Transformations in Music Booking

Abstract

This article examines the links between structural and professional autonomy by comparing the subfields of music venues in Paris and Berlin. Today, live music is undergoing profound economic changes, and this article explores how variations in the autonomy of a subfield influence the way those responsible for booking in live music venues in both cities define their activity. The growing heteronomy of the Parisian subfield, facilitated by strong professional development, threatens the autonomy of bookers, who adjust by redefining their professional territory. The situation in Berlin, on the other hand, sheds light on the conditions of possibility of autonomy in a music subfield with a less developed economy, where the bookers’ professional autonomy is limited. Thus, structural and professional autonomy do not go hand in hand, but links between the two must be understood in light of the balance of power within the overall field of music.