Reconfiguring the field of professional music: New doxa and known capital forms on digital platforms

Digital platforms are reshaping how career success is understood in the music industry. Existing research has mainly focused on the effects of platforms on music production, visibility, and professional practices, yet it has seldom explored how career success and capital are configured in platform environments. This conceptual article uses Bourdieu’s theoretical framework to discuss how digital indicators become taken for granted makers of career success in the digital music field. It also outlines which forms of capital are performed within this context. This study argues that no new forms of capital have emerged in the digital music field and that existing forms are instead reinterpreted through digital practices. This conceptual clarification provides a foundation for applying Bourdieusian theory to research on digital cultural production.