Location, Location, Location: Geographic and Economic Clustering of Recommendation Practices on Crowdfunding Platforms.

Crowdfunding, like other online sociotechnical mechanisms, has the potential to open up cultural production to a broader population than has previously had access to capital. We investigate the institutional role a crowdfunding platform and its partners play in broadening participation in cultural crowdfunding. We consider the extent to which these actors relax the tendencies towards spatial clustering characteristic of the culture industries through an analysis of a particular practice--"curated projects"--that provides particular projects with additional public promotion. We find that curated projects tend to cluster in cultural hubs and that they enjoy much higher levels of funding. We suggest that platforms should make a conscious effort to promote more peripherally located projects in order to make their editorial practices compatible with the social justice framework they discursively champion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]