Music Entrepreneurs Research Articles

Jazz in Lampung: Community’s perspective, social practices, cultural performance, organization, and consequences

This article attempts to reveal the perspectives of the Lampung jazz community members dealing with organizational issues related to members’ perceptions or administrators. The cause is an extramusical issue that leads to the ulun Lappung (indigenous Lampung people) social characteristics. In general, problems uncommon in the jazz community arise in this communal setting. This article focuses on the Lampung jazz community’s perspective, cultural performances, social practices, and consequences. The data for this study came from immersive fieldwork conducted in Lampung jazz circles between 2017 and 2021. In addition to in-person data collection, field sites and apps were used. The research participants include senior musicians with over 20 years of experience, music scholars, music entrepreneurs, and jazz activists. Each participant has a unique perspective on group organization, jazz culture and knowledge, and socially musical practices. The significance of Lampung’s musical sense of community is discussed.

Bar Semente (Rio de Janeiro) e Tejo Bar (Lisboa): assegurar a renovação de tradições culturais enraizadas

This article proposes a reflection on artistic-cultural entrepreneurship, the management of artistic (immaterial) and relational heritage in artistic and cultural entrepreneurship efforts, in particular, music. This study presents two cases: Bar Semente, born and developed in Rio de Janeiro's Lapa neighborhood, and Tejo Bar, from Lisbon's Alfama. Both music ventures are outside the mainstream cultural industry. Lapa and Alfama are territories of cultural heritage, historical and touristic regions. But it is not tourism that "creates" Lapa or Alfama. These places are rooted in the living memory of the city of Rio de Janeiro and Lisboa. For this reason, they also become cultural heritage and tourist attractions. But these roots are transient and can be destroyed by predatory tourist practices. This means that cultural heritage is not a guarantee of continuity. By applying a contemporary lens to the process of entrepreneurship, it was possible to gain insights about the situated music entrepreneurs in both cases who manage a relational and artistic (immaterial) heritage that projects the image and identity of a city to the world, including in tourist and cultural itineraries.

Finding Your Niche as a Jazz Music Entrepreneur

Abstract: Since we continue to live in a digital age where billions of people are connected through the internet, and entrepreneurship opportunities become more realistic and accessible, an increasing number of jazz musicians are exploring ways where they can transform their art into a viable music business. "What does it take to run my own music business?" and "can I really have an independent and sustainable music career as a jazz artist?" are questions that are becoming increasingly common among student jazz musicians with entrepreneurial mindsets. The first step at achieving a viable music business is finding one's niche. Once a jazz entrepreneur finds their niche, they can then identify their target market. This Quick Hit aims to provide a method of approach to which jazz musicians can find their niche to stand out among the digital noise of other jazz competitors so they can identify their target market. Additionally, tips on how jazz educators can help their students find their niche will be discussed.

Displacement paradigm towards digital music distribution in the recording industry

Digital music streaming and downloading platforms supervene the stymied superfluity of physical music distribution in the recording industry. The significant transition seems to provide quasi-real-time increased music consumption. The purpose of the study is to identify the challenges associated with the paradigm shift to the digital trajectory of music regarding global market demand and to establish the extent to which digital diffusion innovations influence digital music distribution and consumption in the recording industry. The exploratory research study employed univariate and multivariate statistical analysis to analyse the data collected from 217 musicians. The study found that the customer base of physical retail stores is dwindling due to the increasing number of independent artists and technologically compatible media devices that encourage music streaming and downloads. The practical implications ensue the amplitude of music downloads that is proffered by modular technological developments, such as the buttress of smartphones while it predicates the perspicacity of innovative digital technologies to create independent shrewd music entrepreneurs.

Social Media and Music Entrepreneurship: Navigating Opportunities, Challenges, and Cultural Trends

This article examines the dual nature of social media for music entrepreneurs, exploring the opportunities and challenges it presents. It emphasizes the importance of understanding and navigating cultural trends to create meaningful connections with audiences and foster cultural appreciation. However, it also highlights the risks of excessive sharing and misinformation, which can undermine credibility and dilute artistic expression. The article advocates for responsible sharing, fact-checking, and promoting authenticity to address these challenges. Furthermore, it discusses how understanding cultural trends aligns with effective leadership principles, empowering music entrepreneurs to guide their industry and make a lasting impact. Overall, the article emphasizes the need for music entrepreneurs to harness the power of social media while upholding authenticity and cultural significance.

Navigating Ethical Considerations in the Music Industry: Empowering Aspiring Music Entrepreneurs for a Responsible Future

This paper explores the ethical dimensions of the music industry and the role of aspiring music entrepreneurs in promoting a responsible and sustainable ecosystem. It highlights the challenges faced by hired artists and musicians in terms of financial compensation and professional conduct, drawing attention to anecdotal instances of malpractice. The paper presents solutions and strategies to counteract these malpractices, including comprehensive consultations, well-defined contracts, healthy management systems, and the power of saying "no" to unsuitable opportunities. Furthermore, it emphasizes the implications of these practices for aspiring music entrepreneurs in real-world professional practice and the responsibility they hold to elevate industry standards. By prioritizing fair compensation, transparency, and supportive environments, aspiring music entrepreneurs can contribute to the overall well-being of artists, musicians, and the industry as a whole. This paper encourages the integration of ethical considerations into higher education curricula and emphasizes the need for collaborative efforts to drive positive change and shape a responsible future for the music industry.

Kaseteista suoratoistoon

From Compact Cassettes to Music Streaming Services: The Sociocultural Change of Background Music Industry
 The history of electronically mediated background music in Finland can be divided into era of scarcity, era of availability and era of plenty. The centralised and regulated supply of background music of the 1970s was followed by re-regulation of media and establishment of commercial radio stations increasing music consumption and listening to it while engaged to other activities. Analogue and tape-based solutions were first replaced with physical digital platforms and programming and finally with music streaming applications and music contents of the international media houses.
 The transformation of music platforms, music delivery channels and modes of listening are closely related to histories of technology, ­the social use of music and agencies of background music entrepreneurs. The article clarifies the transforming relationship of the environment, listening and music from the 1970s to the present day with the help ­of recent and archived interviews of representatives of background music companies.
 Keywords: background music; music cultures; anthropology of sound

Meta-Analysis on the Importance of Entrepreneurship in Canada’s Music Industry

This article draws on research to evaluate the skills and traits required to be a successful music entrepreneur and Canadian musician in the face of digitalization. Theoretical and empirical studies emphasize entrepreneurship in every career. Researchers found that successful businessmen had unique skills that helped them achieve their goals faster. Creativity, timing, resource management, and opportunity awareness are connected to career success. This research explores academic entrepreneurs’ best practices. Entrepreneurship is varied; therefore, the study found comparable effects and distinct conflict causes. Comparing general commercial success determinants to the skills musicians need to succeed in Canada and abroad generated four surprising findings: 1. Musicians require entrepreneurial skills. Musicians need skills to succeed and make money. 2. To capitalize on music industry digitalization, Canadian artists must strengthen their business skills. 3. Canadian artists need digital distribution and copyright skills to succeed in the internet era. 4. Entrepreneurship may be taught. Empirical research shows that entrepreneurs can learn better via experience than didactic training. These findings should support earlier research and assist policymakers develop “industry-specific” entrepreneurship tools for Canadian music practitioners.

"A Very English Superstar": John Rutter, Popular Classical Music, and Transnational Conservatism since the 1970s

Abstract: Since the 1980s it has largely gone unnoticed how the British composer, conductor, and music entrepreneur John Rutter has become a leading figure in popular music—successful on the global music market, popular in the English-speaking world, and regularly at the top of the classical music charts with his Christmas song compositions. Rutter embodies precisely the opposite of commercial pop culture: he is the antitype of a pop star, he succeeds with sacred music, he addresses the middle class and the bourgeoisie, and he personifies family values, community spirit, and the preservation of tradition. Using the example of Rutter, the author demonstrates the importance of conservative pop cultures for the emergence and development of a transnational conservatism in Europe and North America since the 1970s. The article reveals the interplay between nationalization and transnationalization in conservatism, and points out the variety of forms and contexts in which conservative dispositions can appear in popular musical cultures. They offer opportunities for politicization, but can also remain effective purely in the cultural sphere. Rutter's sound worlds clearly transcend English cathedrals and college chapels.

Music Entrepreneurs in Contemporary Havana: The Children of Transition

Cuba’s cultural policy has not sufficiently adjusted to the new cultural agents and conditions the island faces in the twenty-first century, creating significant tensions in the arts sector. This article describes the emergence of a group of music entrepreneurs and start-ups in the context of Cuba’s current transition to a new socioeconomic model and analyzes some of the challenges they face. I focus on the damage caused by an outdated and dysfunctional cultural policy framework. I examine how this issue is a cause and consequence of poor and ambiguous regulation in the arts sector, as well as how this troubling combination interferes with the prosperity of domestic creative industries. Two case studies illustrate the experiences of informal music start-ups: the magazine Magazine AM:PM and the communications agency Bonus Track. Music entrepreneurs and start-ups are part of the solution to the ongoing crisis in Cuba’s cultural sector. The task of adapting, restructuring, and redefining their role should be the priority of a more inclusive and prosperous cultural policy.

The role of digital readiness innovative teaching methods in music art e-learning students' satisfaction with entrepreneur psychological capital as a mediator: Evidence from music entrepreneur training institutes.

The way of our living and working has changed intensely throughout the past half-century. The era we live in is interlinked with rapid technological changes, paving the way for digitalization. The students are considered digital natives and are expected to have e-learning abilities to improve their academic effectiveness. However, digital readiness is an important factor that can play a valuable role in boosting students’ e-learning abilities and satisfaction. The previous studies of students’ e-learning abilities revealed the lack of students’ digital readiness for academic achievements. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the role of digital readiness in the e-learning satisfaction of students. Based on the theory of motivation, the present study attempts to check the association of digital readiness with e-learning satisfaction. The current study also determines the relationship of digital readiness with entrepreneur psychological capital. Further, this study examines the correlation of entrepreneur psychological capital with e-learning satisfaction. The present study also assumes the mediating role entrepreneur of psychological capital and moderating role of mindfulness. For empirical analyses, this study gathered data from 376 music learning students of entrepreneur training institutes in China through a structured questionnaire method using a convenient sampling technique. This study applied partial least square structural equation modeling for empirical analyses using Smart PLS software. The present study confirmed that digital readiness positively correlates with e-learning satisfaction and psychological capital. The findings also acknowledged that psychological capital positively enhances e-learning satisfaction. The results also confirmed that psychological capital mediates the association between digital readiness and e-learning satisfaction. However, the outcomes revealed that mindfulness does not moderate the association between digital readiness and e-learning satisfaction. On the other hand, the findings acknowledged that mindfulness moderates the relationship between psychological capital and e-learning satisfaction. In addition, this study’s findings also serve the literature by providing important theoretical and practical implications. This study points out that digital readiness is an important antecedent to increasing students’ learning satisfaction and performance. The findings also suggest that students’ mindfulness could play a bridging role in enhancing their performance.

Entrepreneurial Responses to the COVID Era

The impact of COVID-19 has affected not only private citizens, but also arts entrepreneurship professionals and their respective business models. To explore both the problems experienced by professional music entrepreneurs and their solutions for navigating company survivability, growth and impact, a multiple-case qualitative research study using intensity sampling and grounded theory was conducted to uncover how professional music entrepreneurs (N = 5) succeeded in not only surviving the pandemic’s effects on their personal businesses, but also in augmenting their companies’ finances, resources and impact within the constructs of a post-COVID multimodal creative economy. The results present various themes and suggestions for implementation within music (and arts) entrepreneurship practice and education.

THE MERGING OF MUSIC CRITICISM AND MUSIC PROMOTION: CONVERGED MUSIC INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS ON FACEBOOK

This paper explores the changing socio-cultural dynamic between local music entrepreneurs and journalists/critics on Facebook in Estonia. Through the analysis of 32 semi-structured interviews with music industry professionals and experts and observations of their activities on Facebook, the study identifies the decreasing distance between music criticism and music promotion. On the one hand, the music critics once envisioned as ‘autonomous gatekeepers’ (Hirsch, 1972) find it increasingly hard to transfer their musical authority, expertise and perceived independence to the commercially driven social media environment. As a result, some of them have taken up entrepreneurship themselves, converged their various identities by mixing their critical/evaluative practices as critics and business-oriented practices as entrepreneurs. On the other hand, some niche music entrepreneurs are stepping into the role of cultural authorities by mobilizing and catering to specific taste cultures and genre communities by becoming expert gatekeepers in their own right, despite being compromised by their business interest. In this context, it is no more useful to talk about the ‘mutual dependency’ of the music press and industry PR (Forde, 2001; Negus, 1992). Rather, among the tightly interwoven music scenes like the ones in Estonia, where many players adopt a variety of different and often conflicting roles (especially on Facebook), we should recognize the complete convergence of music promotion and music criticism and the loss of critical distance and autonomy altogether.

Disruptive Potential: COVID‑19 and Emerging Live Music Models in Trinidad and Tobago

This study explores the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic on the live music sector of Trinidad and Tobago. It begins with an assessment of the international landscape, before juxtaposing it with local realities. The research is concerned with assessing the disruption affecting live music models, within the context of possible response strategies for the Southern Caribbean island. A qualitative research approach supported by a case study strategy of inquiry is adopted for this study. Six participants were purposely selected, each operating within various foci and niches in the country’s live music sector. The study found that disruption was due to changes in the value chain which resulted from calls for social distancing and limits on public gatherings such as concerts. It was also noted that although changes were rapid, local live music entrepreneurs were able to provide preliminary alternatives to engage fans. However, for these to be sustainable in the long run, greater attention needs to be apportioned to the creation of diverse interactive live music experiences. This must also be accompanied by expanded monetization through the utilization of user‑friendly technologies.

Close to a Century of Popular Music Practices and Experiences in Nigeria (1922–2020) and a Brief History of Their Socio-political Background

For 98 years (1922–2020), the entire corpus of popular music practices and experiences in Nigeria evolved and thrived almost uninterrupted until the great disruption caused when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (COVID-19) a global pandemic on 11 March 2020. Between 1922 and 2020, there have been hazy and unsteady creative attempts, incipient interactions and interruptions, generational changes and exchanges, and ideological shifts which have marked the evolution of Nigerian popular music. Based on a historical-analytical approach, this article reports on a study that aimed to recollect and explore the remarkable socio-political developments, transformations and perceptions that have consistently underpinned these 98 years of popular music practices/experiences in Nigeria. As part of the study findings, these years were divided into the following four periods: the foggy years (1922–1944); the interactive-budding period (1945–1969); the liberal period (1970–1999); and the mononationalist period (2000–2020). In part, the methodology relied on the oral accounts of some elderly and middle-aged Nigerian popular music artists, entrepreneurs, enthusiasts and analysts, as well as archival resources (print and audio-visual), and the extant literature on popular music in and social history of Nigeria. The findings also revealed transnational heritages and memorial continuities that partly and presently characterise these periods.

Expanding a Music Therapy Business Using AMTA’s Aspirational Code of Ethics

Abstract While all music therapists look to the Code of Ethics as a guiding document, music therapists who are self-employed or managing teams rely heavily on this document to create sound business and administrative policies. This article articulates how the 2019 Code of Ethics informs the music therapy entrepreneur or manager to make thoughtful, accountable, and ethical decisions, decreases confusion about specific business practices, and addresses significant concerns related to aspects of the previous AMTA Code of Ethics that were in conflict with federal anti-trust regulations in the United States, including the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. To address the legal and ethical issues inherent in expanding a service business, a discussion guided by the 2019 Code of Ethics and the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (2009) model is provided as a way to think through potential ethical dilemmas when considering subcontracting music therapy services.

Blues ghosts in the Black Mecca: Appropriation and erasure in Helena, Arkansas

ABSTRACT Helena, Arkansas, was incorporated in 1833. The Mississippi River Delta city isn’t a likely candidate for most people’s lists enumerating Black Meccas. Yet, Helena was a concentration point for Contrabands and African American enlistment in the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war and during Reconstruction, Helena developed a thriving African American community with Black-owned businesses and an African American college. Blacks were drawn to Helena during the mid-20th century for employment in manufacturing and agricultural processing. They also came to Helena for opportunities as music entrepreneurs: Helena was a blues city for most of the 20th century. This paper explores Helena’s rises and falls as a Southern Black Mecca. The Elaine Massacre of 1919, the Great Migration, and late 20th century deindustrialization were serial hits on Helena’s Black communities. Municipal efforts to jumpstart the city’s economy focused on African American heritage have had mixed results and significant implications for Helena’s African American residents.

Response to Elizabeth Lindau

It is a strange experience to read “‘Total Trash’: Analysis and Post-Punk Music” at a distance after all these years. When I originally wrote this article, I was a wide-eyed master’s student at the State University of New York at Stony Brook who had just discovered popular music studies

Consumption field driven entrepreneurship (CFDE)

PurposeThis study aims to explore how membership (initially as a consumer) in a given field shapes individuals’ entrepreneurial journey.Design/methodology/approachThe research context is cultural and creative industries and, in particular, the independent (indie) music field in which unstructured interviews were conducted with nascent and established cultural entrepreneurs.FindingsThe authors introduce and justify their theoretical framework of consumption field driven entrepreneurship (CFDE) that captures the tripartite process via which the informants make the transition from indie music consumers to entrepreneurs by developing field-specific illusio, enacting entrepreneurial habitus and acquiring legitimacy via symbolic capital accumulation within the indie music field. The authors further illustrate how these entrepreneurs adopt paradoxical logics, aesthetics and ethos of the indie music field by moving in-between its authentic and commercial discourses to orchestrate their entrepreneurial journey.Research limitations/implicationsThis study holds several theoretical implications for entrepreneurship-oriented research. First is highlighted the importance of non-financial resources (i.e. cultural and social capital) in individuals’ entrepreneurial journey. Second, this study illustrates the importance of consumption activities in the process of gaining entrepreneurial legitimation within a specific field. Finally, this study contributes to consumption-driven entrepreneurship research by offering a detailed description of individuals’ consumption-driven entrepreneurial journey.Practical implicationsThis study provides some initial practical implications for entrepreneurs within the cultural and creative industries. The authors illustrate how membership in a field (initially as a consumer) might turn into a source of skills, competences and community for entrepreneurs by mobilising and converting different forms of non-material and material field-specific capital. To acquire entrepreneurial legitimation, nascent entrepreneurs should gain symbolic capital through approval, recognition and credit from members of the indie music field. Also, entrepreneurs can acquire symbolic capital and gain entrepreneurial legitimation by either “fitting in” or “standing out” from the existing logics of the field.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the growing body of literature that examines entrepreneurship fuelled by consumption practices and passions with our theoretical framework of CFDE which outlines the transition from indie music consumers to indie music entrepreneurs.

Understanding the Pull Motivations of Malaysian Women Music Teachers as Music Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship generally refers to small business ownership which implies quality of innovation and initiative in creating a new venture. Previous studies on entrepreneurship have indicated that pull and push factors in motivation and the environmental influences are the two main dynamic aspects that prompt women into their decision in creating their own business. In the Malaysian context, some women music teachers have ventured into establishing music businesses after several years of contribution in music teaching. What are the pull factors and influences that prompted these women music teachers into music business ownership after some years of music teaching? This study aims to examine and explore the pull motivational and influencing factors of why women music teachers endeavour in setting up music studios, music schools and entering into small music business ownership. In-depth interviews were conducted with 3 women music entrepreneurs and data was analysed for emerging themes. The findings provided evidence for the better understanding of the pull motivational and influencing factors of the women music entrepreneurs.