Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin Doctoral Applied Arts 2014-10 A Critique of Immaterial Labour: Dublin's Independent Music Scene as a Strategic Site of Investigation Susan Gill Technological University Dublin Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/appadoc Part of the Epistemology Commons Recommended Citation Gill, S. (2014) A Critique of Immaterial Labour: Dublin’s Independent Music Scene as a Strategic Site of Investigation. Doctoral thesis Technological University Dublin, 2014. This Theses, Ph.D is brought to you for free and open access by the Applied Arts at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License A Critique of Immaterial Labour: Dublin’s Independent Music Scene as a Strategic Site of Investigation Susan Gill (B.A., M.A.) Thesis Submitted in Candidature for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dublin Institute of Technology Supervisors: Martin McCabe Dr. Tim Stott Dr. Brian O’Neill School of Media October 2014 Abstract This study critiques the autonomist concept of immaterial labour. Both diagnostic and prescriptive, the term immaterial labour was coined by Lazzarato (1997), but became synonymous with Hardt and Negri’s (2001a; 2004; 2010) ‘Empire’ trilogy. They describe post-industrial labour as characterised by the production of immaterial commodities such as culture, creativity and information. Seeing it as a hegemonic form of production, accelerationist Marxists Hardt and Negri (ibid.) suggest that immaterial labour has the radical potential to restructure socio-economic life, resulting in spontaneous communism. However, their thesis has been subject to critique as it homogenises post-industrial production and lacks empirical engagement. This study seeks to address this deficit by using Dublin’s independent music scene as a strategic site of investigation. Independent music production became a logical site of enquiry, as its emphasis on immanent cooperation, urban life and autonomy are necessary elements of the immaterial labour Hardt and Negri (ibid.) seek to describe. Through in-depth interviews, an online questionnaire and further supplementary methods, this research gathers data on the subjective experience of immaterial labour in order to highlight possible critiques of the autonomist concept. Through an analysis of this data, this thesis argues for provisional adaptations to Hardt and Negri’s (ibid.) immaterial labour, based on their concepts of self-valorisation, alienation, immeasurability and immanent cooperation. Declaration I certify that this thesis which I now submit for examination for the award of PhD has not been taken from the work of others, save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. This thesis was prepared according to the regulations for postgraduate study by research of the Dublin Institute of Technology and has not been submitted in whole or in part for another award in any other third level institution. The work reported on in this thesis conforms to the principles and requirements of the DIT’s guidelines for ethics in research. DIT has permission to keep, lend or copy this thesis in whole or in part, on condition that any such use of the material of the thesis be duly acknowledged. Signature.................... Date.................... Acknowledgements To Mam, Dad, Louise, Ruth and Miriam, When I fell in love with Dr. Henry Walton ‘Indiana’ Jones Jnr. as a child, my dreams of being a dancer-neuroscientist-alien investigator were cast aside; I knew I HAD to be an anthropologist. Although I left the relic-hunting back in my undergrad years (along with the bullwhip and fedora), I set upon new adventures, discovering the epistemic archaeology of Foucault, the political geographies of Bakhtin and the cultural excavation of Geertz. Such a course of discovery was unprecedented and uncharted in our family history, but you accepted that a ‘real’ job was out of the question and patiently waited on the deferred rewards I promised you some day would come. This, I hope, is the first of them. Thank you also to my supervisors Martin McCabe, Dr. Brian O’Neill and Dr. Tim Stott for the advice, encouragement and support I needed to see this through. To my participants, for their candour, willingness and cooperation. To Dr. Mick Wilson, for taking a chance. To Rachel, Thomas, Clare, Karl and Pat, for the friendships we forged through common struggles and triumphs. To Audrey, Sinéad and Rebecca, for bottomless teapots and patient ears. To Mags, Pearse, Alan, Flatzer, and T.J., for beginning this journey with me. And of course To John, for believing in me when I could not. Over and over again. I love you. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 7 Autonomist Marxism and Immaterial Labour .................................................................. 8 Independent Music: A Short Introduction ...................................................................... 20 Thesis Outline ............................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER ONE .............................................................................................................. 33 Post-Industrialism: A Selected Taxonomy ......................................................................... 33 Products of Post-Industrialism ....................................................................................... 34 Culture and Creativity .............................................................................................. 34 Knowledge and Information..................................................................................... 37 Affect and Emotion .................................................................................................. 39 Subjects of Post-Industrialism ....................................................................................... 42 Consumer as Producer.............................................................................................. 42 The Entrepreneur ...................................................................................................... 44 The Flexible Personality .......................................................................................... 47 Conditions of Post-Industrialism.................................................................................... 51 Self-Actualisation..................................................................................................... 51 Precarity ................................................................................................................... 55 Governmentality ....................................................................................................... 58 CHAPTER TWO .............................................................................................................. 62 Immaterial Labour and Independent Music: A Review of Literature .................................. 62 Exploring Immaterial Labour ........................................................................................ 63 Immanent Cooperation .............................................................................................. 64 The Multitude and Biopolitical Production ................................................................ 69 Autonomy and Exodus .............................................................................................. 76 Independent Music as Site of Critique ........................................................................... 81 Participatory Culture and Immanent Cooperation ....................................................... 85 The ‘Scene,’ Biopolitical Production and the Metropolis............................................ 89 Autonomy, both Real and Imagined ........................................................................... 93 CHAPTER THREE......................................................................................................... 101 Methodology and Methods .............................................................................................. 101 Situating Methodology: ‘A Workers’ Inquiry’ and Co-Research .................................. 101 Previous Research and Methodological Uncertainties .............................................. 106 Data Collection Methods ............................................................................................. 109 Qualitative Interviewing .......................................................................................... 109 Selecting Interview Participants ............................................................................... 112 5 Online Questionnaire ............................................................................................... 113 Selecting Questionnaire Participants ........................................................................ 114 Coding the Data .......................................................................................................... 120 CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................... 124 Exploring Labour in Dublin’s Do-It-Yourself