Dreams of 'shooting out': hip-hop music production in Bishkek in the age of streaming

Abstract

Digitalised music production and the rise of music streaming platforms shape music markets worldwide. Whereas in Western Europe and North America, the age of streaming has also been criticised for a casualisation of musical labour, in peripheral music economies like Kyrgyzstan it participates in structuring a market for music makers. At the same time, digitalisation also tends to reproduce global inequalities. Based on the case of hip-hop music production in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the present working paper examines how the 'age of streaming' affects the musical production and the dreams and ambitions of music workers.