Selecting new artists – A qualitative study on the roles of various forms of capital in the selection system within the popular music industry

The academic (and popular) literature on the various forms of capital gives a clear message: it requires a combination of cultural, social and symbolic capital to make it through as a new artist in the music industry. However, it remains unclear how these capitals relate to each other in everyday life: the precise reasons why or the circumstances under which the various forms of capital influence career development are still unclear. Besides this, the role of positive psychological capital has been largely ignored. This leads to the following research question: How do the various forms of capital of popular music artists influence the decision-making process of intermediaries in selecting new artists in the Netherlands? Subsequently, this research is a qualitative study in which the process of selection, the decision-making process of industry professionals, has been explored. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with intermediaries active inside the popular music sector in the Netherlands, including booking agencies, artist managers, and record labels, have been conducted to formulate an answer to the research question. To get in touch with these intermediaries, the ‘snowballing’ method has been used to get in contact with these informants who possess specific and relevant information on selection systems within the music industry. The recorded interviews have been transcribed and then a thematic content analysis has been conducted following the central themes – the various forms of capital – through coding and categorisation of the excerpts according to the various themes. When coming across, evaluating and eventually selecting new artists by industry professionals, cultural capital, social capital, and symbolic capital came out to be the most essential assets for an artist during the interviews. (Positive) psychological capital can be regarded as a plus, not as a necessity during the selection process, due to the changing nature of the corresponding states. Including this latter largely ignored capital, this research adds volume to tighten the research gap on the mobilisation and conversion of alternative capitals, the roles and functions of intermediaries in the music industry, and their effects on career development of new popular music artists in the Netherlands. Besides this, this research sheds light on the precise reasons why and the circumstances under which the various forms of capital influence the decision-making process of selecting. In this manner, this research adds volume onto qualitative systematic studies on the demand for artists.