Artist and Entrepreneur Identifying and developing key qualifications pertaining cultural entrepreneurship for musical acts Eskil Immanuel Holm Jessen Master thesis at the Institute of Musicology UNIVERSITY OF OSLO May 2018 II Foreword I would like to thank my supervisor Per Ole Hagen for all his encouragement, inspiration and initiative, without which I would have been in a sorry state. I would like to thank my respondents for their participation, without which this thesis would never have seen the light of day. They have been eager to share of their knowledge of the music industries and their thoughts and perspectives regarding artists they work with, I will be forever grateful to them. A great deal of gratitude is sent in the direction of my good friend Milad Amouzegar, who has been a great team player through this entire endeavor, I thank you for all our long nights and early mornings of writing, proofreading and discussing our theses. To all my friends and family whom has been unrelenting in their belief and support these last two years, my deepest and most sincere thanks, you are all a part of this. Lastly, I would like to thank the institute of musicology for the opportunity to realize this thesis and especially Associate Professor Kyle Devine who made me realize just how exiting musicology can be at its best. Oslo, May 1st 2018 Eskil Immanuel Holm Jessen III IV Identifying and developing key qualifications pertaining cultural entrepreneurship for musical acts Eskil Immanuel H. Jessen Institute of Musicology V Copyright Eskil Immanuel H. Jessen 2018 Artist and Entrepreneur: Identifying and developing key qualifications pertaining cultural entrepreneurship for musical acts Eskil Immanuel H. Jessen http://www.duo.uio.no VI Abstract I have chosen to study cultural entrepreneurship, particularly focused in the popular music industries. I have been fascinated by the apparent randomness of which new artists gets signed by established agents in the industries and how they work to break through the clutter and launch their career. The fascination pertains what qualities or skills these artists possess that renders them as desirable signings for the established agents in the music industries. In a survey where students that have graduated from performing arts institutions 64 per cent of the respondents identified that “the ability to “develop entrepreneurial skills” (…), that their music education taught had little to no relevance as a starting point (for a future in the performing arts field). Through comments to the survey multiple individuals mentioned that their music education should have offered or provided a more thorough training in skills related to entrepreneurial development, such as economics and accounting, as many of them are freelancing or running their own business (Arnesen et al. 2014, p. 9, personal translation). I used this as a backdrop for the thesis. I interviewed four established industry professionals, and used the insights provided in a manner to guide and inform both performers in the performing arts (artists and cultural entrepreneurs) and identify possible areas of improvement in the current music education curricula pertaining entrepreneurial learning. VII VIII Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Main contributions and findings ................................................................................................. 5 1.2 Thesis Structure .............................................................................................................................. 6 2 Situating the Research Field .................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Popular music studies .................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Music Industries .......................................................................................................................... 15 Recording / Label .................................................................................................................................................. 15 Management ............................................................................................................................................................ 16 Additional industries ........................................................................................................................................... 17 2.3 Marketing and Branding ............................................................................................................ 20 An introduction to marketing .......................................................................................................................... 21 Why should artists consider branding? ....................................................................................................... 23 The Process of brandbuilding .......................................................................................................................... 26 2.4 Entrepreneurial learning in Music Education ......................................................................... 29 2.5 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 34 3 The entrepreneur ................................................................................................................... 35 3.1 Theoretical grounds for the entrepreneurial term ...................................................... 35 3.2 The entrepreneurial term in music industries context .............................................. 36 Artists as Entrepreneurs .................................................................................................................................... 38 3.3 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 41 4 Research methodology .......................................................................................................... 42 4.1 Method ......................................................................................................................................... 43 Roles ........................................................................................................................................................................... 45 Stages .......................................................................................................................................................................... 46 Research considerations .................................................................................................................................... 47 Preparations ............................................................................................................................................................ 49 4.2 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 50 5 Empirical presentation .......................................................................................................... 51 5.1 The interview guide .................................................................................................................... 52 5.2 The Respondents ......................................................................................................................... 54 5.3 The Interviews ............................................................................................................................. 56 Establishing contact ............................................................................................................................................. 56 Desirable qualities ................................................................................................................................................ 58 Expectations ............................................................................................................................................................ 60 Counterproductive observations ................................................................................................................... 62 Entrepreneurship .................................................................................................................................................. 64 Entrepreneurial education and learning for artists ............................................................................... 68 The tip ........................................................................................................................................................................ 70 6 Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 73 6.1 Considerations of discussion ..................................................................................................... 74 6.2 Central findings ............................................................................................................................ 74 Establishing contact ............................................................................................................................................