The role of middleground’s entrepreneurial activities for the circulation of creative ideas. The case of krautrock music [Le rôle d’intermédiation des activités entrepreneuriales du middleground dans la circulation des idées créatives. Le cas du Krautrock]

The model of the creative ecosystem (Cohendet, Grandadam et Simon, 2011) shows that creative ideas can circulation between the underground and the upperground through the middleground. This is made possible through the activation of specific mechanisms, places, spaces, events and projects. However, the issue of the processes involved in their activation has been, so far, understudied. This article highlights the role of entrepreneurial activities in this activation. Our argument relies on the case of krautrock, a musical genre that has played a major role for the evolution of modern popular music from the end of the 1970's on. We argue that entrepreneurial activities, which consist in the settling of labels, as well as of rehearsal, recording and concert places, or in organizing festivals, embed an intermediation feature facilitating the circulation and diffusion of creative ideas. Furthermore, we show that this intermediation function takes different forms depending on the mechanism at stake and with the evolution of the ecosystem.