Abstract

This paper examines the platformization of music production, with particular focus on the rise of bedroom studios, 
the restructuring of creative labour, and the evolving mechanisms of music distribution in digital platform 
economies. It argues that platformization has fundamentally reconfigured music production by lowering entry 
barriers through accessible digital audio technologies while simultaneously intensifying labour precarity through 
algorithmic governance, fragmented revenue systems, and unstable income streams. Bedroom studios emerge as 
both sites of creative empowerment and economic constraint, reflecting broader shifts in the decentralisation of 
production and the informalisation of labour. The study further explores how platform infrastructures such as 
streaming services, social media, and content aggregators mediate visibility, monetisation, and audience 
engagement, thereby reshaping traditional notions of authorship, professionalism, and artistic value. Drawing on 
theories of platform capitalism and digital labour, the paper highlights the tension between increased accessibility 
and deepening structural inequalities within the music industry. It concludes that while platformization has 
democratised music production, it has also embedded new forms of dependency, surveillance, and economic 
instability, requiring urgent reconsideration of regulatory frameworks, labour protections, and sustainable creative 
ecosystems.