Indigenous Hitmakerz in the Arctic: negotiating local needs with global ambitions within commercial music industries

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although music by Inuit peoples is systematically relegated to the margins, recent artists from Nunavut have garnered limited commercial attention. Using a case study approach with critical political economy theoretical grounding, we focus on Hitmakerz, an independent record label based in the Arctic region of Nunavut. We analyze the ways independent music producers negotiate the commercial music system, specifically the symbolic and economic tensions, to promote Indigenous languages and counterhegemonic discourse. We argue that Hitmakerz has successfully negotiated local needs while pursuing global ambitions, strategically blending Inuktitut, colonial languages, pop, electronic, and rap for subversive purposes, and critiquing colonialism in digital forms produced in local environments and exported globally. Under limited conditions, Indigenous artists can exploit the marketplace to their advantage, as demonstrated by Hitmakerz.