creating value from it. Following the financial crises and especially the dotcom crash, the term ‘Web 2.0’ was coined in 2005 by the American entrepreneur and expert Tim O’Reilly, with a view to rebuilding confidence among investors in the Internet (Fuchs 2008). O’Reilly was one of the first to popularize the idea that the Internet would now be based on a participative model in which the user would go from being a mere consumer to a ‘content generator’ (Le Deuf 2007). An identical vision was implicit in the notion of ‘social media’, which became common currency in the same period, despite its vagueness. In line with these diferent discursive propositions, specialized technical and economic apparatuses or dispositifs¹ for extracting value from communication flows on the web began to emerge: search engines, blogging platforms, content aggregators, virtual worlds, platforms for broadcasting video, social networks, and so on. Distinctive to these platforms is their heavy dependence on the contributions of their own user communities.

The discourses underpinning the participative and/or collaborative aspect of the Internet, along with their ‘implementations’, all seem to come back to the idea that pooling together the eforts of individuals can open up a better future, one of greater solidarity and equality. The preferred tool for this is the Internet and, more broadly, digital technologies as a whole, through platforms for information exchange, and especially for crowdsourcing (i.e. collectively producing and analyzing data), crowdfunding, and providing services (like Uber and Airbnb). One can see that the principles of innovation, revolution, communities, action, and networking—are all very much present in digital discourses. It is at somewhat paradoxical to observe elements of these discourses actually suggesting a correspondence between their usages of the terms participation or collaboration and the communist project itself, that of ‘an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all (Marx and Engels 2008: 62).

CHAPTER 1

How to cite this book chapter: Rouzé, V. 2019. Introduction. In: Rouzé, V. (ed.) Cultural Crowdfunding: Platform Capitalism, Labour and Globalization. Pp. 1–13. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book38.a. License: CC‐BY‐NC‐ND 4.0