Taking into account broader processes of urban regeneration, the new book by Robin Kuchar combines the appearance of a more and more commercialized live music culture and changing spatial strategies of DIY scenes to examine how originally DIY and Underground based music venues handle ongoing transformations within their surrounding social environments. Basing on the elaboration of venues as multilayered spaces, fieldwork around three clubs in Hamburg, Germany – Golden Pudel, Molotow and Mojo Club – shows, that venues undergo different changes in order to preserve their idea(l)s of self-governed cultural work. Therefore, new urban conditions evoke fundamental changes regarding the venues´ initial spatial and cultural strategies, which lead to new constellations and levels of autonomy, professionalization and institutionalization.

More information on the publisher´s website