Management matters

This paper explores the limitations of the D.I.Y. model of music production and the recent shift towards re-specialization in Toronto, Canada. It is argued that freelance managers are re-emerging as key intermediaries who catalyze and facilitate new organizational forms and strategic partnerships between creative workers. Attention is paid to how the relationships and contracts between these individuals are being altered by digital technologies and shifting market dynamics. The spatial concentration of managers and other ‘helpers,’ including fashion designers, photographers and web designers is also used to explain why music production remains clustered in space despite the decentralizing potential of digital technologie