Aspirational Capitalism: The Economic Realities of Private Music Production

This article interrogates the economic realities of private music production and challenges early techno-optimist narratives of democratization. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital, theories of neoliberalism, cultural labor, and platforms, we analyze interviews with contemporary metal musicians/producers and find that digital technologies restructured the field of music production rather than flattening it. Our findings suggest new hierarchies, re-intermediation by platforms, and intensified entrepreneurial pressures that compel artists to become marketable brands. Musicians adapt through diversified income streams by selling their skills, knowledge, and technology primarily to other aspiring musicians and form a cannibalistic internal economy we term aspirational capitalism. This analysis demonstrates how capital, power, and labor are reconfigured to create new stratifications despite lowered technological barriers to entry.