The Intimate Work of Connection

Abstract

This introduction lays out the main argument of the book, that musicians are pressured into creating personal relationships with audiences through social media in order to stay economically viable. It argues that this has relevance for people in many fields of work. After discussing the importance of relational work in the gig economy, it offers a brief discussion of music and the musicians on which the book focuses. It explains the concept of “relational labor” and closes with an argument for understanding these relationships through the lens of dialectics