Digital-first entertainment has changed the way that genres and creativity, can emerge and thrive in music and beyond. Independent creators are empowered by powerful recommendation algorithms to find their core bases of superfans; meanwhile, labels still can push select superstars to the forefront of cultural consciousness.
The tools are there, but up until now, we have seen freedom of creativity, rather than constraint. This has allowed for experimentation and the overnight rise and fall of popular trends. Potential creators have been able to afford new production equipment, and entertainment companies have had the funds to continue pouring into marketing, advertising, and any other kind of development. Now, enter the cost-of-living crisis.
The rising cost of living will predominately act as a constraint: how much entertainment audiences can afford to pay to access, what artists and creators can afford to do, and at what quality. However, far from being a dampener on culture, this constraint is likely to give rise to new, incredibly powerful cultural movements. Look no further than the origins of house music.
House music is but one example; indeed, any historically relevant genre would have many of the same cultural ingredients. However, house has particular relevance today given its current mainstream revival on the dance scene, as well as its foundational role in hip hop, pop music, and more. Critical to its creative importance was its origin as an underground scene.
Underground scenes tend to be the precursors to later mainstream relevance. They are distinct from purely fan niches in that they are underpinned by cultural movements seeking release from external pressures. Rather than just being an appreciation for an art form, or sentimental affinity, they offer outlets and release for cultural groups escaping the pressures of social constraints.
House music rose to prominence after the ‘death of disco’ in the late 70’s, taking many of the same elements from the incredibly popular genre. There were political and social backlashes to disco (culminating in a Disco Demolition event organised by a rogue DJ during a White Sox game, in which they blew up a pile of records with dynamite on the field), and it has been implicated that the anti-disco movement was largely driven by expressions of racism and homophobia, given the diverse and inclusive nature of the genre and its associated club nights. House music became the underground cousin of disco to take up the reigns.
Given the red-hot nature of topics of equality and inclusivity at the time, as well as the rise of controversy around Stonewall and the earlier Civil Rights Movement, diverse crowds flocked to the underground genre as a place of safety, inclusivity, and a relief from the pressures of everyday life. This cultural pressure cooker gave rise to one of the most important genres to modern music – born from diverse minority creators and audiences alike, which also drives its inclusive and diverse popularity today.
House music, again, is but one example. As the cost-of-living crisis deepens over the coming months, the creative inclinations born from the outpouring of creative tools and free time over Covid will be put to new use with increasing cultural importance as audiences and artists alike are put under pressure to make music, and other forms of entertainment, creatively – in a way which they can both afford given restricted means of living, and which offers them outlets for natural feelings of stress and fear. The coming months may not be times of peace or prosperity, but they will undoubtedly give rise to new, incredibly powerful cultural movements which will stand the test of time.