Introduction

This chapter outlines the characteristics of creative labour described by critical analyses of the cultural and creative industries. It considers music’s past as a history of musical life structured around self-organised musical practices and micro-entrepreneurial activities to illustrate that musicians’ creative labour is marked by continuities rather than fundamental changes. Critical analysists have painted a more realistic and relatively consistent picture of creative labour. A reason for the neglect of musicians’ working practices in contemporary analyses of cultural work can be seen in the misleading notion of a single music industry. Neoliberalism with its glorification of autonomy, creativity and entrepreneurship has further increased musicians’ precarious work and living conditions and exacerbated social inequalities in terms of gender, race, class or disability in the music industries. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.