How do music genres shape inequalities and spacial dynamics in nightclubs?

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Two recent papers by Timo Koren expand on established nighttime research topics of identity formation and regulation, viewing nightlife through the lens of cultural production.

  • The research examines how the cultural production and economic organisation of club nights at genre-specific venues impact genres’ gendered meanings and racial inscriptions.

  • Gender inequalities in nightlife employment result from informal work cultures’ privileging of male labour, including closed social networks and sexist perceptions and stereotypes within the production of the genre.

  • Niche electronic dance music is subjectively perceived as a better quality genre than eclectic genres due to DJ prestige and other factors. 

  • Niche EDM is associated with masculinity; some eclectic genres, like pop music, are seen as feminine. Genres have cultural histories bound to place and community, but the connection between genre and social group is not fixed and can be lost and/or reassigned when genres travel.
     
  • This research uncovers the importance of programming and promotion in shaping social and spatial conditions in nightlife spaces and nighttime economies.


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The Publications:

Koren, T. (2023) ‘ “They were told it was too Black”: The (re)production of whiteness in Amsterdam-based nightclubs’, Geoforum, [link]

Koren, T. (2022) ‘The work that genre does: How music genre mediates gender inequalities in the informal work cultures of Amsterdam’s nightclubs’, Poetics, [link]