"Playing to the Crowd explores and explains how the rise of digital communication platforms has transformed artist-fan relationships into something more intimate. Through in-depth interviews with musicians such as the Cure, UB40, and Throwing Muses, Nancy K. Baym reveals how new media has facilitated connections through the active participation of both the artists and their devoted digital fan base. Before the rise of online sharing and user-generated content, audiences were mostly seen as undifferentiated masses, often mediated through record labels and the press. Today, musicians and fans have built more active relationships through social media, fan sites, and artist sites, giving them a new sense of intimacy, while offering artists unparalleled access to and information about their audiences. But this comes at a price. For audiences, meeting their heroes can kill the mystique. And for artists, maintaining active relationships with so many people can be labor intensive and emotionally draining. Drawing on her own rich history as a deeply connected music fan, Baym offers an entirely new approach to media culture, arguing that the work musicians put into maintaining these intimate relationships reflects the demands of the gig economy, one which requires resources and strategies that we all music come to recognize"--Publisher's description.