Identity is often assumed to precede infrastructure.
A person exists, and systems record them. An artist creates work, and platforms distribute it. A company operates, and registries document it.
But infrastructure can also create identity.
Streaming platforms, social networks, and databases assign identifiers, profiles, and records that allow entities to exist within the system.
Without these identifiers, the entity cannot be recognised by the system.
Without recognition, it cannot accumulate signals.
In some cases, infrastructure does not merely record identity. It becomes the primary environment in which identity exists.
The system becomes the origin of continuity.
Spotify has hosted artists with millions of streams who had no presence outside the platform. Their identity existed only because the infrastructure created and maintained it.
Without the platform, the artist did not exist as a persistent entity.