Cultural Crowdfunding: platform Capitalism, Labour and Globalization / Vincent Rouzé. University of Westminster Press, 2019.
"This new book analyses the strategies, usages and wider implications
of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding platforms in the culture
and communication industries that are reshaping economic,
organizational and social logics. Platforms are the object of considerable
hype with a growing global presence. Relying on individual contributions
coordinated by social media to finance cultural production (and carry
out promotional tasks) is a significant shift, especially when supported by
morphing public policies, supposedly enhancing cultural diversity and
accessibility.
The aim of this book is to propose a critical analysis of these phenomena
by questioning what follows from decisions to outsource modes of creation
and funding to consumers. Drawing on research carried out within the
‘Collab’ programme backed by the French National Research Agency, the
book considers how platforms are used to organize cultural labour
and/or to control usages, following a logic of suggestion rather than overt
injunction. Four key areas are considered: the history of crowdfunding as
a system; whose interests crowdfunding may serve; the implications for
digital labour and lastly crowdfunding’s interface with globalization and
contemporary capitalism. The book concludes with with an assessment of claims
that crowdfunding can democratize culture."
