FF naar 2028

Abstract

This thesis shows the process and results of a graduation project for the Effenaar, Eindhoven. The music industry has always been capricious. However, the densely dispersed Dutch pop venue landscape is being faced with a contemporary challenge. A lot of Dutch pop venues are balancing between the public and private sector, have a big heritage weighing down on their shoulders, have complex business models with various stakeholders stuck in their silos and often lack a coherent vision. The world around them however is changing fast and vastly. The digitalization of the music industry has shifted medium sized artists’ reason for performing from creating awareness for an upcoming album to their main source of income. Resulting in a more demanding artist and less power for the pop venues. For pop venues to succeed, they either have to be the biggest or the most specialized. The Effenaar at this point is neither of those two. Based on these challenges the following research question is formulated: “How can a Dutch pop music venue, in a co-creative manner, ready itself for and position itself within the vastly changing pop music industry of 2028? – a case study of the Effenaar, Eindhoven.” A 2028 worldview was created by using the ViP method. Conducting research and interviewing key stakeholders resulted in numerous context factors. These context factors created a storyline from which three main consequences for the Effenaar could be concluded. The disconnection between artist and audience in combination with visitor’s increasing demand for multi-sensory stimulating and layered experience results in the first consequence for the Effenaar; ‘Artists need help connecting to their audience’. Secondly, the digitalization of pop culture will be almost fully completed in 2028. This presents a whole range of new pop culture artists. The online realm possesses a vast array of new pop stars. These new groups could benefit from a medium sized offline stage in Eindhoven. This resulted in the second consequence; ‘Music no longer the main relevant form of artistry in pop culture’. Finally, the digitalization of pop culture results in another consequence. Online available data will put the control in the hands of the artists. Due to qualitative and quantitative data of their followers, artist can among other things decide at which pop venue or festival they want to perform. This results in the last consequence; ‘Artists decide if the Effenaar is suitable. In-house bookers will become obsolete’. Through the narration of short stories, the worldview, its consequences on the Effenaar and a glimpse into a possible reaction are illustrated. These stories depict the consequences of the 2028 future on the Effenaar, its artists and visitors. Three main ingredients are formulated for the Effenaar to respond on the 2028 worldview. This thesis proposes that the Effenaar embraces its physicality, shifts their focus from solely musical artists to the broader spectrum of digitalized pop culture and introduces a digital platform for the instigation of multi-layered collaborative experiences. These collaborations are between 2028’s pop culture and the regions technological artistry. Capitalizing on the Effenaar’s position within the Brainport region. This thesis proposes that the Effenaar takes certain steps in order to become a less rigid platform by including new forms of pop culture stars and by creating an online platform. It consequently suggests that without ignoring the inevitable digitalization of pop culture the Effenaar should embrace its physicality instead of aspiring to become another tree within the vast digitalized forest.