ABSTRACT

This paper examines the lived experiences and ethical dilemmas of investors and staff in London’s digital music startup culture. Startups often rely on what I term ‘imagined metrics’ to attract investment and to measure the efficacy of their technologies. However, this stands in stark contrast to the qualitative ways music is understood within these organisations and subsequently experienced via the technologies they build. Drawing on ethnographic observations alongside interview data, I suggest that these metrics have few true believers. Instead, critiques of imagined metrics and their susceptibility to exaggeration and misrepresentation are ubiquitous. This culture of scepticism is not incidental: it is a crucial pathway through which otherwise volatile startup culture is normalised. Investors, founders and staff often publicly acknowledge the unreliability of the numbers with which they work, even as metrics continue to underpin the decision-making process. Metrics thus do not require true belief to secure their effects. Yet, against this backdrop, processes of quantification increasingly shape digital music consumption. Resisting the classic equation of quantification with Weberian rationalisation, this study instead shows that metrics are imbued with emotions and interpretive narratives that extend well beyond the older trust in numbers (Porter [1995]. Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).

摘要

本文考察了伦敦数字音乐创业文化中投资者和员工的生活经历和道德困境。初创公司通常依靠我所说的“想象指标”来吸引投资并衡量其技术的功效。然而，这与这些组织内部理解音乐以及随后通过他们构建的技术体验音乐的定性方式形成鲜明对比。根据人种学观察和访谈数据，我认为这些指标几乎没有真正的信徒。相反，对想象指标的批评及其对夸大和误传的敏感性无处不在。这种怀疑主义文化并非偶然：这是一条至关重要的途径，通过它，不稳定的创业文化得以正常化。投资者，创始人和员工经常公开承认他们工作的数字不可靠，即使指标继续支持决策过程。因此，度量不需要真正的信念来确保其效果。然而，在这种背景下，量化过程越来越影响数字音乐消费。这项研究通过韦伯合理化来抵制经典的量化方程，相反，它表明指标充满了情感和解释性叙述，远远超出了对数字的旧信任（Porter [1995]）。相信数字：在科学和公共生活中追求客观性。新泽西州普林斯顿：普林斯顿大学出版社）。