Music As Subversion: Musical Innovation in Miami’s Predatory Art Scene

Artistic expression, in the form of musical creation, is easily one of the most lucrative methods to generate capital for bourgeois interests. However, within the localized context of Miami, Florida, the local structure of underground entertainment deviates in its qualitative essence from the entertainment industry on a grander scale. In this piece, the idiosyncratic nature of Miami’s economic output, predominantly lying in service industries and tourism, is analyzed with the detrimental effects on working class artists in mind. Elements of Miami’s economic underpinnings, broken down to the relations between real estate interests, landlords, and working-class musicians, elucidates the circumstances of what it means to individually express artistic ideas in Miami. Moreover, a critique of the traditional Do It Yourself ethos, such as independently rented venue spots, develops the necessity of newer strategies to create working-class solidarity between artists